Pink Goniopora retracted

[Ree0712]

Hi all. Hopefully nothing to worry about but thought I would ask for some advice just incase. I had this pink Goniopora in the tank for a few weeks and had been open and fine. About a week ago it fully retracted into its skeleton and hasn’t come back out. Any ideas why I can do?

I have been checking my parameters and my salinity did drop briefly (approximately 1.019) when I got my new Hanna salinity pen but this has now been rectified and has been stable for about 4 days now. As per the picture.

I’m hoping I just need to be patient with it but ‍

 

[TheDuude]

Is that your typical Mag lvl? I find LPS like elevated mag.

Also, are you still increasing salinity? Target should be 1.026

 

[Borat]

gonipora needs an established tank, how young is your tank?

 

[Lavey29]

Agree with the above and you have bottomed out nutrients levels for LPS so your corals are starving to death.

 

[Ree0712]

Is that your typical Mag lvl? I find LPS like elevated mag.

Also, are you still increasing salinity? Target should be 1.026

When the salinity dropped the mag did also. It is normally around the 1300-1350. I am slowly bringing the salinity up, it used to be always around 1.025 so I am trying to get back to around there. The tank isn’t all that old in all honesty, approx 10 months maybe. I have calcium, magnesium etc I can dose but I don’t want to just dump it in to bring it back up. I have been doing it slowly daily

 

[TheDuude]

Agree with the above and you have bottomed out nutrients levels for LPS so your corals are starving to death.

+ 1 im at 0.3 Po4 and 15 No3 and my Goni are doing OK, not very fast but I am seeing growth.

 

[Lavey29]

+ 1 im at 0.3 Po4 and 15 No3 and my Goni are doing OK, not very fast but I am seeing growth.

My numbers are the same. Gonis are some of my favorite corals.

 

[Ree0712]

Agree with the above and you have bottomed out nutrients levels for LPS so your corals are starving to death.

What would you suggest I aim for in your opinion? I know things react and grow different in different set ups but just something to aim for I guess

 

[Lavey29]

What would you suggest I aim for in your opinion? I know things react and grow different in different set ups but just something to aim for I guess

I have an SPS dominant mixed reef with a lot of LPS. I like nitrates 10 to 15 and phosphate is .26 now but I'd prefer. 1 to .2. I have found letting the tank decide its sweet spot works out best for stability.

 

[Ree0712]

I have an SPS dominant mixed reef with a lot of LPS. I like nitrates 10 to 15 and phosphate is .26 now but I'd prefer. 1 to .2. I have found letting the tank decide its sweet spot works out best for stability.

I don’t have a huge amount in the tank corals wise. I have an encrusting monti, a
Jack-o-lantern Leptoseris, two fungia and a few diffent colour zoas. Suggest getting the nitrate up a little then?

 

[Lavey29]

I don’t have a huge amount in the tank corals wise. I have an encrusting monti, a
Jack-o-lantern Leptoseris, two fungia and a few diffent colour zoas. Suggest getting the nitrate up a little then?

Only if you want your corals to live longer then short term. At least 5 to 10 for those corals in addition to correcting the other aforementioned areas.

 

[TheDuude]

keep in mind you may be best off dosing nitrates when the tank is young. IME, dry rock especially, the tank will suck up Nitrates for a while after the cycle before it stabilizes. I think many times the bottled bacteria we use to jump-start new dry rock tanks is almost too efficient for young tanks.

 

[Ree0712]

keep in mind you may be best off dosing nitrates when the tank is young. IME, dry rock especially, the tank will suck up Nitrates for a while after the cycle before it stabilizes. I think many times the bottled bacteria we use to jump-start new dry rock tanks is almost too efficient for young tanks.

What would be best to use?

 

[Ree0712]

What would be best to use?

Or could I try to take out a mantis block and let it rise that way? Reduce the amount of filtration in the tank? Sorry if this is a silly question

 

[exnisstech]

Sometimes certain coral will thrive in one person's tank and die in another's. I'm in the latter when it comes to goni, can't keep them alive no matter what. High nutrients low nutrients different light flow etc. They just wither away while other lps thrive. Last batch I tried where cultured in a fellow members tank and thriving there. Looked good for a few weeks then stopped extending and died. This tank at the time was 7 years old with NO3 15 PO4 0.4 alk 8.0-8.3 pH 8.3 when tested. Just saying

 

[Lavey29]

What would be best to use?

I had to double dose neophos and neonitro for multiple months before I got measurable numbers when my tank was young.

 

[Lavey29]

Sometimes certain coral will thrive in one person's tank and die in another's. I'm in the latter when it comes to goni, can't keep them alive no matter what. High nutrients low nutrients different light flow etc. They just wither away while other lps thrive. Last batch I tried where cultured in a fellow members tank and thriving there. Looked good for a few weeks then stopped extending and died. This tank at the time was 7 years old with NO3 15 PO4 0.4 alk 8.0-8.3 pH 8.3 when tested. Just saying

Funny how we all have a couple types of corals that just don't work in the tank.

 

[Lavey29]

Or could I try to take out a mantis block and let it rise that way? Reduce the amount of filtration in the tank? Sorry if this is a silly question

The easiest way to start is just feed fish more. Frozen will raise nitrates. Feed corals reef roids or similar once or twice a week will raise phosphate.

 

[TheDuude]

The easiest way to start is just feed fish more. Frozen will raise nitrates. Feed corals reef roids or similar once or twice a week will raise phosphate.

Agree but in a young tank I think dosing nutrients results in less nuisance algae and detritus build up than overfeeding. I still dose a small amount of No3 throughout the week to keep my lvls where i want them despite heavy feeding

 

[Borat]

Some people struggle to keep gonipora even in mature tanks.. I had introduced 3 varieties a few months ago, my tank is 4.5 years old with SPS only (90% acropora, 10% montipora) - even then only 2 made it to now with one colony having slowly melted away..

So chances that yours will survive long term are probably not very high. Better to start with some hardier corals in my experience, before introducing corals that are more difficult to keep.