Utter chaos all turn brown

tc760 · May 6, 2022

I could use some help. I had a thriving utter chaos colony that has gone all brown on my in a few days. I have no idea why. Interesting thing is I have patches of them all over my tank and all of them lost color. Every other zoa and coral is fine. Nutrients are all in line with my normal numbers. I know someone will ask what that means so I will list what normal is for me.

Nitrate: 5ppm
Phosphate: .07ppm
Alk: 8.4 dkh
Calcium: 410 ppm
Magnesium: 1340 ppm
Salinity: 1.025
Only dosing 2 part.

Last ICP test about 2 months ago everything in range except potassium and iodine a little low. Did a two 20% water changes over two weeks to help bring those numbers in line. About 3 weeks ago all the utter chaos lost color.

Any thoughts would be great. I don't want to drastically change anything as everything else is totally fine.

This colony came from my other tank as a few polyps 2 years ago and zero issues.

MaxTremors · May 6, 2022

I would suspect it’s the iodine.

Lavey29 · May 6, 2022

So does a soft coral zoa expel zooplankton like stony corals and turn brown as a last ditch effort to survive? If so that indicates a nutrients imbalance to me meaning something necessary for their survival is lacking.

tc760 · May 6, 2022

Lavey29 said:
So does a soft coral zoa expel zooplankton like stony corals and turn brown as a last ditch effort to survive? If so that indicates a nutrients imbalance to me meaning something necessary for their survival is lacking.

Not sure on that one. Just interesting it's only this one type of zoa. There are several other small colonies and frag plus with them all having same issue. Got Gobstoppers,ratas bambams, AOI, scrambled egg and so on that are all looking good.

tc760 · May 6, 2022

MaxTremors said:
I would suspect it’s the iodine.

I'll get a iodine test to see where I am at

MaxTremors said:
I would suspect it’s the iodine.

Goby Bryant · Jul 19, 2022

Too much light?

tc760 · Jul 19, 2022

I thought this well but the polyps are extended pretty well so I feel like it's not too much light. It's weird not much has changed. It's been two months nothing has died and the color is just starting to come back slightly. I really don't know what to think or do. Iodine as a bit low but is registering. I have been dosing to keep it up.