Please help me identify what is going on with this LPS?

[mjw88]

What is going on with this guy? The polyps were plump looking and now it kinda looks sickly. Did a water change, phosphates were a little high last week, .25 got them down to .1 with water change and phosphate remover. Any ideas?

 

[DeniseAndy]

Looks to be receding back. I see a toadstool in the picture and possibly some green slime. Those can be irritants to the coral and cause tissue damage and death. DIp in lugols if you have some or coral rx/Revive and place in a low flow/medium light area to heal. Make sure it is no where near other corals where it could be stung.
Could be being bothered by other inhabitants also. What all is in the tank?

 

[Lavey29]

Are you running carbon for the tank to mitigate the leather coral toxins?

 

[mjw88]

Looks to be receding back. I see a toadstool in the picture and possibly some green slime. Those can be irritants to the coral and cause tissue damage and death. DIp in lugols if you have some or coral rx/Revive and place in a low flow/medium light area to heal. Make sure it is no where near other corals where it could be stung.
Could be being bothered by other inhabitants also. What all is in the tank?

I have the toadstool, some Xenia’s, a lot of gsp and a few Zoas lower, and a rainbow bubble tip that has made his home on the other side, I have some blue hermits, 2 emerald crabs and a dozen or so mini starfish and 2 conch for cleanup, 2 clowns are the only fish present. I did have higher phosphates for about 2-3 weeks due to a faulty api test, got a salifert and found it was high, probably .25-.5, got it turned around quick, guessing it was why the green slime started up

 

[mjw88]

The toadstool was shedding, he’s doing just fine, other than that this is what my tank looks like rn, just the xenias have really shrunk up, and the green lps is looking ragged

 

[Lavey29]

What are your full parameters and light schedule?

 

[131696]

You took out phosphates to fast ,BRS talks about it with wwc video on YouTube today talking about montipora at the end. Little by little in this hobby big jumps causes problems.

 

[mjw88]

What are your full parameters and light schedule?

My lighting is blue in the morning for 2 hours and the white kicks on and runs for 6 hours then the blue runs an additional 2. They don’t dim but I have them in timers. Nitrates, nitrites and ammonia are all zero, phosphates are .1. Calcium is 370 Alk is 8

 

[mjw88]

Are you running carbon for the tank to mitigate the leather coral toxins?

Yes I have carbon bags I change out every 3 weeks

 

[Lavey29]

My lighting is blue in the morning for 2 hours and the white kicks on and runs for 6 hours then the blue runs an additional 2. They don’t dim but I have them in timers. Nitrates, nitrites and ammonia are all zero, phosphates are .1. Calcium is 370 Alk is 8

Your starving your corals with 0 nitrates and your calcium is a little low to. What is magnesium?

 

[Lavey29]

If corals are starving due to lack of nutrients such as nitrates it can take weeks or even months before the outward signs show, meanwhile they are slowly dying from the inside out.

 

[mjw88]

If corals are starving due to lack of nutrients such as nitrates it can take weeks or even months before the outward signs show, meanwhile they are slowly dying from the inside out.

I do target feed them reef roofs once per week, is this adequate? I was assuming I was possibly over feeding due to the algae growth and phosphate levels

 

[Lavey29]

I do target feed them reef roofs once per week, is this adequate? I was assuming I was possibly over feeding due to the algae growth and phosphate levels

No, roids is like vitamins for them not nutrition. Roids also really raises your phosphate level which leads to algae. It should be used very sparingly and once per week may be OK as long as you monitor your phosphate. Corals need nutrients and trace elements to thrive. LPS especially needs nitrate and keeping your nitrates at 10ppm would help them. Cal at 400 to 450, mag at 1350. Your trace elements would have to be tested via an ICP water test but generally weekly or bi weekly water changes replenish these. You can raise nitrates by feeding more or dosing neonitro and water changes every 2 weeks so your water dirtiest up a bit for your corals.

 

[DeniseAndy]

I agree. You need nitrates in the system. Also phosphates. The Xenia may also be bothering it being so close. I do not see where the flow is coming from, but make sure it is not direct or too strong for that coral.