Am I starving my potato chip?

[Gretchacha]

I have only 1 sps, a mint potato chip pavona. It’s the thin, smooth, wavy kind from the Julian Sprung lineage. It seems to be very lightly colored, and I am worrying that it is starving. But I am not sure, because it is very thin, and looking at it from the bottom, it seems brown to transparent, but from above there is a lot of green reflection. I don’t see any way to feed this coral, but I still try. My tank is pretty low in nutrients, nitrate 2, phosphate less than 0.03 on Salifert test, dare I say undetectable. I lowered the lights back to acclimation mode, which was a 15% reduction in intensity without changing the spectrum or time. I also started feeding more frequently. When I have tried dosing Seachem nitrate and phosphate everything closes us for the rest of the day. Even though I only offer a small dose. I currently feed the tank RedSea AB+, phyto magik, pns substrate sauce or MB7 daily. Additionally I feed a rotation of live bbs, frozen spirilina bs, frozen mysis, pe flakes, or coral gumbo 2-4 times a week. The tank also has a variety of copepods, and 2 balls of pom pom gracilarous macroalgae. I ordered oyster feast and some other foods from reef nutrition.

 

[Timfish]

Pictures would help alot just don't take them under blue lights. FWIW I would keep PO4 between .03 mg/l and .5 mg/l. Also feeding corals directly can be problematic as what one likes can be detrimental to another. Since corals get nitrients and carbonates from fish poop I'd just feed your fish more.

 

[Tamberav]

It sounds like a mint pavona which is a lighter green and brown/white where light doesn't reach.

 

[Gretchacha]

Pictures would help alot just don't take them under blue lights. FWIW I would keep PO4 between .03 mg/l and .5 mg/l. Also feeding corals directly can be problematic as what one likes can be detrimental to another. Since corals get nitrients and carbonates from fish poop I'd just feed your fish more.

 

[Gretchacha]

It sounds like a mint pavona which is a lighter green and brown/white where light doesn't reach.

It is a mint pavona. That’s helpful to know that the bottom side would be brown/tan. It seems like there are some patches developed at the edges without polyps. Not just the new growth rim, but patches of 5mm square on areas. And the green is almost metallic it is so light.

 

[Gretchacha]

Pictures would help alot just don't take them under blue lights. FWIW I would keep PO4 between .03 mg/l and .5 mg/l. Also feeding corals directly can be problematic as what one likes can be detrimental to another. Since corals get nitrients and carbonates from fish poop I'd just feed your fish more.

I don’t have any fish.

 

[Tamberav]

The tank looks newer (white rock), the one issue with dry rock is ... new dry rock certainly can absorb po4 making your levels low... at least until it reaches capacity can not absorb any more so it's possible to struggle to keep it from 0 for awhile.

I will say this SPS coral is one of the hardiest I have ever owned. That is not to say it won't recede or show stress but that it always seems to return/recover. I even have some now in a tank where I removed it then tried to KILL the remaining that was on the rock (to put another coral there) and it is coming back... where I saw nothing there... guess 1 polyp survived lol and it is in a tank that I never dose/test/went without a water change for a year... and little booger is coming back! lol

 

[MoshJosh]

Doesn't look too bad to me, I like mine to have a bit more extension on the tentacle bits (not that it has anything to do with my husbandry haha). But as others have said mint pavona can be brown/tan from son angles/where there isn't light. I keep mine in high flow medium light and it seems pretty happy.

 

[Gretchacha]

The tank looks newer (white rock), the one issue with dry rock is ... new dry rock certainly can absorb po4 making your levels low... at least until it reaches capacity can not absorb any more so it's possible to struggle to keep it from 0 for awhile.

I will say this SPS coral is one of the hardiest I have ever owned. That is not to say it won't recede or show stress but that it always seems to return/recover. I even have some now in a tank where I removed it then tried to KILL the remaining that was on the rock (to put another coral there) and it is coming back... where I saw nothing there... guess 1 polyp survived lol and it is in a tank that I never dose/test/went without a water change for a year... and little booger is coming back! lol

Thanks, that’s helpful. Is there anything I can feed it to supplement the PO4 and nitrate directly since the dissolved nutrients in the water are so low?

 

[Gretchacha]

Doesn't look too bad to me, I like mine to have a bit more extension on the tentacle bits (not that it has anything to do with my husbandry haha). But as others have said mint pavona can be brown/tan from son angles/where there isn't light. I keep mine in high flow medium light and it seems pretty happy.

Thanks, I will try not to worry too much. I have new mom anxiety all over again. LOL

 

[Tamberav]

Thanks, that’s helpful. Is there anything I can feed it to supplement the PO4 and nitrate directly since the dissolved nutrients in the water are so low?

It sounds like you already are You said you are using bottled po4 but that everything closes up. Do you dose it into the sump?

I used bottled stuff before but did not have this reaction.

FYI, I would say these potato chips are fragile enough that bumping around the bag or even just handling them to glue them may cause some areas to be rough until it recovers.

 

[Gretchacha]

So at 11:00 as the lights were ramped up, the mint pavona looked very pale. I tested pH, salinity, both fine, then PO4 and nitrate. Both had bottomed out and were undetectable. I’m guessing this happened yesterday (I only test weekly) because 3 of 4 alveopora and my goni were all closing up to varying degrees for no obvious reason. Also a lot of the sympodium clusters closed. These are all the hard to feed corals in my tank that would not be getting enough nutrients.
I made a solution with pure seachem nitrogen and phosphorus to get to 2ppm nitrate and 0.03 ppm phosphate. I diluted this in 500 ml ro water. I added 100 ml of this. One hour later I added 100 ml again, as the alveopora were starting to open up more and no one else was closing up. I also added a bit on manganese, ¼ of the max daily dose, to help with any oxidative stress. I will kerp adding solution over time. Prior attempts were to drip the supplements directly into the outflow to the tank.

 

[exnisstech]

The pavona doesn't look bad. Mine is growing but is really only green under heavy blues and almost completely brown under white
Blues

Whites

 

[Gretchacha]

Thank you for posting the comparison of lighting photos. I have always wondered if mine was healthy/normal and seeing your specimen is helpful. But mine doesn’t have polyps to the edges anymore like yours does, so I do think it is starting to decline.

 

[exnisstech]

Mine is not declining but it is a slow grower. I got a purple pavona the same time I got the green and the purple is at least 4 times as big as the green.

 

[Gretchacha]

Mine is not declining but it is a slow grower. I got a purple pavona the same time I got the green and the purple is at least 4 times as big as the green.

Oh interesting.

 

[exnisstech]

Oh interesting.

This is my purple. I broke a piece off accidental shortly after getting it. I glued it to a plug and it's almost as big as the green I have. They are in different tanks now but originally they were next to each other so I guess purples just grow faster and the original plug is in there somewhere. I glue it to a rock

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Alveos and gonis need more than 5 N and 0.03 P...

 

[Gretchacha]

Alveos and gonis need more than 5 N and 0.03 P...

Thanks for the tip. I will try to bring the nutrients in the water up with additives. I have noticed that people with successful alve and goni have them with lots of soft corals. I was suspecting they needed more dissolved nutrients. do you feed yours?

 

[Gretchacha]

This is my purple. I broke a piece off accidental shortly after getting it. I glued it to a plug and it's almost as big as the green I have. They are in different tanks now but originally they were next to each other so I guess purples just grow faster and the original plug is in there somewhere. I glue it to a rock

Wow, a hairy purple people eater. LOL. It looks super cool.