Ricordea FL problem I can't figure out

[SaltyArms]

So, I've been struggling with a couple of my Ricordea FLs for a while now, and I have just decided I am not going to be able to figure this out on my own. Other corals are doing ok (goni, favia, few SPS, birdsnest, chalice, hammer...) I guess my primary question here is "has anyone seen this happen before, and what was the problem(s)?"

These were some of my first corals. I put them in the tank roughly around August and they did great for a few months. They extended well, were full of color, ate mysis when I handed it to them, you know... behaving like dream corals.

Maybe back in roughly November, things started to change. The first one to show the problem was the "Orange Peel" (orange with green mouths.) It stopped expanding as the lights came on and started to get white (like under the little color bubbles and underside of the body.) I thought when it started, it might have been splitting because that particular ricordea has 5 different mouths on the same body. However, it's been months now and it's never split... and it just seems to be struggling.

This is what it looks like today:

As time went on, another one of them started behaving the same way (it was called mixed metallic.) To be fair to this guy, he got kicked around a little bit by my goby until I made some adjustments to placement. So there was a stress event, but there's been no recovery since. In fact, it's just gotten worse. This guy used to have strong deep blues, yellows, oranges and now it's mostly just teal blue "bubbles" and a white body at maybe a quarter of the size it used to be. (pic below)

My Yuma however, is loving life and kicking out babies (you can see one below the main mushroom)... I thought they were supposed to be harder to care for...?

I'm now noticing that the same behavior is starting to happen to the "deep mango" that you can see behind the Yuma in some of the pics. I can't get a great picture of it right now because of the way the glass distorts due to angle.

I've tried adjusting the flow, adjusting lighting, spot feeding, adjusting chemistry, bringing up the pH... all my other corals have benefitted but these guys are just not improving. And I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. Parameters are below:

Tank: Redsea Reefer Nano (29g total volume)
Lighting: Radion 15 G5 Pro using BRS recommended spectrum
PAR: ~60-75 where these sit
Flow: MP10 on reef crest (at level 4) and a smaller seachem 400gph constant
Alk: 8.8-9.1
Ca: 460-480 (I know it's high, but that's been an ongoing issue too)
Mg: 1300-1350
Nitrates: ~8-10
Phosphate: ~.02-.10 (still dialing these in)

I'm dosing Phyto and zooxanthellae from Algagen (been doing it for 6 weeks or so) and I was hoping that would help, but nothing has changed really. I've also tried spot feeding Reef Chili and AF Ricco Food. I don't see it hurting, but I'm also not seeing a feeding reaction really so I don't know that it's helping either. Also using Pohl's Coral Food and RedSea AB+.

A recent ICP test from Triton showed high iron (I'll fix with WCs over the next week or two) and low iodine (I have RedSea traces that I can use to adjust.)

So... any advice on what's happening?

 

[jda]

These are not easy corals, so don't take it too personally. Many struggle with them.

I have found them to need extremely high quality water with tons of light to thrive for long periods of time and not just melt away. Others seem to have them do OK in the shadows in somewhat dirty tanks, but I often wonder the timeframe that they used for these opinions. They can be melters.

I have not kept any in years, so perhaps somebody with more recent experience can chime in.

In any case, don't chase anything just for them.

 

[KK's Reef]

Mine is placed in moderate/high flow with moderate light. Fed once/twice a week. PO4 is usually in the 0.05 - .10 range. Always extended and fluffy when the lights are peaking. The only thing it didn't like was the flow. In 9 months time, it has actually moved almost completely off the frag plug and onto the rock. Where it is now, the rock is sort of deflecting some of the flow, and it seems to like it there.

I also do weekly water changes so alk, calcium, mag, and trace are pretty stable.

 

[SaltyArms]

These are not easy corals, so don't take it too personally. Many struggle with them.

That's going to suck, because I love the way they look and I have 4 newer ones that are still sitting on the frag rack. They look fantastic right now (but so did the others for 2-3 months.)

 

[SaltyArms]

Mine is placed in moderate/high flow with moderate light. Fed once/twice a week. PO4 is usually in the 0.05 - .10 range. Always extended and fluffy when the lights are peaking. The only thing it didn't like was the flow. In 9 months time, it has actually moved almost completely off the frag plug and onto the rock. Where it is now, the rock is sort of deflecting some of the flow, and it seems to like it there.

I also do weekly water changes so alk, calcium, mag, and trace are pretty stable.

So when you say "moderate/high flow with moderate light"... how do you quantify that? Do you have a PAR reading and/or can you tell me what your pumps are running roughly in what size tank?

 

[KK's Reef]

So when you say "moderate/high flow with moderate light"... how do you quantify that? Do you have a PAR reading and/or can you tell me what your pumps are running roughly in what size tank?

Flow - so this is in a small pico, roughly 4 gallons. Only flow is from a Sicce Nano return pump. Return nozzle is an RFG. I can see that the flow is in a sort of gyre motion. The front of the tank gets the most flow, and it dissipates towards the back of the tank. The ricordea's frag plug was placed on the rock work about 1 inch from the top of the sandbed, and in the middle third of the tank. This middle third of the tank has moderate flow. Micro lords and zoas in this part of the tank have a moderate sway to them. When fluffy and extened, the flow is sometimes enough to fold the ricordea's flesh like a taco.

Light - I don't have a PAR meter, but my Kessil 360X peaks at 70% percent. The ricordea is not directly under the light. I guess what I meant by moderate is that I'm not blasting it with 100% intensity for 12 hours a day. My photoperiod is only 8 hours long and have it set up to peak twice at 70% instead of a plateau of 70% at x amount of hours.

 

[SaltyArms]

Thanks for the clarification!

 

[SaltyArms]

Anyone else have experience in this or am I really going to have to chalk it up to “sometimes they just melt”? There has to be a vendor or someone out there that has seen this and solved it before.