Polyp Bailout Advice

[Sova]

This is heartbreaking for my family, but we have recently had very bad luck with polyp bailout.
Our water parameters are fine and we do dip our corals so we are not sure what is going on but wanted to look for advice before venturing out again for new corals.
All of these bailouts happened at different times.
1. My frogspawn (had it for 1 month and then bailout happened)
2. Peach Hammer (2 months then bailout happened)
3. Duncan (3 months then bailout)

During this time I have had a green hammer coral and have never had an issue.

My orange plate and my red flower pot are now starting to look bad and would appreciate any advice the community has to offer.

Thank you!

 

[ISFNick]

What exactly are your water parameters?
How long have they been in the tank?
How is the lighting and flow(what equipment)?
Tank size and livestock?
How long has your tank been set up?

More details needed to come to a conclusion!

 

[ahiggins]

I’m sorry if this sounds rude but “perfect” parameters is darn near impossible if you’re having multiple bail out incidents. One incident...maybe.
Something is super stressing them out for them to feel like the only way to survive is to destroy itself to propagate elsewhere. Whether it’s lights, water, predators-something else is going on.

 

[Sova]

Sure!
Tank is 2.5 years old, 90g display with 35g sump
Radions (the same ones WWC use and with their schedule)

Flow: Icecaps 1K two of them one goes the length of the tank the other the width. They have a schedule and are not running at the same time.

2 small tangs, 2 clowns, blue spotted goby, melanarus wrasse, fox face, blue hermits, snails

SG: 1.025
pH: 8.2
Nitrate: 15
KH: 11
Ca: 440

Thank you!

 

[Sova]

I’m sorry if this sounds rude but “perfect” parameters is darn near impossible if you’re having multiple bail out incidents. One incident...maybe.
Something is super stressing them out for them to feel like the only way to survive is to destroy itself to propagate elsewhere. Whether it’s lights, water, predators-something else is going on.

Nope not rude. I keep asking at LFS and keep getting told it just happens and nothing is wrong. So I wanted to ask this community.

 

[BobbyCline]

Phosphates?

 

[Sova]

Nope not rude. I keep asking at LFS and keep getting told it just happens and nothing is wrong. So I wanted to ask this community.

Phosphates?

We have not tested for phosphate in a while once we started our gfo and did not have any issues. I can pick up an test and check them this week!

 

[BobbyCline]

GFO can sometimes be too efficient and zero out your phosphates. Too low (zero) is not ideal and a little GFO goes a long way. I use GFO and test phosphate levels weekly. Just as important as testing nitrates in my opinion.

Bobby

 

[Sova]

GFO can sometimes be too efficient and zero out your phosphates. Too low (zero) is not ideal and a little GFO goes a long way. I use GFO and test phosphate levels weekly. Just as important as testing nitrates in my opinion.

Bobby

Thank you! I will add this into my weekly testing! I really appreciate the advice. What levels do you try to keep your phosphates at?

 

[ISFNick]

parameter swings can cause bailout. Not sure how stable your parameters are

 

[Sova]

parameter swings can cause bailout. Not sure how stable your parameters are

Everything is pretty steady except for the KH. Sometimes our KH will tend to swing. Not sure why but we started testing weekly to try to catch it faster.

 

[kyleinpdx]

Nope not rude. I keep asking at LFS and keep getting told it just happens and nothing is wrong. So I wanted to ask this community.

po4 is probably the 2nd most important parameter to keep on top of, next only to alk. too high and too low are both bad for different reasons.

 

[ISFNick]

Everything is pretty steady except for the KH. Sometimes our KH will tend to swing. Not sure why but we started testing weekly to try to catch it faster.

It's possible that that may be it. I've had some bailout/mortality around the same time as alk swings

 

[Sova]

Thank you everyone! I will test the phosphate level tomorrow. I honestly do not want to invest in additional corals until I figure out what is going on. It is heartbreaking to loose the corals and I want to ensure we are setting them up for success. Thank you all for the advice!

 

[BobbyCline]

Thank you! I will add this into my weekly testing! I really appreciate the advice. What levels do you try to keep your phosphates at?

I use GFO in media reactor. I measure phosphates with the Hanna ULR checker. I try to stay between 0.05 and 0.1

Fall below 0.05 and I turn off the reactor.
Rise above 0.1 and I turn it on.
If it rises above 0.1 and the reactor is on I change the GFO.

 

[BobbyCline]

Just one or the other (phosphates or alkalinity) being unbalanced is not the end of the world, but 2 essential parameters out of line could be pretty problematic.

 

[legrunt]

Also, check for stray voltage.

 

[ahiggins]

Nope not rude. I keep asking at LFS and keep getting told it just happens and nothing is wrong. So I wanted to ask this community.

Oh lordy. This definitely not normal. You need to fire your lfs
I’ve put my corals through some s$@& over the years and I’ve never had bailout. I can’t tell you what caused it but it has to be pretty sharp and extreme for multiples to do it like that

 

[Sova]

Oh lordy. This definitely not normal. You need to fire your lfs
I’ve put my corals through some s$@& over the years and I’ve never had bailout. I can’t tell you what caused it but it has to be pretty sharp and extreme for multiples to do it like that

We love our LFS, but we also know everyone doesnt know everything. We are going to keep a closer watch on our parameters.

 

[Joedubyk]

GFO can sometimes be too efficient and zero out your phosphates. Too low (zero) is not ideal and a little GFO goes a long way. I use GFO and test phosphate levels weekly. Just as important as testing nitrates in my opinion.

Bobby

This x 10000. If your phosphates are far too low, it will destroy your tank.

Not testing phosphates while running GFO is a huge mistake