Scratched coral?

nvolkern · Sep 4, 2017

Hey all I've had this guy for a while and he's been doing amazing, growing like crazy and super happy. A couple of days ago I noticed he didn't look so hot and appears to have scratches on him. Does anyone know what's going on?

mcarroll · Sep 4, 2017

I'm not sure I see the scratches. Does it kinda look like a tentacle cluster is "trying to separate"?

The rock looks kinda bare – how old is the tank and do you have other corals doing well? (Which ones?)

Can you also post your most recent complete set of test results (and maybe a whole tank pic)?

Salty1962 · Sep 4, 2017

I'd add some I, they really use up a lot of it during grow. At least with my experiences.

nvolkern · Sep 4, 2017

mcarroll said:
I'm not sure I see the scratches. Does it kinda look like a tentacle cluster is "trying to separate"?

The rock looks kinda bare – how old is the tank and do you have other corals doing well? (Which ones?)

Can you also post your most recent complete set of test results (and maybe a whole tank pic)?

There are spits that appear to be ripping apart. The tank is about 10 months. I have zoas, Kenya tree, and some that look like flowers (I don't recall the name) that are all doing very well.

All the parameters tested well, salt was at 1.027 but I just finished a diluted water change so the salinity should be back down now.

mcarroll · Sep 4, 2017

nvolkern said:
The tank is about 10 months.

nvolkern said:
All the parameters tested well, salt was at 1.027

It's a fairly young tank then. Does salinity vary often by that much?

"Tested well" could be highly debatable in many instances – especially when corals aren't doing well. They are very resilient and adaptable creatures, so something isn't right.

If you are able to I'd post all your most recent test numbers (or post new results whenever you area able to re-test) and see if there's room for feedback.

From the pics already posted, the tank looks like it could be a bit starved.

Leather corals are pretty well known to thrive in high-P tanks, but...

Folks are frequently phobic of phosphates and freak out when the meter reads close to full in anything other than a FOWLR. You know?

So considering all that, I'm wondering if your nutrient levels have been trending toward zero – in particular PO4?