Drooping coral

[Arcrgirl]

Hey all!
Just got three new corals yesterday, two are looking great but one has slowly drooped over. He's still opening and closing his little hands so he seems to be doing okay, I just want to make sure this is normal? I placed him in a mild flow area and I'm thinking that might be part of the problem. Water parameters are all good and I'm doing a small water change later today to help small nitrate levels. Any ideas?

 

[Sharkbait19]

Hmmmm....looks ticked, but certainly not unhealthy. Could you post all your params? These Xenia corals tend to like “dirtier” water, i.e. a little nitrates and phosphates. Some find them to be quite the opposite, but in my own experience, mine only looked like this when there weren’t much nutrients.

 

[Arcrgirl]

Ammonia 0
Nitrates around 5 (i don't have an electronic tester)
Nitrites 0
Salinity 1.026
Ph 7.3 which dropped from 8.4 from yesterday
Calcium and phosphates are low enough not to register on my test
Alk is 6.1 which also dropped from 8 from yesterday

Not sure how to fix ph and alk other than with a water change

 

[moz71]

yea agree with shark bait! Also how old is your tank?? Looks new and probably why you are big swings. Do you have any coralline algae growing yet? Also calcium so low not to register is bad. Assuming this is brand new tank you may get issues u til stabilized. Sounds like you are not dosing calcium and all so only way is doing a bigger water change

 

[Arcrgirl]

The tank is 3 months old, no coraline so far. I'll definitely dose with calcium and do a larger water change today. Thanks!

 

[Sharkbait19]

The good thing is that soft corals like Xenia aren’t as affected by calcium. Doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be any, though. Sounds like it just needs to adjust to your params. However, you can certainly help it by bumping up the nitrates and phosphates.

 

[moz71]

Also I suspect you are going to see coralline algae soon it seems like your tank is starting to suck up all nutrients. Alk, cal, phosphate etc. part of natural maturity. The Xenia are so resilient they should be fine. Keep feeding fish and phosphate should be there or come up. What are you other corals you got? Softies?

 

[Arcrgirl]

The good thing is that soft corals like Xenia aren’t as affected by calcium. Doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be any, though. Sounds like it just needs to adjust to your params. However, you can certainly help it by bumping up the nitrates and phosphates.

Will do, thank you!

 

[ScottR]

There’s a saying: “if you can’t grow algae, you can’t grow corals”. Your rocks are pretty clean from the looks of it. Do you have any fish in the system? Usually having a fish and feeding it is enough for xenia. Also, what kind of lighting do you have? Lighting is crucial for a reef tank.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

I would do a 30% water change, might help bring up those ph, calcium and alkalinity numbers.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Also, welcome to R2R

 

[Rmckoy]

Something with parameters just doesn’t seam
Right at all

testing error ? Expired test kit ?
if using salt water at 1.026 there should be some sort of cal
But with very low alk and ph
It should be addressed as soon as possible . I’d do a rather large water change after using a trusted lfs to assure what you’re resting Sg to be close To accurate .
Get them to test your water to see if they get the same results for cal and alk as well

 

[Arcrgirl]

Also I suspect you are going to see coralline algae soon it seems like your tank is starting to suck up all nutrients. Alk, cal, phosphate etc. part of natural maturity. The Xenia are so resilient they should be fine. Keep feeding fish and phosphate should be there or come up. What are you other corals you got? Softies?

Yep, one candy button and another xenia-like one. I'm not sure on that ones name.

 

[Arcrgirl]

There’s a saying: “if you can’t grow algae, you can’t grow corals”. Your rocks are pretty clean from the looks of it. Do you have any fish in the system? Usually having a fish and feeding it is enough for xenia. Also, what kind of lighting do you have? Lighting is crucial for a reef tank.

I have two clowns that have been in for almost 2 months and have been thriving. The lighting is the standard one that the tank came with as the local fish store doesn't have one in stock at the right size for my tank. Not sure on the wattage but they're very bright LEDs. Sorry I can't be more specific than that:/

 

[moz71]

Yep, one candy button and another xenia-like one. I'm not sure on that ones name.

Ok do a large water change as others just said make sure your test kits are good and salt water using is in fact 1.026 If using API test kits for alk ca etc I struggle getting accurate reading from those.

 

[Arcrgirl]

Something with parameters just doesn’t seam
Right at all

testing error ? Expired test kit ?
if using salt water at 1.026 there should be some sort of cal
But with very low alk and ph
It should be addressed as soon as possible . I’d do a rather large water change after using a trusted lfs to assure what you’re resting Sg to be close To accurate .
Get them to test your water to see if they get the same results for cal and alk as well

Will do! Thanks!

 

[ScottR]

I have two clowns that have been in for almost 2 months and have been thriving. The lighting is the standard one that the tank came with as the local fish store doesn't have one in stock at the right size for my tank. Not sure on the wattage but they're very bright LEDs. Sorry I can't be more specific than that:/

I would really look into the lights. Even easy corals need proper lighting. Lighting in this hobby is the most expensive part. Lights can easily cost more than the tank itself.

 

[Arcrgirl]

Ok do a large water change as others just said make sure your test kits are good and salt water using is in fact 1.026 If using API test kits for alk ca etc I struggle getting accurate reading from those.

Will do, I'm not happy with the alk tester I have because its not super accurate, so I'll look into getting a new one today as well. Thanks so much!

 

[Hincapiej4]

The good thing is that soft corals like Xenia aren’t as affected by calcium. Doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be any, though. Sounds like it just needs to adjust to your params. However, you can certainly help it by bumping up the nitrates and phosphates.

Xenia might not care about the alk, but it will care about ph and it just took a major hit. That's why the xenia is so upset.

You need to fix your alk so that ph will come back up and stabilize.

Once you get it into a good range, you need to take about 3 days and test alk every day so you know what it's doing.

Preferably, all three major parameters.

 

[Arcrgirl]

I would really look into the lights. Even easy corals need proper lighting. Lighting in this hobby is the most expensive part. Lights can easily cost more than the tank itself.

I've read that lighting should be approx. 2 watts per gallon. Can you confirm that this is fairly accurate?