Soft coral closed for almost a week now . Advice needed

[crabinmyshoemouth]

New to soft corals , kept plenty of lps but started a softy only tank . Toadstools all closed up except two . Been about 5 days now . I’m wondering if my phosphates are just too low . I know soft coral can close up ans shed but that’s normally a 2-3 day thing I think we’re are going on day 6 with the closing up and I have t seen them shed . All the mushrooms in my tank seem to be happy . Can someone share their experience ?
parameters as of late nights testing .
Temp 77-78
Alk 7.5 and stable at that
Calc 400 and stable at that ,
Mag 1400-1450 and stable
Ph 7.9 -8 depending on time of day
Nitrate 6.8
Phosphate .006

L

 

[DeniseAndy]

Can you share some pictures of the tank. This helps a lot with softies. Nitrates are a bit low same with phosphates. What else is in the tank?

 

[crabinmyshoemouth]

Can you share some pictures of the tank. This helps a lot with softies. Nitrates are a bit low same with phosphates. What else is in the tank?

 

[crabinmyshoemouth]

Can you share some pictures of the tank. This helps a lot with softies. Nitrates are a bit low same with phosphates. What else is in the tank?

There are some pics . Red Sea reefer 300xl . I dose a light mix of kalkwasser in my top off to keep up ph . Alk and calcium are stable . Actual water volume about 65 gallons . 13 fish all small , chromis , cardinals blennys gobies and clowns . All mushrooms and leathers right now . 2 - xr15 pros gen 5 run at 35% no major changes made to the system in months Cora have been in about 6 weeks and it’s only 3 that have closed up and not opened out of 5 leathers . I’m thinking it’s just low nutrient but before I start feed to get nutrients up I wanted to get some feedback from people with more experience with soft coral

 

[DeniseAndy]

Low nutrients can be part of the cause. Have you been working in the tank often. Moving corals, fiddling with things. Cleaning, that sort of thing? It looks like a newer system. Very nice though. Healthy from what I can see. The softies look healthy. Just closed. My guess is just need time.
The types you have hate being messed about. Meaning if you are putting things in the tank or even feeding and such. Until they get really settled. Like a year.
Feed gorg type foods. Calanus, phyto, etc. a couple times a week, they will love it.
Do you have any powerheads? Could not see any. If you do, make sure they are not pointing at the leathers. They hate direct flow. They thrive in a tidal flow or random indirect flow.

 

[miyags]

Some leathers are just touchy. I always run charcoal with my softies.And when I increased my flow they seem to stay open more than they use to. But it looks like you have flow pretty much covered...Your tank looks great, It will look fantastic when your corals start to grow outa bit.

 

[Projects with Sam]

So I was lurking on this thread because my leathers haven't opened in awhile.
I just checked my refractometer and I was low... then I calibrated it and checked again and I nearly running hypo...
Check your salinity - check your tool you check your salinity with.

 

[crabinmyshoemouth]

Some leathers are just touchy. I always run charcoal with my softies.And when I increased my flow they seem to stay open more than they use to. But it looks like you have flow pretty much covered...Your tank looks great, It will look fantastic when your corals start to grow outa bit.

Thanks yeah only 5 months old I just started putting coral in . I’ve got no experience with soft coral other than Zoa prior to this . Recently fell in love with mushrooms and leathers so I started a tank dedicated to a softy coral eco system . My Stony coral experience has me monitoring nutrients and it’s hard for me to let nitrate and phosphate go “out of range “ . I do run carbon it’s seems like I just need to let things settle down A bit more before I go messing around or making any new additions

 

[Duncan62]

New to soft corals , kept plenty of lps but started a softy only tank . Toadstools all closed up except two . Been about 5 days now . I’m wondering if my phosphates are just too low . I know soft coral can close up ans shed but that’s normally a 2-3 day thing I think we’re are going on day 6 with the closing up and I have t seen them shed . All the mushrooms in my tank seem to be happy . Can someone share their experience ?
parameters as of late nights testing .
Temp 77-78
Alk 7.5 and stable at that
Calc 400 and stable at that ,
Mag 1400-1450 and stable
Ph 7.9 -8 depending on time of day
Nitrate 6.8
Phosphate .006

L

Shedding?

 

[crabinmyshoemouth]

Hey Low nutrients can be part of the cause. Have you been working in the tank often. Moving corals, fiddling with things. Cleaning, that sort of thing? It looks like a newer system. Very nice though. Healthy from what I can see. The softies look healthy. Just closed. My guess is just need time.
The types you have hate being messed about. Meaning if you are putting things in the tank or even feeding and such. Until they get really settled. Like a year.
Feed gorg type foods. Calanus, phyto, etc. a couple times a week, they will love it.
Do you have any powerheads? Could not see any. If you do, make sure they are not pointing at the leathers. They hate direct flow. They thrive in a tidal flow or random indirect flow.

Yes I was Im The tank . last week was a local frag show made a bunch of additions that you see in the tank . none of the coral having issues were new additions . I dipped everything new in coral RX , removed them from their plus’s where possible replies them and rinsed them off with tank water with a little iodine . Everything in the tank is kind of in a temporary place as I figure out placement . And now that I’m thinking about it this does seem to correspond with about when they closed up . So lesson is keep my hands out of the tank…… been running carbon and gonna try to bring my nutrients up a bit. As I’m writing this I’m watching one of the toadstools start to shed……… thought that was normally a 2-3 day process … no one told my tank…. Hahaha always reminded to be patient with this hobby

Sheddin

Shedding?

Yeah Duncan looks like it’s just shedding …. How many of theses threads there must be in reef2reef .

 

[Duncan62]

Yes I was Im The tank . last week was a local frag show made a bunch of additions that you see in the tank . none of the coral having issues were new additions . I dipped everything new in coral RX , removed them from their plus’s where possible replies them and rinsed them off with tank water with a little iodine . Everything in the tank is kind of in a temporary place as I figure out placement . And now that I’m thinking about it this does seem to correspond with about when they closed up . So lesson is keep my hands out of the tank…… been running carbon and gonna try to bring my nutrients up a bit. As I’m writing this I’m watching one of the toadstools start to shed……… thought that was normally a 2-3 day process … no one told my tank…. Hahaha always reminded to be patient with this hobby


Yeah Duncan looks like it’s just shedding …. How many of theses threads there must be in reef2reef .

Lol. I've seen people panic over a shedding toadstool many times in the last 40 years. Including me with my first. I thought it was dieing. In a week it looked better than ever. Lol. Best of luck with your tank!