I think my toadstool is broken and forgot how to toadstool

[New&no clue]

I have had this toadstool for 8 months, and for the first 5 months it was doing really good and growing. Here is a picture of it from January.

Then one day it closed. I didn't think much of it. I have other soft corals and they shed often so I assumed that is what it was doing. However, after a week it still hadn't opened back up. I tried to point a power head to help it shed, sometimes my others in low flows get stuck. This didn't help either. So I left it for a couple weeks, it never fully opened again. I tried to move it to two other locations in the tank. I would leave it in its new spot for at least a month before moving again. It is clearly alive because it has grown a great deal from January. Also at night it shrinks down, and when the lights come on it grow, but it just wont fully extend its polyps.

Here is a picture of it now. The first one is right when lights come on, and the next is a couple hours into the day.

Here are my parameters

Salinity: 1.025
Alk: 8.3
Calc: 420
Mag: 1320
Nitrates: 20
Phosphates: 0.41

I've tried different flows and different light, it doesn't seem to change. I run Carbon and PhosGruad in media bags in the sump. The only thing that looks odd to me is the phosphates. Those have been high for a long time. Actually they are getting better, they were around .9 at one point.

Is it just a phosphate issue or am I missing something else?

 

[AquaPhilNJ]

Your tank is different than mine, maybe i'm not the best person. I have this feeling the toadstool is fine and is just going through a phase. I used to have one, actually don't want another, it will grow big easily with time.
I try to keep my tank at 1 ppm Nitrate, 0.03 Phosphate, right now i'm too low. May want to consider algae reactor/scrubber those can keep you nitrate so low water changes become optional. I actually use bio-pellets, much cheaper but you've probably heard the down sides.
I don't think that PhosGruad is working for you, besides expensive options like algae reactor, can dose brightwell aquatics phosphat-e, or buy GFO reactor I got mine from BRS (bulkreefsupply.com). I think most agree should be under 0.2, others say <0.03.

 

[Alarmguy66]

I've got a similar sized toadstool. Mine does the same, although for timeframes that are shorter (4 days is about the longest I can remember). In the second picture it doesn't look stressed, and all the other corals look good.The parameters you give don't really reflect any necessary adjustments to water quality. I'd give it some additional time, might just be the coral getting over some growing pains from its recent growth.

 

[emilio365]

Is that a Galaxy and a echinata around it? I know those two are aggressive. Maybe it’s getting stung by the galaxy coral at night.

 

[New&no clue]

Is that a Galaxy and a echinata around it? I know those two are aggressive. Maybe it’s getting stung by the galaxy coral at night.

Here is a FTS. The toadstool is on the back of the rock, not very close to the galaxea so I don't think it could reach it. Though I have heard they can have very long stinger tentacles so nothing is impossible. I've been questioning the flow. All three places it has been has low/medium flow. I'm wondering if it needs more flow on it?

 

[Flippers4pups]

My big monsters do this at night. Lights come on and back to normal.

 

[New&no clue]

My big monsters do this at night. Lights come on and back to normal.

That's my problem for the last 3 months it has never come back to normal.

 

[Flippers4pups]

That's my problem for the last 3 months it has never come back to normal.

Looks healthy. Could be not enough flow.

What's your water parameters?

 

[New&no clue]

Looks healthy. Could be not enough flow.

What's your water parameters?

Parameters are listed in my first post at the bottom.

I have been thinking maybe it is a flow issues. The places I've been moving have been low to medium flow. Maybe I should try something with a higher flow.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Parameters are listed in my first post at the bottom.

I have been thinking maybe it is a flow issues. The places I've been moving have been low to medium flow. Maybe I should try something with a higher flow.

Sorry was eating dinner. Maybe a little more flow.

 

[New&no clue]

Sorry was eating dinner. Maybe a little more flow.

Thanks I'll try that next and see if I can't get it to fully extend again.

 

[Ziggy10]

If you dose your tank with vodka I would say in this case lower a dosage!
it’s just a joke! Sorry!

 

[mav3rick478]

When I had a toadstool it loved flow. If his polyps aren't dancing it isn't enough flow. And that Galaxia is too close to it in my opinion, they should usually have at least an 8" perimeter of space.

 

[Birddog61]

Have you tried to coax it with spot feeding

 

[Leslie Tabor]

Hi! First let me say your tank is beautiful! I have many toadstools, and they do put but not generally that long. I would try more light, more flow. They really like a lot of both to be honest. See if that perks him up a bit!

 

[Gernader]

My toadstool is growing so fast! I don’t give it much light, give it medium to high flow, and keep it away from other corals!

 

[Alarmguy66]

Mine has been doing a similar thing, but like I said, for not as long. This morning I moved it into a higher flow area and within 30 minutes it was extending and waving its arms in the breeze. Maybe higher flow IS the answer. Its free to move it and find out.

 

[New&no clue]

Mine has been doing a similar thing, but like I said, for not as long. This morning I moved it into a higher flow area and within 30 minutes it was extending and waving its arms in the breeze. Maybe higher flow IS the answer. Its free to move it and find out.

I'm going to try that. I have a couple other corals I'd like to move as well. I try to do them all at the same time and then a big water change so my skimmer doesn't go crazy for a week. Hopefully this weekend I will have time to get them all moved around. I'll post an update

 

[MrZoaCrazy]

It might not like it’s placement mine did that when I first got it had to put mine in a high flow placement try moving it

 

[New&no clue]

I move it up higher with more flow and it seems to be extending its polyps more, however still not what it once was.