High Tide Aquatics

Why is it receding?

newhobby

newhobby

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Hi guys,

This is really putting me down for the last couple days. :(
My favorite coral started receding...
I have had it for about 2 months. It was doing phenomenal. It was in the upper part of the tank.
It was full of life about 3 or 4 days ago and was all expanded, growing and new mouths were showing up.
Then, all of a sudden it started shrinking.
I have some other LPS and SPS that are doing just fine. It's just this little guy.
This happened right about the same time I introduced the pieces I bought for the swap and a couple of turbo snails.
I also blasted some hydroids that were near it with concentraded kalkwasser, but I made sure the blast was never towards the coral.
Oh, I also made a 5% increase in my LED lights, from 55% to 60%.
So, I don't know what is causing it.
I decided to place it down at the bottom of the tank and move it down yesterday, but it did not make a difference.
I tried hand feeding it but it did not want to open up for food.
What do you think is causing it?
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
 
pH was always my coral killer. Sometimes it would drop to 7.8 in one day (IDK why), and the next day all my corals would be receding and being picked at by the cleaner shrimp. Make sure the salinity is at 1.024-1.026 and make sure your pH is at 8.4 during the day and it would be about 8.2 at night. Are there any corals within a few inches of it? Have you changed the flow? Do any of the fish or inverts seem to be picking at it?
 
Euphyllia said:
pH was always my coral killer. Sometimes it would drop to 7.8 in one day (IDK why), and the next day all my corals would be receding and being picked at by the cleaner shrimp. Make sure the salinity is at 1.024-1.026 and make sure your pH is at 8.4 during the day and it would be about 8.2 at night. Are there any corals within a few inches of it? Have you changed the flow? Do any of the fish or inverts seem to be picking at it?
Click to expand...
dropping to 7.8 isn't uncommon at all. Don't try and regulate pH. It has natural fluctuations related to CO2. Chasing numbers is bad.


Attached are two recent day's pH swings.

Attached files /attachments/sites/default/files/pH swing 2.JPG /attachments/sites/default/files/pH swing_0.JPG
 
Pic & coral name/ type are a must to get any decent advice. 1 day isn't enough time to tell if a difference has been made. Often it takes 1-2 months, depending on the coral, to adjust and improve.
 
Oh Boy....
I took the picture yesterday and forgot to attach... sorry guys :(
P1040671.jpg

My PH swings 8.0 in the morning to 8.4 after dosing and starts going down for about 8hrs and then to 8.4 with lights on. But I don't think PH is the problem. It has always fluctuated this way since I started monitoring.
Is there such thing as a coral eating worm. It may have been my eyes, but I think I saw a little tiny worm that is thinner than a hair that peeked and retracted.

Thanks
 
Amonia=0
Phophates=0
Silicates=0
Nitrite=0
Nitrate=0 to 5
CA=440
Alk=4
Mag=1100
For some reason I can't get CA, Alk and Mag up even with dosing.
I don't dose Mag everyday.... Don't have a dosing pump yet.
I use one of those manual soal dispensers. I have to measure how much I dose. I'll measure it tonight, but I started with about 10 pumps and now I'm at 40 pumps. I'll let you know how many mililiters 40 pumps is tonight. lol
What I do is use a funnel with a DIY drip tip. I usually put some RO/DI water in the funnel and pump the Alk or CA in it and let it drip slowly. It usually takes about 30mins to fully drip the whole dilluted solution.
I check every week and they don't go up.
I'm affraid to start dosing too much.
I guess I should use my dosing pump huh?
I have this cute little pumps but I need to find time to hook it up.
sb_c2b2_06.jpg

I got 2 of them as samples and never found time to experiment with them.
 
Can you PM me the source for those pumps? I'm looking for a new OEM for them for a project I am working on. It's not CA/ALK/MG dosing either :D
 
FWIW: My SWAG is that it was in too much light. Leaving it on the bottom with most all other LPS would makes sense to my simple mind. :) Most LPS that I've located "too high" began to recede pretty quickly, despite doing well "at first". Of course, I've got 824 watts of light when they are all on.

And..........YES, hook up your dosing pumps. Gotta get consistent with your dosing. See Bulk Reef Supply's website to calculate the approximate amount to dose based on your tank and sump's total capacity then go with it, measure CA and ALK daily and adjust pumps up or down to maintain about 420-460 ppm CA. Dose the ALK in equal amounts daily.

For my 107 gallon system, I dose my ALK hourly, 11 times starting at midnight in 5 minute durations. Same program for CA except starts at noon. My Drew's dosers output is 1.5 ml/min.
 
Mag is a little low but not to the point that it should be causing issues. I would say it sounds like either a light problem or something in your tank nipping/picking at it.
 
seminolecpa said:
Mag is a little low but not to the point that it should be causing issues. I would say it sounds like either a light problem or something in your tank nipping/picking at it.
Click to expand...

Also, check that your s.g. isn't too high.
 
Check in the middle of the night with a flashlight. Check different hours different nights. I have had pods, the pill bug type, ambush tissue at night, twice for the same coral. Gresham proposed they might be starting on dead tissue, and they ate one blasto to nothing. Three others I have frag racked away in a separate tank and they are growing back. It was the only think I could connect to the loss.
 
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