Palys not looking too good

[TehBrainz]

So I just noticed tonight how thin and depressed my colony of palys is looking. Tbh I haven't been spending much time inspecting things as I should and have only been checking parameters and doing the basics; feeding, Filter socks, ato tip-off, skimmer cup clean, etc.

Everything else in the tank is look pretty darn good and this colony has exploded over the last year so not really sure what's going on.

Parameters (measured yesterday) are:

Salinity - 1.026
Alk - 8.7
Cal - 410
Mag - 1440
Phos - 0.085
Nitrate - ~15

 

[thereefhotspot]

My guess would be that some of your trace elements may be getting low, specifically iodine levels. You can combat this issue by dosing lugols solution, and trace element solutions like the tropic marin A- and K+. Doing weekly 10% water changes with a high-quality salt will also help. Another issue may be a lack of "food" in the water column. You can use phytoplankton, rotifers, oyster feast, reef roids, amino acids, all kinds of stuff really. Just make sure you don't use too many foods or your nutrients will get out of wack!

- Gavin

 

[shakacuz]

i addition to the above, maybe lighting is too low in that area? wherever you may have gotten them from could have been using higher PAR.

 

[TehBrainz]

My guess would be that some of your trace elements may be getting low, specifically iodine levels. You can combat this issue by dosing lugols solution, and trace element solutions like the tropic marin A- and K+. Doing weekly 10% water changes with a high-quality salt will also help. Another issue may be a lack of "food" in the water column. You can use phytoplankton, rotifers, oyster feast, reef roids, amino acids, all kinds of stuff really. Just make sure you don't use too many foods or your nutrients will get out of wack!

- Gavin

i addition to the above, maybe lighting is too low in that area? wherever you may have gotten them from could have been using higher PAR.

I've had this colony for nearly 2 years and the only thing I've changed was a tank upgrade back around June (75g to 210g). I upgraded lighting also but everything's been good until recently as far as I could tell. I just started dosing reef energy + as well, ~40ml/day. I wouldn't think that to be a culprit. Especially since my various zoa colonies are doing well. I feed pellets twice a day and a cube of San Fran Brine and Emerald mix daily. Havent changed that in over 2 years either. Come to think of it, I have been slacking on my reef roids feeding a couple times weekly...think that could be a part of it?

 

[shakacuz]

Come to think of it, I have been slacking on my reef roids feeding a couple times weekly...think that could be a part of it?

perhaps?

 

[TehBrainz]

perhaps?

This is weird. I'll look into some phyto too after picking that back up.

 

[thereefhotspot]

I've had this colony for nearly 2 years and the only thing I've changed was a tank upgrade back around June (75g to 210g). I upgraded lighting also but everything's been good until recently as far as I could tell. I just started dosing reef energy + as well, ~40ml/day. I wouldn't think that to be a culprit. Especially since my various zoa colonies are doing well. I feed pellets twice a day and a cube of San Fran Brine and Emerald mix daily. Havent changed that in over 2 years either. Come to think of it, I have been slacking on my reef roids feeding a couple times weekly...think that could be a part of it?

Sounds like a plan! The key is just to make any changes slowly as to not shock your system.

 

[TehBrainz]

Sounds like a plan! The key is just to make any changes slowly as to not shock your system.

For sure, I definitely know the "slow" game in the hobby. Unfortunately most do not. Everything's been growing great since the upgrade (including these palys) until recently with no big change on my end, so who knows. I'm wondering if my decrease in reef roids was part of the issue. I'll start picking up my 2x weekly feedings again tomorrow and see how things go. Probably change out the carbon as a safety net also