Rainbow Chalice MELTING

[DiamondCoralsLLC]

URGENT! my rainbow chalice looks as if it’s melting and not sure what’s going on!!!
Calcium- 480
Alkalinity- 11 (stable at this number)
Magnesium- 1480

if anyone has any idea as to what’s going on please help!!!!

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

I like to run lower alk. What's your nitrate and phosphate?

 

[MischiefReef]

Sorry, it’s a little difficult to make out the melting portion in these pictures, can you please take a zoomed in photo of that area?
Is the skeleton showing through the flesh, or is it bare skeleton (flesh gone)?
When you say melting, is it actually melting off in strands and bits or is it just receding?
Any neighbouring corals that are aggressive?
What are your other parameters reading at?
What is your lighting? Any clue the par level at this chalice?
Less important for chalices but what is your flow?
Any new additions to the tank, livestock, corals, equipment, dosing?

 

[Saltyreef]

Usually i see chalices start to skeletonize from low alk or irritation of the affected area but i know rainbows to be a little more sensitive/slower growing.

Any chance theres something like a mushroom nearby?

Was it relocated?

 

[DiamondCoralsLLC]

I like to run lower alk. What's your nitrate and phosphate?

nitrate is 7
phosphate 0.02

 

[vetteguy53081]

URGENT! my rainbow chalice looks as if it’s melting and not sure what’s going on!!!
Calcium- 480
Alkalinity- 11 (stable at this number)
Magnesium- 1480

if anyone has any idea as to what’s going on please help!!!!

Fortunately, these are forgiving coral. Often this happens when there is a significant change such as temperature, water , light and flow.
Some possibilities are:
- Alkalinity spike or decrease
- Temperature spike
- Salinity spike
- Low dissolved oxygen
- Poor water quality related with phosphate levels up to 5 ppm
- Change in water flow
- Additions of sand
- Changes in brand of salt
- Bad test kits giving faulty results
- Levels of minor elements such as Iodine, Potassium, Strontium
- Light intensity
- Addition of new corals
- Pesticides
- Airborne Contaminants or sprays

 

[MischiefReef]

nitrate is 7
phosphate 0.02

Your nitrates may be a tad low. In my tanks I start to worry about bottoming out at around 5.
Don’t panic, chalices are generally pretty hardy and once brought into the right conditions/parameters can bounce back very well! Update us on some more tank info requested above and we will do our best to help you get to the bottom of it!

 

[DiamondCoralsLLC]

Sorry, it’s a little difficult to make out the melting portion in these pictures, can you please take a zoomed in photo of that area?
Is the skeleton showing through the flesh, or is it bare skeleton (flesh gone)?
When you say melting, is it actually melting off in strands and bits or is it just receding?
Any neighbouring corals that are aggressive?
What are your other parameters reading at?
What is your lighting? Any clue the par level at this chalice?
Less important for chalices but what is your flow?
Any new additions to the tank, livestock, corals, equipment, dosing?

attached is a pic zoomed in, it’s showing skeleton everything is in line ^ my levels are above. i don’t measure par but my light intensity isn’t extremely high, i have 2 AI Prime Hds and they run at a max of 60% intensity with mostly blue. what’s weird is the chalice looks like it’s growing everywhere else and it’s receding in that spot only , no new additions recently and i dose calcium alk mag every other day through my auto doser it’s been on for 4 months now and no problems

 

[MischiefReef]

attached is a pic zoomed in, it’s showing skeleton everything is in line ^ my levels are above. i don’t measure par but my light intensity isn’t extremely high, i have 2 AI Prime Hds and they run at a max of 60% intensity with mostly blue. what’s weird is the chalice looks like it’s growing everywhere else and it’s receding in that spot only , no new additions recently and i dose calcium alk mag every other day through my auto doser it’s been on for 4 months now and no problems

Thank you, that picture is far clearer. Just wondering. Does the size of the portion showing skeleton stay roughly the same? Does it fluctuate in size throughout the day? Or does it look like it’s currently increasing/decreasing over time?

 

[DiamondCoralsLLC]

Thank you, that picture is far clearer. Just wondering. Does the size of the portion showing skeleton stay roughly the same? Does it fluctuate in size throughout the day? Or does it look like it’s currently increasing/decreasing over time?

it was smaller about 2 days ago and increasingly got a bit bigger everyday

 

[MischiefReef]

it was smaller about 2 days ago and increasingly got a bit bigger everyday

Are there any corals or anemones nearby than could sting it? Some types of corals have really long sweepers (6in+) that come out at night and can wreak havoc on neighbours. Observe periodically during the day of possible to see if any pests. You may also want to spend a few minutes after the lights are off tonight and check for night time critters/pests. Otherwise, any shrimps or amphipods in your tank? Certain shrimp can develop a taste for corals while others may compete with corals for pellet foods. Amphipods while still debated whether they actually attack healthy corals, I have personally noticed a few cases of them agitating corals with their presence often with chalice types, they like to hide out and crawl in the crevice between the plug and the skeleton, which also happens to be where the flesh attaches to the skeleton for a lot of chalices.

 

[DiamondCoralsLLC]

torches are near by but not close enough to sting 6+ inches inbetween them, i have a coral banded shrimp but he always hides during the day and night , do you suggest i dip the chalice ??

 

[MischiefReef]

torches are near by but not close enough to sting 6+ inches inbetween them, i have a coral banded shrimp but he always hides during the day and night , do you suggest i dip the chalice ??

What do you use for dip? An iodine dip or hydrogen peroxide dip likely wouldn’t hurt in this case. If you need the dosing for hydrogen peroxide dipping just google Justin Credable Peroxide dip, it has everything listed in terms of dip ratio and times for all types of corals.

 

[DiamondCoralsLLC]

i was gonna do a revive dip, and then maybe an iodine dip afterward

 

[MischiefReef]

i was gonna do a revive dip, and then maybe an iodine dip afterward

Yep these should work!

 

[DiamondCoralsLLC]

Yep these should work!

i’ll update in a few days see how it goes

 

[MischiefReef]

i’ll update in a few days see how it goes

Please do keep us posted!