Plate corals

[jboone82590]

Not sure where to post this at If it's in the wrong place please move it and let me know Thanks

I have 2 plate corals that iv had for around 2 months.
At first they did awesome and they looked great.
Now they have white spots on them where they used to be green and orange I think they are dieing.
I'm wondering if I should take them out or leave them in.
I had a spike of nitrates a while back and I have now got that under control and everything looked good the other day.

 

[redfishbluefish]

What are you doing to maintain alk and calc? And what levels of alk and calc do you have?

 

[jboone82590]

My alk was a little high but my Calc was low and I got instant ocean Calc for raising it and I have kept it in the low 400 high 300 range for a while now and nothing has changed they are still turning white

 

[kendavjac]

Post your all your test result #'s and some pictures. Hard to diagnose without.

 

[jboone82590]

All of my legals where fine I didint right then down last time because I was in a rush but nothing was off by much If at all

 

[dbl]

I'm no expert so please wait for others to respond, but it appears these are "up" on the rocks, thus potentially getting a lot of light. I only mention this because I had a plate sitting on the sand bed but getting full light exposure that started to discolor. Instinctively I thought too much light, so I moved it to another area with a little less light. In a short time, it colored back up and is doing great.

Again, this is only my experience, I'm only putting this out there as a potential issue, so let's see what others might have to say.

 

[jboone82590]

Thanks for the info and I have them up there because they keep getting covered up by my diomond goby and I can't keep them uncovered

 

[dbl]

Understood, and as I said, lighting may not even have anything to do with it. Let's see if @melypr1985 has any thoughts.

 

[jsker]

Check your trace elements, and from my research instant ocean is in consistent from batch to batch of salt, so possibly the plate corals are not getting what they need to be happy

 

[cnseekatz]

Those plates appear to be dead in those photos.

Generally, fungia should be placed in the soft sandy substrate, as they do move, and their tissue is delicate (even on the bottom). Their tissue can be damaged on the sharp surfaces of the rock. Don't worry about them getting some sand on them, they can remove sand from their surface. They also prefer lower light conditions, and don't want to be blasted with high flow.

 

[FL_Reefer]

Yes they are on their way out but do not take them out. It could very well be from a problem with your par. But if you leave them in they might sprout babies. I had this just happen. My par. We're perfect so I just left it in a bam! Like 16 babies sprouted. But in the mean time check all par. Just to be safe too

 

[melypr1985]

Yes, plates need to be on the sand bed in lower light than most corals. You can also feed them like any other LPS coral. My first action here would be to move them to the sand bed on the sides of the tank where there is less direct light.

 

[jboone82590]

They don't just get a little sand on them. My diomand goby is an butt so he completely covers them with a lot of sand and they don't get any light. I have tried to move them around the tank and nothing seems to help them I have checked my trace elements and everything is fine I did have a bad spike of nitrates and I got that under control I don't know what else to do I really like them and want the in my tank I just don't want them to mess anything else up.

 

[BlacknBlue2]

get rid of the diamond goby, I had the same issue and I loved the goby dearly, but it was causing nothing but problems, so on that note I will never own another unless I go Fowler

 

[saltyphish]

I bought a green plate last year and it bleached really quickly under what I would consider low moderate lighting on the sand bed. I moved mine out from the light off to the side away from direct lighting and fed it meaty foods weekly. Now it is back to being bright neon green.

 

[BlacknBlue2]

lower light, less water flow and most definitely feed it, I did mysis shrimp and it swallowed it with no problems

 

[jboone82590]

They ate great when I got them and it's just been down hill from there

 

[jboone82590]

Just did a water test and everything was fine except my calcium was low so I'm going to add some here in a min. I moved them to be kind of under the rocks and plugged some of the holes so I hope the goby will leave them alone and I'll see what happens thanks for all yhe help everyone

 

[jboone82590]

Also did a 8 gallon water change

 

[RMS18]

It's always better to give corals less light than to much light. I lost a plate for same reason, moved it to lower light but it was to far gone. I gave another one a shot and the best way to tell if it's happy is if it extends it's tenticles imo.