Paly not doing well

[Colin_1122]

not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I got a Paly about a week ago and it’s not doing well at all. It only has two heads and one closed almost immediately and still has not opened, the other head closed several days later and is also still closed. The outside of the palys turned a weird red color and they seem to be swelling. Not sure what the problem is and I don’t know if it’s too late to save them or not, can anybody help this pic is from a few days ago, it’s gotten worse since

 

[Sean Duggan]

Can you post your parameters? And when you said the outside of the paly turned a weird red color, is there algae growing on them? And what type of lighting do you use/par levels?

 

[Colin_1122]

Can you post your parameters? And when you said the outside of the paly turned a weird red color, is there algae growing on them? And what type of lighting do you use/par levels?

Water seems ok,
Ammonia- 0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 0-5
pH- 8
Salinity- 1.026
I have a torch and gsp that seems to be doing very well, added a hammer and firefish last night that are both doing good as well. I’m hoping those will add some more bioload, i don’t know if nitrates might be the issue. I have an ai prime 16hd mounted about 8” off the surface. The tank is 16” deep. I started the poly on the sand bed on 40% acclimation settings. People told me it wasn’t getting enough light so I’ve moved it next to my torch at 50% acclimation settings. Here’s a pic from today (the water is super cloudy, I could use help with that too)

 

[Sean Duggan]

Okay few things to help you out. First thing is it looks like an algae is growing on your zoas. That can irritate the zoa and cause it not to open up. Take a turkey Bastet and just blow it off. When you say your acclimating you’re lights are you clocking the acclimate button in the app so they run at half power? What are you using to test your salinity? I would also invest in a better test kit API isn’t the best. Imo Hannah Or Red Sea work really well. Also you’re going to need to invest in a test kit for Cal and Alk if you’re going to be keeping LPS and dosing to keep levels in check eventually. And the cloudiness might be a bacterial bloom did you cycle your tank?

 

[Colin_1122]

Okay few things to help you out. First thing is it looks like an algae is growing on your zoas. That can irritate the zoa and cause it not to open up. Take a turkey Bastet and just blow it off. When you say your acclimating you’re lights are you clocking the acclimate button in the app so they run at half power? What are you using to test your salinity? I would also invest in a better test kit API isn’t the best. Imo Hannah Or Red Sea work really well. Also you’re going to need to invest in a test kit for Cal and Alk if you’re going to be keeping LPS and dosing to keep levels in check eventually. And the cloudiness might be a bacterial bloom did you cycle your tank?

The tank has been up for a little over a month so I’m thinking the cloudy water is from an algae bloom. I’m using a Hanna digital refractometer for the salinity. Thanks for the help! Do you think the spot they’re in right now is ok for them? Here is a fts, they are to the left near the torch, it’s hard to tell from the pic

 

[Sean Duggan]

Add an air stone to the tank. Algae blooms can quickly deplete the oxygen in your tank and suffocate your fish. Especially since you have no surface agitation. And I high suggest to immediately put a cover of some sort on the tank with a fire fish. Otherwise you will probably find him on the floor

 

[Colin_1122]

Add an air stone to the tank. Algae blooms can quickly deplete the oxygen in your tank and suffocate your fish. Especially since you have no surface agitation. And I high suggest to immediately put a cover of some sort on the tank with a fire fish. Otherwise you will probably find him on the floor

Yeah I have a lid for the firefish and I’ll try to adjust the return nozzles to get more surface agitation. As far as lighting goes, do you think that is the problem?

 

[Colin_1122]

Add an air stone to the tank. Algae blooms can quickly deplete the oxygen in your tank and suffocate your fish. Especially since you have no surface agitation. And I high suggest to immediately put a cover of some sort on the tank with a fire fish. Otherwise you will probably find him on the floor

Also at the time I took this pic I was feeding the firefish so the pumps were off, normally there is some surface agitation

 

[Colin_1122]

Still hasn’t opened or anything. Do you think it is dead?