Wilted Kenya Tree and retreated Neon Toadstool

[chadfish]

Hi everyone, new to corals.

Both my Kenya Tree and my Neon Green Toadstool have closed up for some time.

The tree is actually wilted, not just shriveled up like broccoli like he does at night.

My Zoas, Gorgonian, Trumpets, RBTA, and GSP are all fine. I was messing with some new high-powered lights and have changed settings pretty rapidly and drastically. Could that cause this? Params seem to be fine. The only other thing is I stopped running carbon. Could my Gorgonian be waging chemical warfare? His branches sometimes come in contact with the Toad.

Parameters:
Temp: 78F
Alk: 8.1
pH: 8.0
salinity 1.0235 (dropped recently from 1.024)
calc: 480
nitrate: 5-10
phosphate: 0.06

 

[Nigel35]

Messing with the lights could cause something like this... I would slowly, slowly change the lights back to the original settings. I would continue to run carbon although I don't think that would have cause this.

For your parameters I would prefer your ph to be 8.3 and your salinity is much to low. Move it back up to 1.024-1.025.

Nigel

 

[Nigel35]

any pictures?

 

[LegendaryCG]

Salinity is a little low,how about magnesium levels?

 

[chadfish]

any pictures?

Yeah, for some reason my salinity is dropping slowly. Maybe from salt creep? It had been solid at 1.024 for months.

No pix tonight.. too blue for the phone and worried about the lights. If it’s the same in the morning, I’ll post. But then I’m going to need even that much more help..

 

[chadfish]

Salinity is a little low,how about magnesium levels?

No mag test

 

[rhostam]

My toadstool closes up like a sad sock puppet sometimes. Never longer than over night. He seems to be reorienting himself to get maximum light coverage. His original placement was tough because the stone he was attached to was broken into shards. So I glued it down the best I could. But it meant 25% of the polyps weren’t getting enough light. Throughout the weeks though he’s been closing up and wilting and reopening with his “palm” of polyps receiving more and more coverage.

Perhaps the lighting changes shocked it and triggered the reaction as you said.

I’ve included a few pictures showing the various states. I know the angles are shifted with the different photos. He definitely has adjusted himself, though.

Then there is the process they undergo to shed off a waxy coating periodically. If yours has been wilted for an extended period of time, perhaps it’s that?

Curious to see what the veterans say.

 

[chadfish]

Messing with the lights could cause something like this... I would slowly, slowly change the lights back to the original settings. I would continue to run carbon although I don't think that would have cause this.

For your parameters I would prefer your ph to be 8.3 and your salinity is much to low. Move it back up to 1.024-1.025.

Nigel

Thanks. I just started to put kalkwasser in my top off so the pH will start going up slowly.

 

[LegendaryCG]

Magnesium e

No mag test

Mag is pretty important- it prevents calcium from precipitating out of the water. Its also expensive so salt tends to be low on mag.

 

[chadfish]

Magnesium e

Mag is pretty important- it prevents calcium from precipitating out of the water. Its also expensive so salt tends to be low on mag.

Even for softies? I didn’t think it was super important until introduce more LPS and try my hand at SPS. Right now I have just 3 neon trumpet polyps and the rest softies

I bought a dosing pump and made Randy’s homemade 3 part , but still needs some parts before I plumb it up. I’m dosing a weak kalk solution in the meantime to keep alk and calc steady

 

[LegendaryCG]

Even for softies? I didn’t think it was super important until introduce more LPS and try my hand at SPS. Right now I have just 3 neon trumpet polyps and the rest softies

I bought a dosing pump and made Randy’s homemade 3 part , but still needs some parts before I plumb it up. I’m dosing a weak kalk solution in the meantime to keep alk and calc steady

Less important but still striving for natural sea water is important. Is it your problem? No idea, all we can do is suggest the obvious issues.

 

[Nigel35]

What about critters, or fish pestering it?

 

[chadfish]

What about critters, or fish pestering it?

Good question, no. No visible ones. I dose phyto, so there is an off chance that has a feeding response, but that seems unlikely because the timing is all wrong

 

[chadfish]

any pictures?

A picture is worth a thousand words, but a movie is worth a million pictures.
You can see here how everyone seems happy - it's only 0915 so the lights are still ramping up and the BTA isn't fully out, but only these two softies are unhappy. And if you check out the YouTube channel, you'll see how they looked recently.

 

[Nigel35]

I don't have very much experience with Kenya's but I do have experience with toadstools. Toadstools will "shed" an outer layer of tissue every now and then. Somewhat like a cleaner shrimp molting, the toadstool will come out more brilliant and larger than before. It could be going through this stage of life. It should come back in about a few weeks but I would keep an eye on those parameters, flow and lighting.

 

[chadfish]

If they are molting, I just think it’s suspicious that they are doing it at the same time. I noticed their bases are off-color. Maybe someone could give some insight into that.. maybe I’m just over thinking it

 

[CMMorgan]

My toadstool closes up like a sad sock puppet sometimes. Never longer than over night. He seems to be reorienting himself to get maximum light coverage. His original placement was tough because the stone he was attached to was broken into shards. So I glued it down the best I could. But it meant 25% of the polyps weren’t getting enough light. Throughout the weeks though he’s been closing up and wilting and reopening with his “palm” of polyps receiving more and more coverage.

Perhaps the lighting changes shocked it and triggered the reaction as you said.

I’ve included a few pictures showing the various states. I know the angles are shifted with the different photos. He definitely has adjusted himself, though.

Then there is the process they undergo to shed off a waxy coating periodically. If yours has been wilted for an extended period of time, perhaps it’s that?

Curious to see what the veterans say.

Wow @rhostam ... it really DOES look like a sock puppet!!

 

[Nigel35]

Kenya trees don't molt it would just be the toadstool that would be molting

 

[chadfish]

Kenya trees don't molt it would just be the toadstool that would be molting

So the Kenya tree is distressed for some reason?

 

[jeffchapok]

Kenya trees don't molt it would just be the toadstool that would be molting

On the contrary, I believe they do molt. I have quite a few and they do it every couple of months.