Plate coral looks unhappy

Melinda01 · May 30, 2018

I noticed for the past couple of days the tentacles on my plate coral are not coming out. Today I came home and this is what it looks like. Any ideas what is going on?
Parameters
SG 1.024
Temp 80
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20
Calcium 410
Mag 1380
Alk 8.2
Ph 8.0

d2mini · May 30, 2018

Looks like it's losing tissue. I'm not seeing anything out of the ordinary in your parameters. How long have you had the plate? Any pests on it/under it? Any fish picking at it? Angel maybe?

Melinda01 · May 30, 2018

d2mini said:
Looks like it's losing tissue. I'm not seeing anything out of the ordinary in your parameters. How long have you had the plate? Any pests on it/under it? Any fish picking at it? Angel maybe?

The plate has been in since the beginning of March (the tank was fallow). I dipped it in Bayer before adding and seemed happy until the past couple of days. Haven’t seen any pests. I just added a linateus wrasse and a hooded fairy wrasse two weeks ago and a Yellow Eye Kole Tang Saturday. There is also an orchid dottyback in the tank.

myaniz24 · May 31, 2018

Could it be your nitrate levels? I noticed when I had higher nitrates my plate coral died as well.

Jimbo662 · May 31, 2018

I also notice my plates stop extending their polyps and shrink when the nitrates / phospahtes are too high. I was running an algae reactor that was keeping everything nice and low. I took it offline for about a month and noticed the plates reacting. Two weeks ago I put chaeto in the fuge and now that the levels are back down they're all out and happy.

Melinda01 · May 31, 2018

Jimbo662 said:
I also notice my plates stop extending their polyps and shrink when the nitrates / phospahtes are too high. I was running an algae reactor that was keeping everything nice and low. I took it offline for about a month and noticed the plates reacting. Two weeks ago I put chaeto in the fuge and now that the levels are back down they're all out and happy.

It is possible. I raised the nitrates and phosphates in an effort to battle the dreaded dianoflagullates. It worked. But could be the reason that the plate is unhappy. I’m going to do a 30% water change tomorrow and see if it helps. The phos is currently at .08. I’m going to try to get nitrate 5-10 and phos .04 or so and keep it there if possible. Hopefully that’ll be enough to keep the dinos at bay and make the corals happy again.

Melinda01 · May 31, 2018

myaniz24 said:
Could it be your nitrate levels? I noticed when I had higher nitrates my plate coral died as well.

It’s Possible. I’m going to do some water changes to try and lower them. I’ve gotta find a happy medium because when I bottomed my nitrate and phosphate out I got dinos. I have since elevated them to get rid of the dinos.