LPS's Dying but SPS's Thriving

[aschwarc]

Hi,
I have been keeping my mixed lps sps tank for over a year. About six weeks ago all my Acans, Chalices, and Favias started to recede. My SPS are doing amazing. They have been growing and have really nice color. My parameters are
38 gallon cube
Alk 8.6
Ca 420
Salinity 1.026 but moved to 1.024 this week.
Temp 80
Mg- 1320
The Acans and chalices are spread all over the tank and are all dying at a constant rate. I have no crabs. only 3 fish a yellow corps wrasse, Pajama Cardinal, And a chromis. None of the corals are bleached or browned out they are just receding. I feed once a week about half a cube. I have a refugium set up and a reef octopus HOB BH 1000 Skimmer. I have a combo of T5's that put out about a hundred watts.I dose twice daily with B-ionic to keep the levels constant. I have tried everything and I have no idea what this could be. This is really bugging me I thought that the SPS's would die first. Any help would be great. Thanks

 

[JFrar]

I've been having the same issue with my LPS(although mine are not receding, they just don't look as good as they should if they were thriving), softies and SPS do great, LPS im having a hard time, although 1 chalice is thriving.... I have not researched too much but kinda have some knowledge. 1 thing i did was put my skimmer on a timer so it does not run 24/7, it runs about 4-6 hours a day. I've also started feeding my fish more to try to put extra nutrition in my tank(i cannot get a detectable amount of nitrates, always 0.0x).

1 thing i SHOULD be doing but i just dont do it often enough is spot feed the LPS, when i spot feed my duncans and lobos they go crazy for it....Neways, figured i'd chime my 2 cents in since im in the same bucket lol.

 

[JFrar]

Oh, and i don't have any experience with acans, I failed with 1. had one with about 7 heads and it VERy slowly died over a course of 6-8 months. I think my tank will slowly turn into a SPS/softy and i might start trading my LPS for more suitable corals for my tank

 

[phillrodrigo]

If you ate once a week what would happen to you. You would start to recede. Lps need a slightly elevated nutrient level. Start feeding 2 a day. Your fish have to be skinny

 

[aschwarc]

Thanks for the replies. I had an algae problem in the summer so I slowed down with the feeding and Upgraded my skimmer. Do you think the water can be too clean for the LPS? Is that possible?
I keep an eye on my fish they definitly are not too skinny. My coris wrasse Looks very well fed and I my chromis and pajama cardinal get a few pellets periodically

 

[Tab28]

+1 they may just exhausted the food supply. Depending on your lighting at the level you keep your LPS. It may not be enough to nourish them.

LPS living in lower light levels are supplemented by additional nutrients in water. LPS living at higher light levels like euphyllia or trachys would get more supplement from light than chalices or acans.

 

[aschwarc]

I think I am going to try to put my skimmer on a timer and increase the feeding to help resupply the nutrients.

 

[Tab28]

Be careful, the sps will not like if nutrients get too high. Maybe just feeding a few times a week. Turning off pumps at feeding and spot feeding may by enough. Watch nitrates do not go above 10 and phosphates not above 0.03. Both sps and lps can be happy.

 

[aschwarc]

Has anyone ever seen a yellow coris wrasse eat LPS coral?

 

[Scribe]

My rainbow Acans are shrinking a ton...,and I have a Corris Wrasse...could that be it? I can't say I've seen the wrasse bothering them though,

 

[Junkie]

Many lps benefit greatly from spot feeding, especially acans and chalices. Try feeding them some mysis or other meaty fare once a week to once every other week and I'm sure you'll see a good results.

 

[Tab28]

Has anyone ever seen a yellow coris wrasse eat LPS coral?

I use to have that wrasse and never saw it bother any corals. Now feather dusters are another thing. It may pick at sand around frag plugs. All wrasse i ever owned loved searching for bristle worms.

 

[aschwarc]

Has anyone had issue with stray voltage in the tank? Can that be something that would slowly cause my coral to die without bleaching first?

 

[shlap]

My rainbow Acans are shrinking a ton...,and I have a Corris Wrasse...could that be it? I can't say I've seen the wrasse bothering them though

I think the most likely cause is a predator picking at your LPS but not the SPS. My Moorish Idol picks at Acans and Zoas but not enough to kill them quickly. nThey just look crappy for months and evetually die. My SPS look great though

Has anyone had issue with stray voltage in the tank? Can that be something that would slowly cause my coral to die without bleaching first?

Yes absolutely. If you have SPS they'll RTN/STN with stray voltage before you see any sign of stress.

 

[aschwarc]

What is RTN/STN?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What is RTN/STN?

Rapid Tissue Necrosis
Slow Tissue Necrosis

Usually only used for SPS corals.

Tissue dies and falls off, either rapidly (hours to a few days) or slow (days to weeks).

 

[wangspeed]

Do you have any shrimp? They tend to be notorious about stealing food from LPS. I have a peppermint that I somewhat regret getting, because he prevents me from directly feeding my LPS. Might not be so bad, because I can turn it into SPS and zoa only