Frogspawn in trouble?

[beyer]

The past few days I’ve noticed my frogspawn retracted and now today I’ve noticed it looks pale or more white than usual. Could this be because of splitting or is there an issue I should deal with. Here are some pics as well as my parameters.




Ph - 8.3
Ammonia- 0
Mg - 1300
Alk- 11.3 DKH
Ca - 440
Temp - 78.5
Salinity- 1.024

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

 

[Crabs McJones]

What's your lighting?

 

[beyer]

It’s lower in PAR but was told by many it should grow frogspawn fine, it’s just not ideal. It’s a current orbit marine LED. I’ve also had the frogspawn for around 5 months and it’s seemed to be doing good. One is clearly trying to split down the middle and many new smaller heads have grown in those 5 months

 

[Mal11224]

It doesn't look too bad. From time to time they will do this. Did you adjust your lighting or flow recently or move it? Did you put your hands in the tank more than usual or something foreign? I have about 3 of them and I know that sometimes they can retract because of the things I mentioned. How are your nitrates? They usually require some nutrients to be present. Also, I would suggest a small water change in the meantime. Hopefully it will get back to normal.

 

[DSC reef]

What are your nitrates at? Thats pretty high alk, if the nutrients are low then that can be a problem as well.

 

[Crabs McJones]

It’s lower in PAR but was told by many it should grow frogspawn fine, it’s just not ideal. It’s a current orbit marine LED. I’ve also had the frogspawn for around 5 months and it’s seemed to be doing good. One is clearly trying to split down the middle and many new smaller heads have grown in those 5 months

Yeah, frogspawn don't need alot of par,just keep an eye on it, and see if it's flesh starts receding

 

[beyer]

My nitrates are very low. Looks undetectable using my basic API test kit. I try to spot feed about every 2 or 3 days thinking it may raise the nitrates a bit

 

[beyer]

What are your nitrates at? Thats pretty high alk, if the nutrients are low then that can be a problem as well.

What’s an ideal alk number?

 

[Mal11224]

If you have low nitrates then lower alk is recommended. This is how many people who have SPS only tanks run their systems. Soft corals and many LPS corals can withstand higher nutrients and a higher alk is fine. I have a mixed reef and run my alk at 9.0 dkh. If you spot feed then the nutrients may not necessarily be your issue especially if you had it for 5 months. a quick water change may help you avoid further regression.

 

[beyer]

So I think I may have found my culprit today when I was feeding my tank. I saw one of my red legged hermits actually crawl on top of one of the frogspawn, which I can only assume to get food. I quickly flicked him off. Is there a way to prevent this from happening?

 

[Mal11224]

So I think I may have found my culprit today when I was feeding my tank. I saw one of my red legged hermits actually crawl on top of one of the frogspawn, which I can only assume to get food. I quickly flicked him off. Is there a way to prevent this from happening?

May need to move it to the sump if it becomes a nuisance. Sometimes the creatures in the tank will crawl all over corals to get food.

 

[beyer]

Yeah, frogspawn don't need alot of par,just keep an eye on it, and see if it's flesh starts receding

Is this what you mean by its flesh receding? About a month ago it grew small frogspawn heads or buds (4 or 5) around the bases of the bigger frogspawns but as of lately it almost seems like the branches are either growing up the frogspawn or the flesh is dwindling away. I’m not sure how to stop this from happening. At first I thought this was just what happens when the heads split down the middle to grow bigger being how it seemed to be doing well and also grew those buds around its base. But lately it’s been scaring me with this what seems to be receding flesh, retracted heads, and white looking flesh. Here is what the two heads looked like about 2 or 3 months ago fully extended.