Goni and Alveopora issues

[Ralph823]

Good day all,

I have a 180 gallon 255 total water volume system that has been up for 12 months, all contents in the tank came from a 75 gallon that ran for a few years so the tank is established, I have a couple alveopora frags that were doing great and one gonipora colony that was always wide open, I decided to try my luck with a moorish idol and that means more feedings and more nutrients.
On Thursday the auto feeder got stuck and dumped about half a jar of NLS pellets into the tank, I tested and the ammonia spiked to 0.3 and nitrite is to 0.4. I immediately did a 15-20% water change, tried to syphon all the pellets I could see and added the appropriate amount of prime to the tank and got some bacteria and dumped it in there.
All fish, torches, hammers, frogspawns, and the other LPS are doing good as well as the leather corals and two of the alveopora frags, but one frag is closed up and the goni colony is closed up as well. they have been closed since yesterday, can I assume that they a goners or is there anything I can try to make them bounce back?

It may be important to note that when I started with the Idol Nitrates climbed up to 70 and I have been dosing vinegar and they have come down to 50

Parameters are as follows

Alk - 176/9.856
Ca - 455
PH - 7.8
PO4 - .8
MG - 1390
Ammonia - 0.3
Nitrate - 0.4
Nitrate - 50

I'm hoping that the Prime doesn't drop my PH too much because the vinegar already brings it below 8 but I am wondering since the Goni and the alveopra were fine when I tested and got the ammonia and nitrate readings if the reduction in the PH from the prime can be what's upsetting it.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Good day all,

I have a 180 gallon 255 total water volume system that has been up for 12 months, all contents in the tank came from a 75 gallon that ran for a few years so the tank is established, I have a couple alveopora frags that were doing great and one gonipora colony that was always wide open, I decided to try my luck with a moorish idol and that means more feedings and more nutrients.
On Thursday the auto feeder got stuck and dumped about half a jar of NLS pellets into the tank, I tested and the ammonia spiked to 0.3 and nitrite is to 0.4. I immediately did a 15-20% water change, tried to syphon all the pellets I could see and added the appropriate amount of prime to the tank and got some bacteria and dumped it in there.
All fish, torches, hammers, frogspawns, and the other LPS are doing good as well as the leather corals and two of the alveopora frags, but one frag is closed up and the goni colony is closed up as well. they have been closed since yesterday, can I assume that they a goners or is there anything I can try to make them bounce back?

It may be important to note that when I started with the Idol Nitrates climbed up to 70 and I have been dosing vinegar and they have come down to 50

Parameters are as follows

Alk - 176/9.856
Ca - 455
PH - 7.8
PO4 - .8
MG - 1390
Ammonia - 0.3
Nitrate - 0.4
Nitrate - 50

I'm hoping that the Prime doesn't drop my PH too much because the vinegar already brings it below 8 but I am wondering since the Goni and the alveopra were fine when I tested and got the ammonia and nitrate readings if the reduction in the PH from the prime can be what's upsetting it.

And of course the goni's are generally the picky ones and for some can be very challenging. Adding aminos to the tank is a plus for their health as well as Manganese which reduces stress on them.
Some good foods for them is chopped krill, mysis shrimp, phyto and zooplankton. Im not a fan of powdered plankton foods as they can raise phosphates quickly but they work well with both goni and alveopora.
Assure no3 and po4 do Not become elevated over the next couple of days.

 

[Ralph823]

And of course the goni's are generally the picky ones and for some can be very challenging. Adding aminos to the tank is a plus for their health as well as Manganese which reduces stress on them.
Some good foods for them is chopped krill, mysis shrimp, phyto and zooplankton. Im not a fan of powdered plankton foods as they can raise phosphates quickly but they work well with both goni and alveopora.
Assure no3 and po4 do Not become elevated over the next couple of days.

I dose reef trace twice a week which contains manganese, should I dose manganses on its own?

 

[Ralph823]

sorry for the bad photo but this is from my live stream camera at the office, I cant see the goni which is why I didn't include it. the alveopra has like two or three polyps poking out but is mostly closed while the other two are open with full poly extension, i think its weird that what ever is affecting the goni and this frag isn't affecting the other frags or any of the corals for that matter.

before people come for me for the algae ive learned to love it and so do the tangs the fox face and the idol lol

 

[Ralph823]

as you can see all other corals are wide open

 

[Ralph823]

this is what they're looking like right now, goni has opened up a bit but the alveopora still looks ticked.

 

[larreef]

The idol is probably picking at them. They do eat corals ya know!

 

[Ralph823]

The idol is probably picking at them. They do eat corals ya know!

not when they eat 6 times a day lol all jokes aside I knew that would be a risk but I haven't seen him pick at anything, not zoas or euphyllia or anything else. hes got nori in the tank 24/7 so hes always pre occupied.

 

[Ralph823]

The idol is probably picking at them. They do eat corals ya know!

a friend of mine has an Idol that has never picked at a single coral after 4 years in the system and another friends that only picks at new growth on sps on occasion when she runs out of nori

 

[larreef]

a friend of mine has an Idol that has never picked at a single coral after 4 years in the system and another friends that only picks at new growth on sps on occasion when she runs out of nori

The exceptions as in all aspects of life but idols most certainly eat coral especially lps/softies.

 

[Ralph823]

The exceptions as in all aspects of life but idols most certainly eat coral especially lps/softies.

To say they most certainly eat corals is not fair to the fish, they CAN doesn’t mean they will. Idols need lots of food as they have an extremely fast metabolism, In the wild they are constantly grazing on sponge tunicates and algae.

What they eat is also very dependent on where they come from, hawiian specimens feed on mostly algae and tend to be more “reef safe”, those from Tahiti and borabora feed mainly on sponge

Idols may pick at corals if they don’t get enough variety in their diet. in captivity they will pick at corals when their nutritional needs are not met which is hard to do and would explain why so many people are unsuccessful with them #1 keeping them in a reef tank #2 living more than a few months. I would bet they’re more reef safe than schooling bannerfish which is the “reef safe alternative”

I keep plenty of sponge in my tank which he eats the decorative and some yellow encrusting sponge harvested from the wild.

how safe my corals are from the idol is off topic from my question I asked. IME if the idol was picking at the gonis and the alveopora they would all have polyp damage and not just the frag and the Goni. None of my corals have damage as of yet.

This isn’t my first time around idols as I grew up with them in the house in FOWLR tanks in my dads tank and grandmas tank as a kid and it’s not my first rodeo with “non reef safe” fish. I’ve kept tangs and dwarf angels that eat/nip at corals and have had large angels that won’t touch coral. It depends on each individual fish and how close you get to their natural diet.

IMO the only true non reef safe fish are those that eat coral as the bulk of their natural diet.

Btw secret to getting large angels to not pick at corals or at least keep the picking at a minimum is also live sponge

 

[Ralph823]

I added some AB+ last night and some trace too see if I can get a feeding response and everything is wide open this morning.