Corals not opening

[willforr]

Recently many of my corals have not been opening. I went to get my water tested and found out I had low alkalinity and ph which I have since raised back to normal. It’s been a few days and some of my corals have still not opened including zoanthids, green star polyps, a Kenya tree, and a Duncan. My Duncan coral especially, has not been looking too well and is even lost some of its green color. My parameters look fine, including nitrates, phosphates, and ammonia and fish seem unbothered, so is there anything I can do to somehow help revive these sick corals? Any help would be great, thank you!

 

[blaxsun]

What are your water parameters and what do you have for flow in your tank besides your return?

 

[willforr]

What are your water parameters and what do you have for flow in your tank besides your return?

I don’t test everything, but ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite are all almost undetectable, although I’ve been trying to increase my nitrates a little for my green star polyps and Xenia. Alkalinity is at 11 and ph is at 8.2. Also, my alkalinity just got to 11, it’s been at 7.5 for a while. Salinity is at 1.024, and in terms of my flow, I don’t have too much, just the two pumps that return the filtered water (I don’t have a sump)

 

[blaxsun]

I don’t test everything, but ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite are all almost undetectable, although I’ve been trying to increase my nitrates a little for my green star polyps and Xenia. Alkalinity is at 11 and ph is at 8.2. Also, my alkalinity just got to 11, it’s been at 7.5 for a while. Salinity is at 1.024, and in terms of my flow, I don’t have too much, just the two pumps that return the filtered water (I don’t have a sump)

I'm not sure what type and size your tank is so I can't recommend a specific wavemaker, but I think you might benefit from a small one to increase the flow in your tank (Tunze makes some relatively inexpensive but very reliable ones). You could also look at some random flow nozzles on your return outlets if that's an option. When duncans (and other corals) aren't coming out it's usually an indication that there's not enough flow passing over and through them to provide the necessary coral maintenance.

It could also be an issue with your lighting, ie: they're either getting too much or too little - but if you're able to rent or borrow a PAR meter to find out what your light levels are at where each of the concerned corals are it will give you more information (soft and LPS typically need light in the range of 50-150 PAR). I'd try the flow option first, as it's only like a $20 expense.

 

[willforr]

I will try it out, thank you

 

[willforr]

Do you think my Duncan coral still has a chance at surviving considering it hasn’t been open for probably 2 weeks and is turning a little brown at the base?

 

[attiland]

Recently many of my corals have not been opening. I went to get my water tested and found out I had low alkalinity and ph which I have since raised back to normal. It’s been a few days and some of my corals have still not opened including zoanthids, green star polyps, a Kenya tree, and a Duncan. My Duncan coral especially, has not been looking too well and is even lost some of its green color. My parameters look fine, including nitrates, phosphates, and ammonia and fish seem unbothered, so is there anything I can do to somehow help revive these sick corals? Any help would be great, thank you!

I don’t test everything, but ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite are all almost undetectable, although I’ve been trying to increase my nitrates a little for my green star polyps and Xenia. Alkalinity is at 11 and ph is at 8.2. Also, my alkalinity just got to 11, it’s been at 7.5 for a while. Salinity is at 1.024, and in terms of my flow, I don’t have too much, just the two pumps that return the filtered water (I don’t have a sump)

My Duncan doesn’t like any alk or magnesium changes. The first one retracts at any changes. 7.5 to 11 is a big change it is like being in a new tank.
nitrate 0 is no good increase it to 5ppm. Phosphate 0 is also no good (if that is the case). I would go to 0.05pmm at least.

fis don’t care about any of this

let it settle they will come back most likely.

if the corals were happy before I wouldn’t touch lights at all

 

[blaxsun]

Do you think my Duncan coral still has a chance at surviving considering it hasn’t been open for probably 2 weeks and is turning a little brown at the base?

Hard to say without seeing a picture, and even then it's difficult to be certain.

 

[willforr]

Here’s a picture. Lighting’s bad (I know) but you can see how it is retracted. It’s been like that for quite a while now. My green star polyps and zoanthids have also not taken the changes too well either.