Are my candy canes dying?

Reaper_Six_Four · Aug 13, 2022

So my canes have been doing really good for as long as I can remember. However about a week ago I noticed my canes had their mouths wide open… all of them. I also noticed they weren’t as fluffy as they had been in the past. In fact, they seemed to be shriveling. So I’ve been paying more attention to them and also felt that they didn’t feel “meaty” and they haven’t extended their tentacles. What perplexes me is that the zooanthids are still pretty vibrant. All other corals and livestock are doing good.

any thoughts on this?

blaxsun · Aug 13, 2022

Zoas are a lot more tolerant of water, lighting and parameter swings. Have you checked all of those?

Reaper_Six_Four · Aug 13, 2022

blaxsun said:
Zoas are a lot more tolerant of water, lighting and parameter swings. Have you checked all of those?

My Zoas are doing great.
Parameters are normal with the exception of PO4 and love NO3

PO4 is @ .23 and NO3 is low. But I’ve been battling those for a while and my canes have thrived through it.

diabolical_clownfish · Aug 13, 2022

Reaper_Six_Four said:
My Zoas are doing great.
Parameters are normal with the exception of PO4 and love NO3

PO4 is @ .23 and NO3 is low. But I’ve been battling those for a while and my canes have thrived through it.

I have candy canes and have seen this shrived look (but usually when I frag it outside the tank and put it back in). I've had a phosphate problem for a long time and my LPS don't like it. As an experiment, you could try to do a large water change to bring PO4 down to ~0.1 and see if the candy cane improves. If it does, then it's a PO4 problem. Not sure where your NO3 is at but bringing it up to 5 ppm can't hurt either.

Reaper_Six_Four · Aug 13, 2022

My NO3 is kinda low. I want to be careful not bottom my tank out.
How long after fragging did it take for them to recover?

diabolical_clownfish · Aug 14, 2022

Reaper_Six_Four said:
My NO3 is kinda low. I want to be careful not bottom my tank out.
How long after fragging did it take for them to recover?

I see it for maybe a day, depending on how rough it was handled, and it recovers.

If you are concerned about nitrate bottoming out due to the water change, just dose sodium nitrate based on the water volume. I use this:

and this calculator:

James' Planted Tank - Dosing Calculator

Test your nitrate immediately after the water change and immediately dose to a 5 ppm target.