Trouble With Euphyllia!

[ikaros70]

I would highly recommend you verify what your salinity really is???
If it’s off, could be as simple as that.
Those plastic hydrometers are notorious for being inaccurate. Surprised no one mentioned this yet.
If you have an LFS in your area, you can have them check it for you, they should have a Refractometer.
Get yourself a Refractometer, they are not expensive and your going to need it.
First things first, make sure your salinity is in check.

 

[OREGONIC]

Euphyllia are very hardy and can adapt to a wide range of conditions. What they dont like is changes and fluctuations. I also dont buy the new tank cant sustain coral. New tanks are less stable but stability can be controlled. I am a firm believer that dosing good bacteria on a new tank regularly can assist in that stability in a new tank. My 2 cents would be make sure your salinity reading is accurate. Make sure your temp reading is accurate. Given those are good I feel your parameters are fine to sustain coral (you may benefit over time making slow corrections but slow changes and stability is key). I would dose bacteria and let the coral adapt to current conditions.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I would highly recommend you verify what your salinity really is???
If it’s off, could be as simple as that.
Those plastic hydrometers are notorious for being inaccurate. Surprised no one mentioned this yet.
If you have an LFS in your area, you can have them check it for you, they should have a Refractometer.
Get yourself a Refractometer, they are not expensive and your going to need it.
First things first, make sure your salinity is in check.

He used the Tropic Marin glass hydrometer. The TM is highly precise and does not lose calibration

 

[OREGONIC]

He used the Tropic Marin glass hydrometer. The TM is highly precise and does not lose calibration

Hydrometers are very touchy to small air bubbles on the pivoting arm and salt build up if not cleaned really well. Refractometer is much more trustworthy. The hannah salinity checker is another great option and calibration fluid for it is dirt cheap. A hydrometer is fine for a fish only tank but would not trust it for a reef tank. A good hydrometer is about the same price as a frag, why roll the dice on loosing coral for such a small investment.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Hydrometers are very touchy to small air bubbles on the pivoting arm and salt build up if not cleaned really well. Refractometer is much more trustworthy. The hannah salinity checker is another great option and calibration fluid for it is dirt cheap. A hydrometer is fine for a fish only tank but would not trust it for a reef tank. A good hydrometer is about the same price as a frag, why roll the dice on loosing coral for such a small investment.

Again, THERE IS NO 'PIVOTING ARM' ON THE TROPIC MARIN GLASS HYDROMETER.
It is a precision tool (the only thing recommended higher than a scientific glass hydrometer is a conductivity tester)

 

[OREGONIC]

Again, THERE IS NO 'PIVOTING ARM' ON THE TROPIC MARIN GLASS HYDROMETER.
It is a precision tool (the only thing recommended higher than a scientific glass hydrometer is a conductivity tester)

Is it a float style, like a fishing bobber? I have only seen that style one time. I would think if that is the case there are 2 concerns. First would be it needs to sit in the tank for a while to temperature balance with the tank water for accuracy. Second any type of flow will cause it to bob and make it harder to read.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Is it a float style, like a fishing bobber? I have only seen that style one time. I would think if that is the case there are 2 concerns. First would be it needs to sit in the tank for a while to temperature balance with the tank water for accuracy. Second any type of flow will cause it to bob and make it harder to read.

No, you take water out of the tank to use the hydrometer. Most people use a 50ml graduated cylinder. No one would use this instrument directly in the tank... (at least not if they read the instructions!!)
And it's calibrated to 77 degrees F.

 

[OREGONIC]

No, you take water out of the tank to use the hydrometer. Most people use a 50ml graduated cylinder. No one would use this instrument directly in the tank... (at least not if they read the instructions!!)
And it's calibrated to 77 degrees F.

Interesting, I have 0 experience with that style of hydrometer.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

which parameters are off?

Sorry I missed the notification for this. I think your mag is too high, your alk too low , 1.030 salinity I hope is a test error. Your tank looks young and competing algae’s are fighting for space. The older your live rock the better with these.

 

[ikaros70]

I’ve never had one of these TM hydrometers, I didn’t realize they are a float bobber type of salinity device.
Personally, I would still purchase a Refractometer and that way you have both.
Good way to reference one vs the other to make sure both are reading correctly.
As long as that TM hydrometer has been kept clean, I would guess it’s reading correctly.
Again, never owned one.

 

[maharsreef]

Most likely Dinos are the problem. Every time I had Dinos, I lost torches. They smother and choke out the torches I believe. The toxins they release are also a big problem. I nuked my tank with Dino-x and added a huge uv sterilizer because I was so tired of Dinos. Then a huge nutrient spike occurred, lost all my acros one by one. The torches are completely happy now and dinos are no longer a problem....fingers crossed.

 

[Marcus Rogers]

No, you take water out of the tank to use the hydrometer. Most people use a 50ml graduated cylinder. No one would use this instrument directly in the tank... (at least not if they read the instructions!!)
And it's calibrated to 77 degrees F.

Thank you for this! This is exactly what I did!

I’ve never had one of these TM hydrometers, I didn’t realize they are a float bobber type of salinity device.
Personally, I would still purchase a Refractometer and that way you have both.
Good way to reference one vs the other to make sure both are reading correctly.
As long as that TM hydrometer has been kept clean, I would guess it’s reading correctly.
Again, never owned one.

I will buy a refractometer to cross check with my TM hydrometer!

 

[Marcus Rogers]

Update:

I turned down my flow just a little bit (i'm honestly not even sure if they noticed the change) but some of the euphyllia appear to be doing a little better. The purple frogspawn in particular looks more "fluffy"- almost like he's trying to extend himself more. They still aren't fully open but I think (fingers crossed) that they are heading in the right direction.

edit: I also target fed reef roids this morning (the pictures were taken slightly after the feeding but they looked about the same before)

Also, I couldn't thank everyone enough for chiming in and giving me their advice!

 

[Hawkaholic]

I will try this! How deep is your tank?

24” deep. The lights are about 10” above a glass canopy too. If you increase intensity make sure to do it slowly (over a period of days to a couple weeks even).

 

[Morpheosz]

I had a similar challenge - few month old tank, euphyllia did great for a month or so, then a few of them retracted and disappeared over the course of a few weeks. Some were fine, but not super happy looking. I chased a number of parameter tweaks and light and flow tweaks. None of it made intuitive sense since they were thriving at first, but like you, desperate to try anything. I think in the end all of that tweaking likely made things worse. As people have said, if these types of corals are happy, they can thrive in a wide variety of parameters, flow, and light but the key is that they aren’t constantly changing. My remaining ones finally came around with no significant changes and now they are thriving.

If I were to offer advice based on my limited experience, I would just leave them be while closely monitoring your params shooting for stability not some new values. Your corals could just be starving due to your 0 nutrients until recently. Keep phosphates and nitrates where you have them and they might just turn around over time on their own. I’ve had to daily dose phosphates since I started this tank. I finally got tired of doing it and put neophos on a dosing pump and test every couple of days. If you’re wondering if your lights are off, rent a par meter from a LFS or BRS. Don’t experiment by adjusting them repeatedly and hoping for quick results. You could end at the right place but the corals won’t respond in a timely manner due to the constant changes and likely will respond poorly initially. If you get a par meter and find your lights are too low or high, change them slowly over a matter of days and weeks, not overnight.

Also +1 on double checking your salinity, couldn’t hurt, and owning a refractometer is a solid choice to be sure. My refractometer is calibrated with the calibration solution and no other tool I’ve used has agreed with the calibrated refractometer.

 

[Morpheosz]

One other thought, if you want to be extra thorough, you could do an ICP test. It takes a few weeks to get results, but if there is something in the water such as metals, etc, you’d be able to cross that off the list. I did one and it came back with no issues, but it’s one more thing you could do if all else is failing. If nothing else it provides some peace of mind over a wide range of water params.

 

[Marcus Rogers]

Another Update:

My torch is now finally open. For those following and looking to see how I "resolved" the issue: I tested my phosphates yesterday and today and they measured 0.13 - 0.15. If I had to guess, my euphyllia were starving due to low nutrient (phos) levels! I dosed neophos about a week ago which jumped my levels to 0.07, I am assuming the heavy feeding of fish and of reef roids helped boost this number. I am going to keep an eye on my phosphate levels to keep them stable but I think this is the root of the cause.

 

[Lavey29]

Another Update:

My torch is now finally open. For those following and looking to see how I "resolved" the issue: I tested my phosphates yesterday and today and they measured 0.13 - 0.15. If I had to guess, my euphyllia were starving due to low nutrient (phos) levels! I dosed neophos about a week ago which jumped my levels to 0.07, I am assuming the heavy feeding of fish and of reef roids helped boost this number. I am going to keep an eye on my phosphate levels to keep them stable but I think this is the root of the cause.

Good news, having some phosphate is important but nitrate more so along with trace elements and stabil big 3.

 

[Dave1993]

Another Update:

My torch is now finally open. For those following and looking to see how I "resolved" the issue: I tested my phosphates yesterday and today and they measured 0.13 - 0.15. If I had to guess, my euphyllia were starving due to low nutrient (phos) levels! I dosed neophos about a week ago which jumped my levels to 0.07, I am assuming the heavy feeding of fish and of reef roids helped boost this number. I am going to keep an eye on my phosphate levels to keep them stable but I think this is the root of the cause.

wonder if this was my problem also