Softies not doing so well……

[JayM]

All my soft corals are looking really sad, and a golf ball sized chunk of Xenia melted away to nothing over the last couple of weeks. GSP has been completely closed, leather is folded in half and looks to be shrinking. No new additions lately, and with the exception of phosphate, everything has been stable. Phosphate bottomed out at zero in mid-March, got it stable rather quickly at .05 - .08. Then it jumped from .08 to .17, last week. It’s now back down to .08. Everything else has been stable.

Any thoughts?

Temp 78
Salinity 1.026
Nitrate low to mid teens
Alk 8.7
pH runs 7.9 - 8.2
Calcium 380
Mag 1290

I can snap some more pics with better light if necessary.

 

[liddojunior]

Looks like not enough flow to help them sheds their mucous

 

[JayM]

Looks like not enough flow to help them sheds their mucous

I suppose that’s a possibility, but flow hasn’t been changed in 6 or 8 months.

 

[CoralB]

Phosphate swings in a relatively short period can cause this . Good tank husbandry and stability is crucial .are you aware of why you had this swing ? 0.17 although a little on the high side might not have been a issue so much as the jump quickly from .08 . What did you do to bring it down so quickly ? . Bring your phosphates down quickly can be as much harmful as them going up quickly . In this hobby imo nothing good happens quickly . Slow , stable, and steady is key .

 

[vetteguy53081]

All my soft corals are looking really sad, and a golf ball sized chunk of Xenia melted away to nothing over the last couple of weeks. GSP has been completely closed, leather is folded in half and looks to be shrinking. No new additions lately, and with the exception of phosphate, everything has been stable. Phosphate bottomed out at zero in mid-March, got it stable rather quickly at .05 - .08. Then it jumped from .08 to .17, last week. It’s now back down to .08. Everything else has been stable.

Any thoughts?

Temp 78
Salinity 1.026
Nitrate low to mid teens
Alk 8.7
pH runs 7.9 - 8.2
Calcium 380
Mag 1290

I can snap some more pics with better light if necessary.

The algae on the leathers are an indicator of lack of water flow. Also take a look at you phosphate, ph and lighting.

 

[JayM]

Phosphate swings in a relatively short period can cause this . Good tank husbandry and stability is crucial .are you aware of why you had this swing ? 0.17 although a little on the high side might not have been a issue so much as the jump quickly from .08 . What did you do to bring it down so quickly ? . Bring your phosphates down quickly can be as much harmful as them going up quickly . In this hobby imo nothing good happens quickly . Slow , stable, and steady is key .

Don’t know what brought it up, but now that I think about it - I did add a couple of softball sized ARK Rock (same as Marco Rock from what I understand). Would that do it?

All I did to bring it down was stop feeding flakes mid day and went to 100% Reef Frenzy and frozen mysis and about a 25% water change. And honestly the water change was more of a monthly maintenance thing than it was an attempt to drop phosphates.

 

[JayM]

The algae on the leathers are an indicator of lack of water flow. Also take a look at you phosphate, ph and lighting.

Algae hasn’t been on the leather more than a few days. Would it be a good idea to scrub it off? Or would that just make things worse?

Haven’t actually checked pH in quite some time, but it’s never been below 7.8, and usually is
8.1 - 8.2.

I haven’t changed lighting or flow in ages, and nothing growing in the flow path, but I suppose I can play with it a bit. If it isn’t too late.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Algae hasn’t been on the leather more than a few days. Would it be a good idea to scrub it off? Or would that just make things worse?

Haven’t actually checked pH in quite some time, but it’s never been below 7.8, and usually is
8.1 - 8.2.

I haven’t changed lighting or flow in ages, and nothing growing in the flow path, but I suppose I can play with it a bit. If it isn’t too late.

Dont scrub but blow off with gentle bursts using a turkey baster which will also perk it up

 

[JayM]

Dont scrub but blow off with gentle bursts using a turkey baster which will also perk it up

Tried the turkey baster, but it didn’t really remove anything and didn’t perk it up, though I definitely don’t expect instant results.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Tried the turkey baster, but it didn’t really remove anything and didn’t perk it up, though I definitely don’t expect instant results.

Perking up will be 24-48 hours.

 

[JayM]

No change in either the GSP or the leather. What's a good indicator of when to remove them from the DT? Neither of them seem to be "dead". Not in the same way that you can tell an LPS coral is a goner anyway.

 

[mfinn]

In my softy tanks when things are looking bad, I usually do a water change.
Oh by the way, more flow.
You said the flow has been the same for ages. Well it looks like it caught up to the coral.
Unless the corals have visible rot, tissue falling away, keep the coral in the tank.
Leather corals do go into a slump while they sluff off the outer layer of skin. Good flow ( not the direct narrow flow) will help.

 

[JayM]

Here’s a quick video of the flow. The leather sits about an inch lower and an inch forward of the torches. The GSP covered rock is obviously getting pretty much the same flow as the frogspawn and octospawn. Considerably less than the torches, but definitely getting some flow.

 

[liddojunior]

Did you try running carbon ? Softies fight each other with chemicals

Don’t remove them. Some leathers can slump for like months and then perk up and explode in growth

 

[sfin52]

Here’s a quick video of the flow. The leather sits about an inch lower and an inch forward of the torches. The GSP covered rock is obviously getting pretty much the same flow as the frogspawn and octospawn. Considerably less than the torches, but definitely getting some flow.

You kiddoe cracks me up.

Gsp and leathers like more flow than what hammers and frog spwan like. I staying with not enough flow for both gsp and leather

 

[JayM]

Did you try running carbon ? Softies fight each other with chemicals

Don’t remove them. Some leathers can slump for like months and then perk up and explode in growth

I am running carbon, though it’s been a few weeks since I changed it. Maybe longer.