Help with my euphyllia

[Charlie G]

Do you keep bumble bee snails ?

I do keep bumble bee snails and have had for some time. I don’t think they are that effective against the vermatid. For my tank at least. I did coral
Snow for awhile and that seemed to keep them at bay.

 

[Baby Damsel 219]

I don't get it

 

[VintageReefer]

I do keep bumble bee snails and have had for some time. I don’t think they are that effective against the vermatid. For my tank at least. I did coral
Snow for awhile and that seemed to keep them at bay.

Do you ever see empty tubes? The bumble bees eat the inside but leave the tube behind

 

[Charlie G]

Sorry to be off topic but how long did that lepto take to grow that size? Very nice colony!

Also I would try and lower phosphates. Do you use chemi pure elite anywhere ? It’s carbon + gfo. If you had some chemical warfare while away, it would help clear the water, and the gfo absorbs phosphates. Has to be chemipure elite. The other versions won’t do both

Thanks. have had the lepto for approx 2 years now. Slow in the beginning but then took off.

I have refrained from ever using chemicals other than carbon. I just started a chaeto reactor but to be honest haven’t pulled out any chaeto yet from it as I was away and then have been busy. Will try to get to it this week. That being said I tried a chaeto in the past in my second chamber and always died. I just sent a water sample to triton for an ICP a week ago to see if replacing any deficient elements can also help with Chaeto growth.
That being said my phos has been bet 0.11 and 0.18 for the longest time and my hammer was probably the best looking coral in my DT. I am hoping to bring it back down to that level with WC and Chaeto (if it works).

 

[Charlie G]

Thanks. have had the lepto for approx 2 years now. Slow in the beginning but then took off.

I have refrained from ever using chemicals other than carbon. I just started a chaeto reactor but to be honest haven’t pulled out any chaeto yet from it as I was away and then have been busy. Will try to get to it this week. That being said I tried a chaeto in the past in my second chamber and always died. I just sent a water sample to triton for an ICP a week ago to see if replacing any deficient elements can also help with Chaeto growth.
That being said my phos has been bet 0.11 and 0.18 for the longest time and my hammer was probably the best looking coral in my DT. I am hoping to bring it back down to that level with WC and Chaeto (if it works).

That’s is what it looked like when I received the lepto 2 years ago.

 

[Charlie G]

Do you ever see empty tubes? The bumble bees eat the inside but leave the tube behind

Wow. I didn’t realize that. Come to think of it up until I went away there may have been more empty tunes. The whit specs at the end have been more numerous recently (since my trip) maybe they were doing their job.

 

[Baby Damsel 219]

From my experience this coral likes to be twoard the top not really at the shelf or even sandbed Or encres lighting.

 

[VintageReefer]

Thanks. have had the lepto for approx 2 years now. Slow in the beginning but then took off.

I have refrained from ever using chemicals other than carbon. I just started a chaeto reactor but to be honest haven’t pulled out any chaeto yet from it as I was away and then have been busy. Will try to get to it this week. That being said I tried a chaeto in the past in my second chamber and always died. I just sent a water sample to triton for an ICP a week ago to see if replacing any deficient elements can also help with Chaeto growth.
That being said my phos has been bet 0.11 and 0.18 for the longest time and my hammer was probably the best looking coral in my DT. I am hoping to bring it back down to that level with WC and Chaeto (if it works).

Ok cheato will need a few supplements to aid growth. Iron and manganese. You can get a product called cheatogro that has both in it. Manganese depletes fast. I have to dose daily. Some people just need it weekly. Icp will show the numbers and current status

And for the lepto I have a vision of it encasing my ugly black overflow and making it neon orange! I glued 2 lepto frags on it. So far so good. Yours is the biggest lepto colony I’ve seen so I was wondering how long it took

I had outbreaks of those pesky snails. Hundreds on the underside of my shelves

I still have the shells but nothing comes out. I think 10 or 15 bumblebees turned it into a graveyard

 

[VintageReefer]

In general
Torches - mid to high placement, medium to high light, medium to high flow

Hammer - low placement, medium light, low to medium flow

 

[Baby Damsel 219]

In general
Torches - mid to high placement, medium to high light, medium to high flow

Hammer - low placement, medium light, low to medium flow

That's what I said

 

[tbaum101]

Hi all,

Hope you can help.
I have a Biocube 32 g for 2 yr 8 months now. I recently went away and when I returned my hammer was closing up and the flesh seems to be recessing (I think). The hammer does not look happy at all.

A little background. Before i left on vacation the tank for the most part seemed stable and doing well. I did have a torch that I had for a long time which seemed to be deteriorating but my hammer along with my Duncan seemed amazing. I have had them both for well over a year. Maybe closer to 2 years. My parameters a week before leaving were:

8/1/2024:
Salinity 1.026
Nitrate 19.3
Phos 0.11
Alk 8.3
Ca 400

I left on 8/9 for a week. I did (for the first time use an auto feeder). I had it feeding twice a day which I normally feed once a day. I put it for twice a day because I was worried that the fish may not get the food before going to the overflow as I could not put the pumps on feed mode.

When I returned my hammer was closed up and the tentacles receded and have not returned to their normal length yet. My parameters were off.

On 8/17:
Salinity 1.026
Nitrate 28.5
Phos 0.54
Alk 8.4
Ca 420

I did serial 15% water changes.

On 8/29:

Salinity 1.026
Nitrate 16.8
Phos 0.25

I will post pictures of what the hammer looked like prior to going on vacation and now. I do have a vermatid snail infestation but it had not irritated the hammer before. I did find many more snail tubes in the tank and some on the hammer which I have removed. I do not see signs of brown jelly disease but I do consider myself a beginner even now. I didn’t run some carbon for a few days. Incidentally I can home tonight and found aome white fuzzy/string stuff on my lepto which I haven’t seen before.
My hammer did close last year for awhile which I may have been due to fast a light change or possibly irritated by a cleaner shrimp I had which always hung around it. Once I put the light duration (original Biocube hood light) back to what I had it at and removed the shrimp the hammer returned. It did take a few months.

Sorry for the long explanation. Just wanted to give you what I knew.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

It's been said but I'm concurring. The pellets caused the elevated nutrients and thus, your problems. I had a hard time with euphillia for a while but persisted and now have all of them begining to split. I'd feed frozen for a while if you can and feed the corals something with low phosphates. Get those all under control for a while and see if you're getting a good response. Phosphates can really be killers of coral but in my experience, Euphillia really responds poorly to them I'm higher levels. After you get your nutrients under control, try dosing phyto, trace elements and amino acids. Thus will all help them heal.

 

[Charlie G]

Ok cheato will need a few supplements to aid growth. Iron and manganese. You can get a product called cheatogro that has both in it. Manganese depletes fast. I have to dose daily. Some people just need it weekly. Icp will show the numbers and current status

And for the lepto I have a vision of it encasing my ugly black overflow and making it neon orange! I glued 2 lepto frags on it. So far so good. Yours is the biggest lepto colony I’ve seen so I was wondering how long it took

I had outbreaks of those pesky snails. Hundreds on the underside of my shelves

I still have the shells but nothing comes out. I think 10 or 15 bumblebees turned it into a graveyard

Thanks. I had the lepton for approx 2 years now. Received the drag August of 2022. It was slow to start growing. Growth is slow which is good for me. I don’t have much real estate and wanted other corals on my aquascape.

Triton notified me last night they received my sample and we’ll take it from there. I don’t think my corals grow fast enough so before this happened I thought maybe I’m deficient in trace elements and should start looking into it. My hammer, torch (when it was doing well), goniopora and Duncan all looked good but never developed more heads or grew. My hammer did grow and I had 2 heads but it’s been like that since I first got it.

 

[Charlie G]

It's been said but I'm concurring. The pellets caused the elevated nutrients and thus, your problems. I had a hard time with euphillia for a while but persisted and now have all of them begining to split. I'd feed frozen for a while if you can and feed the corals something with low phosphates. Get those all under control for a while and see if you're getting a good response. Phosphates can really be killers of coral but in my experience, Euphillia really responds poorly to them I'm higher levels. After you get your nutrients under control, try dosing phyto, trace elements and amino acids. Thus will all help them heal.

I have fed the corals benereef and some frozen (LRS reef frenzy-I think) but not consistently. At this point not sure the hammer can eat (the tentacles and mouth so retracted). Think I should wait to see if it recovers before feeding or try anyway? I don’t want to stress it more than it is.

What about increasing photoperiod? Would that stress it at this point?

 

[Charlie G]

In general
Torches - mid to high placement, medium to high light, medium to high flow

Hammer - low placement, medium light, low to medium flow

My torch seemed happy and full since I had it and where it is (except for that one time I think one year ago when I believe a cleaner shrimp was irritating it or my photo period too long)?

I did add 2 strips of 21LED USA actinic blue in July but I still have it in coral acclimation mode and I believe something like 30 or 40% intensity.

 

[Bitter old man]

That's what I said

Not really.

 

[tbaum101]

I have fed the corals benereef and some frozen (LRS reef frenzy-I think) but not consistently. At this point not sure the hammer can eat (the tentacles and mouth so retracted). Think I should wait to see if it recovers before feeding or try anyway? I don’t want to stress it more than it is.

What about increasing photoperiod? Would that stress it at this point?

I was mainly talking about the overall nutrient content of the frozen food. From what I've read and seen, pellets have higher levels of phosphates (most anyway) and most frozen foods are lower. I would.be guessing about photo periods assisting the rehab. I would also maybe get your salinity a little lower. These are just guesses based on things I've seen and done combined with a little bit of knowledge I've gotten from a BRS Video on food content. I've just hyper focused on euphillia due to my lack of luck for a long time in keeping them.

I have fed the corals benereef and some frozen (LRS reef frenzy-I think) but not consistently. At this point not sure the hammer can eat (the tentacles and mouth so retracted). Think I should wait to see if it recovers before feeding or try anyway? I don’t want to stress it more than it is.

What about increasing photoperiod? Would that stress it at this point?

 

[VintageReefer]

I was mainly talking about the overall nutrient content of the frozen food. From what I've read and seen, pellets have higher levels of phosphates (most anyway) and most frozen foods are lower. I would.be guessing about photo periods assisting the rehab. I would also maybe get your salinity a little lower. These are just guesses based on things I've seen and done combined with a little bit of knowledge I've gotten from a BRS Video on food content. I've just hyper focused on euphillia due to my lack of luck for a long time in keeping them.

Prepare to throw everything about euphyllia out the window

1.026

77.5 degrees

Nitrate 6.5 (although I did run 14 months with nitrate 0-2)

Phosphate .38 -.5 (although I did run 14 months with phosphate .02-.05)

Alk 7.5 - 8.5

3x5g water changes in 10 years

No mechanical filtration - no socks, floss, rollers

There isn’t a specific thing they want to be perfect imo beside proper flow and light. Low to zero nuteients, high, doesn’t matter. I believe all care about about is stability, and proper flow and par, and being target fed

 

[Charlie G]

I was mainly talking about the overall nutrient content of the frozen food. From what I've read and seen, pellets have higher levels of phosphates (most anyway) and most frozen foods are lower. I would.be guessing about photo periods assisting the rehab. I would also maybe get your salinity a little lower. These are just guesses based on things I've seen and done combined with a little bit of knowledge I've gotten from a BRS Video on food content. I've just hyper focused on euphillia due to my lack of luck for a long time in keeping them.

Yes. Understood. Thanks.

I knew about frozen being lower in phosohates and when I started my tank I would feed frozen. I transitioned to pellets for ease of feeding and to be able to use an autofeeder. I generally don’t overfeed (or at least I think so-lol). I did feed more during my vacation away from home because I didn’t want to automate a feed mode on my pumps. Worried in case it failed and didn’t turn on.

 

[Charlie G]

Prepare to throw everything about euphyllia out the window

1.026

77.5 degrees

Nitrate 6.5 (although I did run 14 months with nitrate 0-2)

Phosphate .38 -.5 (although I did run 14 months with phosphate .02-.05)

Alk 7.5 - 8.5

3x5g water changes in 10 years

No mechanical filtration - no socks, floss, rollers

There isn’t a specific thing they want to be perfect imo beside proper flow and light. Low to zero nuteients, high, doesn’t matter. I believe all care about about is stability, and proper flow and par, and being target fed

Wow. They look amazing!
I would love to have mine look like that. My hammer actually did until I left.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

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