Chalice coral dying within a month

[LydG]

Hey guys, I bought this chalice about 1 month ago. We placed it toward the bottom of the tank near the sandbed but mounted on a rock. It did have a moderate water flow. We noticed slight browning around the edges and were thinking maybe it didn’t like its spot. We are newbies to everything and glued the coral before seeing if it liked it’s spot. Water levels were in a good range. Only thing we can think of is we were trying to move a few rocks around to find a better area for him and while doing that accidentally crushed it a little with another rock. *slaps face* That is what we believe killed it...but is it really dead? Do you think it’s worth keeping? We heard that they are very hardy corals and can come back from almost anything. Any thoughts? Obviously we learned our lesson and won’t make that mistake again but we really like the chalice and if this one is a lost cause we would like to try another but we are scared the same thing will happen. The browning was happening before it got a little crushed. Right now we have a very healthy hammer, akan, and zoas. The chalice is the only problem coral. I attached before and after photos.

 

[intricate_reefer]

Not sure why it melted, could have been any number of things. Flow, lighting, parameters.

I will say never just throw one out. I’ve had many make a full recovery. Here is one that got cold during shipping. Left pic before, right after it healed.

 

[ygon]

Check your alk. Low alk will cause chalices to melt.

 

[Hermie]

I'm no expert but I have some experience with chalice recovery...

Based on that photo I wouldn't bet that it will recover, but you may as well try.

Honestly, the water flow wouldn't cause it to melt so quickly... neither would crushing parts of it. However, once a coral gets "disturbed" it will retract and expose skeleton and at that point it's more vulnerable to damage from other sources.

The biggest things would be chemistry shock like the alkalinity, ammonia, temperature, the water parameters, or some toxins in the water possibly coming from other corals.
Dips can damage a coral, but you didn't mention dipping it.

It may have been dying before you glued it...

 

[Auto-pilot]

It could be a biological thing as well. If it was damaged it could have gotten an infection that it couldn't fight off. If you don't succeed with this one don't be afraid to try again

 

[LydG]

Thanks everyone! Alkalinity has been at 8.4 and stable there the last few readings. Didn’t use any dips. We tried to recover it but kept looking worse and worse, eventually just a skeleton with no color. We eventually gave up, but today we just bought a new one! Thankfully we started with cheaper corals, hate to lose a coral..Thanks for all the help tho, hopefully this next one does well!

 

[rolyguy7]

What are your alk, calcium and nitrates at? Chalices do well 8-9dkh, 420-440ppm cal and 10ppm nitrates. Looks like low nutrients die off or high par. I keep chalices in 100-200 par range.