New salty 29g biocube

Maybe but stability will be key for it to have a chance. It appears to still have polyps.

It looks even worse now. I'll have to take a picture in a little bit. I'll also check my alkalinity. I've been adding buffer to bring it up. I just got it to 7.5 dKh. I'd be surprised if I had a spike. Everything else looks super happy. Except my mushrooms. They bleached a few days before this and I moved them down. I'm hoping they'll come back still.
 
It looks even worse now. I'll have to take a picture in a little bit. I'll also check my alkalinity. I've been adding buffer to bring it up. I just got it to 7.5 dKh. I'd be surprised if I had a spike. Everything else looks super happy. Except my mushrooms. They bleached a few days before this and I moved them down. I'm hoping they'll come back still.
Softies are more resilient but if the poci or stylo is looking worse there is always hope but I wouldnt hold my breath.
 
It looks even worse now. I'll have to take a picture in a little bit. I'll also check my alkalinity. I've been adding buffer to bring it up. I just got it to 7.5 dKh. I'd be surprised if I had a spike. Everything else looks super happy. Except my mushrooms. They bleached a few days before this and I moved them down. I'm hoping they'll come back still.
Yea it looks like rtn. If there’s still any polyps, even 1 on the base, it has a chance :)

Mushrooms are indestructible as long as they don’t get lost under rocks, so I’m sure they will come back for you.

Keep your head up, it happens, good job being proactive and getting a new bulb, that will be good especially since the other one was so old. Your doing great, not your fault.
 
Is it possible that the coral bleached, not that the peppermint shrimp feasted on it? I had just put in a new lightbulb. The owner of the LFS seems to think it looked more like bleaching than being ate. This is what is look like before the peppermint shrimp were added. My mushrooms bleached before the new light bulb/shrimp, but the lightbulb hasn't been changed in years. It was the original I had when the tank was set up as fresh water.
cat's paw.jpg

I do not think it was bleached. Looking at the pic now, it appears there are still some polyps. That's good as should come back under good conditions.
 
BTW - in case you're wondering; RTN stands for Rapid Tissue Necrosis. It's often attributed to poor husbandry/water parameters. However, no one really knows why it happens as if can affect any aquariast at any time. Yeah, I know, not exactly a "sunshine and butterflies" thing to find out but you may as well learn the truth from the beginning.

More info is available but here are a few articles about RTN and STN (Slow Tissue Necrosis). These will help give you some insight.

https://www.9reef.com/blog/understanding-and-resolving-stn-and-rtn-on-sps-coral/

https://reefnation.com/coral-tissue-necrosis-stnrtn/

https://reefbum.com/instructional/rapid-tissue-necrosis-rtn-a-reef-keepers-nightmare/

https://reefbuilders.com/2013/06/05/rtn-sanjay-joshi/
 
I think it could come back. My decorator crab murdered my sps. I think enough picking at them can absolutely cause this. Just my opinion.
Looking at them funny can cause rtn! lol. Sticks are like saltwater cats. Very moody, can be awesome sometimes.
 
As a LFS owner I would like to add a few things....since this is your first saltwater tank I would strongly recommend not doing any more stony corals (SPS) or clams. If your LFS is pushing those to you find another place to shop. Try some beginner soft corals...kenya tree, green star polyps, leathers, mushrooms, zoas until you get the hang of it. Also, in a tank that size you do not need to do any fancy dosing of supplements. A small 5-10 gallon water change once or twice a month will keep your parameters in line. Unfortunately a lot of LFS will try to rip off new hobbyist and get as much money from their wallets before the customer flames out or gives up from frustration or the tank crashes from rushing things. Just my opinion...if you have any questions I would be glad to assist. Good luck:)
 
As a LFS owner I would like to add a few things....since this is your first saltwater tank I would strongly recommend not doing any more stony corals (SPS) or clams. If your LFS is pushing those to you find another place to shop. Try some beginner soft corals...kenya tree, green star polyps, leathers, mushrooms, zoas until you get the hang of it. Also, in a tank that size you do not need to do any fancy dosing of supplements. A small 5-10 gallon water change once or twice a month will keep your parameters in line. Unfortunately a lot of LFS will try to rip off new hobbyist and get as much money from their wallets before the customer flames out or gives up from frustration or the tank crashes from rushing things. Just my opinion...if you have any questions I would be glad to assist. Good luck:)
+1

Don't trust your LFS until they prove they can be trusted. Ask them for advice all you want but never without doing your own research to be sure what they're recommending is truly a good idea. Unfortunately there is a chance a LFS employee will say whatever they can to make a sale. Good news is, you have all the correct information at your fingertips - don't forget to use it :-)
 
BTW - in case you're wondering; RTN stands for Rapid Tissue Necrosis. It's often attributed to poor husbandry/water parameters. However, no one really knows why it happens as if can affect any aquariast at any time. Yeah, I know, not exactly a "sunshine and butterflies" thing to find out but you may as well learn the truth from the beginning.

More info is available but here are a few articles about RTN and STN (Slow Tissue Necrosis). These will help give you some insight.

https://www.9reef.com/blog/understanding-and-resolving-stn-and-rtn-on-sps-coral/

https://reefnation.com/coral-tissue-necrosis-stnrtn/

https://reefbum.com/instructional/rapid-tissue-necrosis-rtn-a-reef-keepers-nightmare/

https://reefbuilders.com/2013/06/05/rtn-sanjay-joshi/

Thanks for the articles, ive been trying to read up on it in my free time. I have a journal article I need to resubmit and just got a text book chapter accepted in my really life. Haven’t had much time to stare at my fish tank. Next stage in life: how can I make money by staring at my fish tank? [emoji1]
 
Honestly, I’m not sure what is lps versus sps. When I first got these corals, I didn’t even know their names.

Either way, I have a pattern of bads happening. The first to go wonky was my mint green frogspawn euphyllia. It opened up great within minutes. The dark green frogspawn look bad initially, but was beautiful in about 5 days and has had no problems. When the mint green one started to look bad, I thought it had died, because the dark green one looked so good. The LFS owner said it was in shock because it had been fragged from a much larger piece and I had gotten a drag that was on the bottom of the bigger coral. He said to give it a few weeks, but gave me a small mushrooms frag, in case it didn’t come back. The shock wore off, and now the mint green frogspawn looks amazing.

Next was those mushrooms. I hadn’t done anything but normal water changes. I posted a thread and was prompted to move it lower cause it was bleaching. I was also told to get food for it. I bought benepets reef food and have fed the corals about twice a week with it.

After the mushrooms went weird, I changed my light bulb - someone suggested it might not be getting the full spectrum of light. I have never changed the bulb and I’ve had the tank for nearly 4 years. It had been a fresh water tank until this year, when I switched to salt water. (I did consider just buying a bigger tank and starting with all new equipment, but thought it would be better to learn with something I already had before I made a bigger investment and made massive mistakes that would hurt my wallet more. [emoji39])

That’s when the cat’s paw started looking funny. I had some aipstasia and had just gotten the peppermint shrimp, so I blamed it on them, until someone here suggested it was RTN.

THEN yesterday, I noticed that my acans were looking funny. I moved them lower in the tank. They look even worse this morning.

The mushrooms were fine for a few days, but went downhill pretty quickly - I figured it was just bad luck with them. However, the cat’s paw and acans were growing very nicely. I’m so confused.

Recap on the things I have done over the weeks leading up to this:

-weekly 10% water changes
-I have dosed to increase ph/alkalinity, cause both of those were low. But I’ve only done this twice and 2 weeks apart with a very small amount: brought alkalinity up .5 each time and ph to 8.2 last and 8.0 the first time from 7.8.
-got peppermint shrimp for aipstasia
-put in a new light bulb
-mushrooms were a new addition (given to me)
-zoas on hitchhiker oyster was the last new addition (given to me)

I’m also going to attach my parameter graphs at the bottom. Maybe there’s something else I need to be testing or testing more frequently? Or maybe it’s just bad luck? Any ideas or positive vibes would be appreciated! [emoji5]


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As a LFS owner I would like to add a few things....since this is your first saltwater tank I would strongly recommend not doing any more stony corals (SPS) or clams. If your LFS is pushing those to you find another place to shop. Try some beginner soft corals...kenya tree, green star polyps, leathers, mushrooms, zoas until you get the hang of it. Also, in a tank that size you do not need to do any fancy dosing of supplements. A small 5-10 gallon water change once or twice a month will keep your parameters in line. Unfortunately a lot of LFS will try to rip off new hobbyist and get as much money from their wallets before the customer flames out or gives up from frustration or the tank crashes from rushing things. Just my opinion...if you have any questions I would be glad to assist. Good luck:)

I am not sure which ones are SPS or LPS. I do have a green star polyp, 2 frogspawn euphyllia, my acans WERE growing nicely, and then this coral... I have no clue what it is. It's color might not be as bright either, but I may be imagining it with everything going on. Good thing I take pictures and videos of my tank constantly. :P I thought I was being silly, but I appreciate being able to compare the differences now.

I feel like the LFS I've been going to has been pretty decent. There's been a few times I've gone in and got something and he's asked me why I was buying it - like the Aipstasia-X. He said to get peppermint shrimp cause they were cheaper and that I should avoid putting external chemicals in as much a possible AND cause the aipstasia was so small.. When I went to buy the extra chemical testing kits, he told me I could just bring the water to them and they'd test it for free - the store is about 10 minutes from my house, so it is super convenient. I said I felt better being able to do it myself and went ahead and purchased the calcium, magnesium, and phosphate kits. He's also encouraged me to buy smaller frags from the cheaper tanks. There was a $150 coral I really wanted and he said to give it a few months to a year before I buy something that large. I def don't feel pressured to buy anything there. More, I feel like I'm having to justify why I want to buy what I'm buying. :) Which I appreciate, cause it's forcing me to learn a bit faster.

Honestly, I'm shocked how much I don't know about keeping a salt water tank. I thought it would be pretty easy. I've always kept fresh water tanks and minored in geophysics (large emphasis on ocean chemistry) and interned at the Georgia Aquarium in undergrad (years ago). I've done research with ocean animals, though I wasn't keeping them, I was collecting slime to study for it's antimicrobial properties. I'm FULL of theory. Guess that's why experience trumps theory - cause I know nearly nothing about keeping my own very SIMPLE tank. :) I am very grateful for this community though. I am learning a TON!

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IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

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