Frogspawn dying phosphates too high?

[JACKS REEF]

hey guys I am really sad right now I just can’t seem to find the reason why my favorite frogspawn coral in my tank seems to be receding. I have had him in my tank for a long time and he is seeming to close up now. I remember not liking the look of my scape and moving things around and adding another piece of live rock to my tank from one of my other tanks. I glued the frogspawn in a spot with low flow and ambient lighting. He didn’t open at all for like 4 days I was scared so I moved him to another spot and he seemed to like it there a little bit more and opened up more. I ended up leaving him in this spot. The frogspawn was still closed up and not fully pied so I asked my lfs they said my phosphates were a little high and gave me some gfo to run which I did. I am doing 10 gallon water changes every week and I don’t know what’s wrong. I tested my phosphates today and they read 0.25 - 0 ppm I don’t have a very accurate phosphate test so I am planning on upgrading. That’s all I got I can’t find out what’s wrong. Maybe it could be my top off water. I am using top off water that says it’s distilled water and it comes from a hose at my house could that be the source maybe there are meatless in the water or the water is just very bad. Can you guys please help me I am stuck right now.

 

[Sick_man]

hey guys I am really sad right now I just can’t seem to find the reason why my favorite frogspawn coral in my tank seems to be receding. I have had him in my tank for a long time and he is seeming to close up now. I remember not liking the look of my scape and moving things around and adding another piece of live rock to my tank from one of my other tanks. I glued the frogspawn in a spot with low flow and ambient lighting. He didn’t open at all for like 4 days I was scared so I moved him to another spot and he seemed to like it there a little bit more and opened up more. I ended up leaving him in this spot. The frogspawn was still closed up and not fully pied so I asked my lfs they said my phosphates were a little high and gave me some gfo to run which I did. I am doing 10 gallon water changes every week and I don’t know what’s wrong. I tested my phosphates today and they read 0.25 - 0 ppm I don’t have a very accurate phosphate test so I am planning on upgrading. That’s all I got I can’t find out what’s wrong. Maybe it could be my top off water. I am using top off water that says it’s distilled water and it comes from a hose at my house could that be the source maybe there are meatless in the water or the water is just very bad. Can you guys please help me I am stuck right now.

.25 phosphate is not gonna kill a frogspawn. post a picture

 

[MERKEY]

How old is your tank?

What are all of your parameters including salinity?

 

[SMSREEF]

Maybe it could be my top off water. I am using top off water that says it’s distilled water and it comes from a hose at my house could that be the source maybe there are meatless in the water or the water is just very bad.

I think this is the problem, because I don’t understand how distilled water could be coming out of a hose at your house. Very possibly metals in your water. You could do an ICP test and find out. ATI tests both your RODI water and saltwater.

Do you have a trusted store to get RODI water or saltwater from?

 

[JACKS REEF]

I think this is the problem, because I don’t understand how distilled water could be coming out of a hose at your house. Very possibly metals in your water. You could do an ICP test and find out. ATI tests both your RODI water and saltwater.

Do you have a trusted store to get RODI water or saltwater from?

Yes I have a trusted store that I get Rodi water from it’s my lfs

 

[JACKS REEF]

How old is your tank?

What are all of your parameters including salinity?

My tank is about a year and a half years old my salinity is 1.025
Alk 8.0
Calcium 450
Mag 1440

 

[Sick_man]

post a pic it would help us help u

 

[JACKS REEF]

post a pic it would help us help u

This pic was from yesterday morning when the coral was still opening up it gets a little bit bigger than that and that’s it

 

[Sick_man]

check if the heads are splitting. they usually look unhappy when they split

 

[JACKS REEF]

check if the heads are splitting. they usually look unhappy when they split

Yeah lights are out right now maybe you can see if it’s splitting

 

[Sick_man]

Kinda hard to tell but u should be able to tell if the head is in the middle of splitting. It exactly how it sounds.

 

[JACKS REEF]

Kinda hard to tell but u should be able to tell if the head is in the middle of splitting. It exactly how it sounds.

I have it in a low flow area and all my parameters are in check maybe should I check my top off water and see if that works. Maybe my frogspawn is still adjusting?

 

[SMSREEF]

Yes I have a trusted store that I get Rodi water from it’s my lfs

It probably would be good to use RODI from the store for top off water too, At least until you test the water at your house.

What is your nitrate level?

 

[JACKS REEF]

It probably would be good to use RODI from the store for top off water too, At least until you test the water at your house.

What is your nitrate level?

I don’t exactly know my nitrate levels I bought a salivary test kit it’s coming soon. Can I use distilled water from the grocery store because my lfs is far from home?

 

[Sick_man]

I don’t exactly know my nitrate levels I bought a salivary test kit it’s coming soon. Can I use distilled water from the grocery store because my lfs is far from home?

Yes that what i do. Be careful what brands to use because some use copper for distillation. Wal-mart's distilled water is generally trusted and what i use. its cheap too

 

[SMSREEF]

I don’t exactly know my nitrate levels I bought a salivary test kit it’s coming soon. Can I use distilled water from the grocery store because my lfs is far from home?

Yes, I used this when my RODI went bad. But like @Sick_man wrote a lot of people say it “may” have copper in it. I used from Walgreens, Did not have a problem, but never had it tested Either.

 

[fish farmer]

It may have not liked the move. It looks ok other than being closed up, you will know if a head is really receeding/dieing if all the brown tissue along the neck has retreated all the way to the top. Yours seems to still have a fleshy base with little babies popping out....also a vermetid snail on the right.

FWIW I have one hammer grew well with high phos and nitrates in my system and then when I cleaned them up, it didn't open as much.

 

[SMSREEF]

FWIW I have one hammer grew well with high phos and nitrates in my system and then when I cleaned them up, it didn't open as much.

Agree with you 100%. Only reason I asked about nitrate is to make sure it’s not 0. My corals suffer with 0 NO3 or 0 PO4
Doubtful with the higher phosphate, But you never know...

 

[vetteguy53081]

Moderate light and water flow is best. They do well at lower half of tank with feeding 2-3x per week
Assure not too much flow and that alk and ph are in range
In the pic, its retracted not dying

 

[fish farmer]

Agree with you 100%. Only reason I asked about nitrate is to make sure it’s not 0. My corals suffer with 0 NO3 or 0 PO4
Doubtful with the higher phosphate, But you never know...

True....but what is 0 nitrates on a Salifert kit with GHA/cheato growth in display/refuge? I don't fret over numbers anymore, I know some people chase numbers and when I hear "corals" suffer with low numbers or high numbers. I want a list of types and species since many have different tolerances.