Stressed rhodactis bleaching help

KelpMeOut · May 31, 2023

Hi, so I was working on my tank and doing tests, everything for the most part is fine except I have ammonia in. I'm not sure exactly what it's from but my thoughts are that since I've been having trouble with sand being pushed out of a corner do to the current, some stuffs coming out. So I grabbed a rock from the sump/back part of the tank and put it there to hopefully divert the current more anyways, curiosity got the best of me and I wanted to touch a rhodactis and I did, I didn't think I'd be a big deal aside from it closing up. But about a minute or so later it seemed to have expelled some zooxanthelle. It's a light green goo string coming from the mouth and the it's also green. It looks like it's going back in but I'm not entirely sure. I was just about to do a water change because of the ammonia (0.25) but I'm scared about stressing it more. What should I do?

Saltyreef · May 31, 2023

Leave it alone.

Stop testing for ammonia if your tank is cycled.

KelpMeOut · May 31, 2023

My tank cycled half a year ago but why would I stop testing for it?

Saltyreef · May 31, 2023

KelpMeOut said:
My tank cycled half a year ago but why would I stop testing for it?

As long as your biofilteration colony is kept alive (wet with no extreme temps) its processing ammonia as efficently as possible so its not needed.

Ammonia testing is just to know the tank is processing enough ammonia from the nitrogen cycle during cycling.

Once the engine is running, it doesnt stop unless theres a crash variable.

19Mateo83 · May 31, 2023

What brand test are you using? Once the tank is cycled the bacteria should be processing the ammonia into nitrite and then Into nitrate. If you are worried about ammonia spikes go buy yourself a seachem ammonia alert badge and save yourself the time spent testing. Don’t worry about testing for nitrite either.

KelpMeOut · May 31, 2023

My ammonia & nitrate are api, I know they're not that reliable now but didn't when I was getting into the hobby. Am I ok to keep using the nitrate then?

Saltyreef · May 31, 2023

KelpMeOut said:
My ammonia & nitrate are api, I know they're not that reliable now but didn't when I was getting into the hobby. Am I ok to keep using the nitrate then?

Quite possible you are victim of APIs notoriously horrible accuracy.

Save some headaches down the road and get some salifert kits for your macros.

I prefer red sea pro for nitrate and phosphate though.