Tennsion
New Member
So I have a dilemma. 3-month old 75g mixed reef. All corals growing exponentially, fish thriving, levels remaining very stable and within acceptable parameters. Today: salinity 1.025, temp 77.5, Ammonia and Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10-15ish, phosphate near 0, calcium 400 (dosed to raise just a bit), and alkalinity 8.3.
I lost a small toadstool. Chalked that up to "newness". Purchased a better specimen, dipped (as I dipped all other corals), placed low in tank with light flow. Not a single polyp emerged (it was open-polyped at purchase). After 4 days, moved to a little more flow, still at bottom. Never a single polyp emerged. Waited a week. Moved it to mid tank level, light-moderate flow because by now it was covered in algae. I brushed the algae away with my fingers best I could and assumed I surely damaged it further. Another week, not a single polyp and toadstool has shrunk to just a small hard clump.
Now here's the catch. I'm not one to throw corals in the garbage so I just took the toadstool out and threw it in the quarantine tank, which has never been used, never cycled, different temp, parameters same as new setup, no flow, and a simple in-the-hood light bulb. I did not even acclimate, just carried it from one tank to the other and dropped it in (I was afraid disintegration of toadstool would affect other healthy corals) . Two days later, here's what happened (see pic). What am I supposed to do now?
I lost a small toadstool. Chalked that up to "newness". Purchased a better specimen, dipped (as I dipped all other corals), placed low in tank with light flow. Not a single polyp emerged (it was open-polyped at purchase). After 4 days, moved to a little more flow, still at bottom. Never a single polyp emerged. Waited a week. Moved it to mid tank level, light-moderate flow because by now it was covered in algae. I brushed the algae away with my fingers best I could and assumed I surely damaged it further. Another week, not a single polyp and toadstool has shrunk to just a small hard clump.
Now here's the catch. I'm not one to throw corals in the garbage so I just took the toadstool out and threw it in the quarantine tank, which has never been used, never cycled, different temp, parameters same as new setup, no flow, and a simple in-the-hood light bulb. I did not even acclimate, just carried it from one tank to the other and dropped it in (I was afraid disintegration of toadstool would affect other healthy corals) . Two days later, here's what happened (see pic). What am I supposed to do now?
