Space Invader Pectinia Receding

Cranky_Wonderer · Jan 20, 2019

I've had this piece for about 1.5 months and it's been receding for around 4 weeks. Water parameters are below and I recently moved it about a week ago from the sand bed in the shade to the lower quarter of the tank on a rock that has a little more flow but also more light. It has great tentacle extension and is fat and puffy but I don't understand why it continues to recede.

Water parameters are as following...
- Salinity - 34
- Nitrates - 5
- Nitrites - 0
- Alkalinity - 8.5
- Magnesium - 1350
- Calcium - 450

I did have some alkalinity swings (9.5 to 8.5) but have since stabilized it. Everything else in the tank looks great (acros, duncans, numerous zoas, favia, and bubble coral). Any assistance would be much appreciated!!

kichimark · Jan 20, 2019

Did the tissue start receding during the time of alkalinity decline? I have noticed this happened before but if it is corrected now you should not see any more recession if it were due to that but it would recover soon.

The only other thing I can think of is if there was a temperature win recently?

Cranky_Wonderer · Jan 20, 2019

Cranky_Wonderer · Jan 20, 2019

It did start during the alk swing but doesn’t seem to be stopping. I do think it is happier on the rock with more flow and light but hard to tell.

Temp is controlled with an Apex and it’s been rock solid between 77.8 and 78.3

Cranky_Wonderer · Jan 20, 2019

I know the guy I got it from ran his ALK a little higher than I do so when I tried to raise it and had those swings, yes that seems to be when it happened. I’m stable now but it’s stable at a lower level (8.5 vs 9.5).

Will it get used to the 8.5 and start to recover or should I work on raising it?

Temp is super stable and controlled with an Apex. Fluctuates between 77.8 and 78.3.

kichimark · Jan 20, 2019

cfendya said:
I know the guy I got it from ran his ALK a little higher than I do so when I tried to raise it and had those swings, yes that seems to be when it happened. I’m stable now but it’s stable at a lower level (8.5 vs 9.5).

Will it get used to the 8.5 and start to recover or should I work on raising it?

Temp is super stable and controlled with an Apex. Fluctuates between 77.8 and 78.3.

I would leave it at the 8.5 which is still good. It will adjust but needs a little time in that spot with stable parameters. If it is puffy and sending out feeding tentacles I would give it a mysis or two to make it even more happier. Leave it where it is now since it seems to be a good spot as well. I do remember when I had mine (had to sell it when I sold my home) it did like the medium indirect flow.

Edit: Forgot to mention, really nice piece you got

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Cranky_Wonderer · Jan 20, 2019

Ok, thanks much for the help. I'll keep it where it is and see how things go. I feed LRS Reef Frenzy daily and it usually gets a treat often

Thanks again and sorry for the multiple posts but was on mobile and it apparently had a mind of it's own.

kichimark · Jan 20, 2019

cfendya said:
Ok, thanks much for the help. I'll keep it where it is and see how things go. I feed LRS Reef Frenzy daily and it usually gets a treat often

Thanks again and sorry for the multiple posts but was on mobile and it apparently had a mind of it's own.

No worries bud. Let us know what happens with the SI.

Joel B in FL · Jan 20, 2019

I had an issue where my space invader lost all of its tissue about 6 months ago. It got really bad, I thought I had lost it. It had lost all of its tissue, like every bit of it. I was going to take it out but one night I took the blue flashlight to the tank and I saw a little bit of glitter around the eyes, so I decided to leave it in. It has almost completely came back to life now as the tissue has filled out on most of the skeleton. I still don’t know exactly what happened that caused it to lose its tissue but the best thing I did was leave it alone and let it recover on its own. Not saying that will work for you or anyone else but it worked for me.

Cranky_Wonderer · Jan 21, 2019

Joel B in FL said:
I had an issue where my space invader lost all of its tissue about 6 months ago. It got really bad, I thought I had lost it. It had lost all of its tissue, like every bit of it. I was going to take it out but one night I took the blue flashlight to the tank and I saw a little bit of glitter around the eyes, so I decided to leave it in. It has almost completely came back to life now as the tissue has filled out on most of the skeleton. I still don’t know exactly what happened that caused it to lose its tissue but the best thing I did was leave it alone and let it recover on its own. Not saying that will work for you or anyone else but it worked for me.

I've read that the SI's are really hardy and can recover pretty well so where I wasn't too worried at first, when the tissue continued to recede, that's when I started to get worried. Hoping now that my ALK swings have been corrected it can get used to things and stop losing tissue. Great to hear you had such a successful recovery but hoping mine doesn't get that bad