Tips on coral recovery/rehab

[mr.lordacan]

Hi Everyone,

Im looking for any tips/thoughts on my current approach to try and assist two corals with some tissue recovery. Short back story -
I had adjusted my water flow a few months back, resulting in my plate coral being unhappy. I moved the coral to lower flow, when my blenny began picking at its tentacles. I placed the plate coral under a rock overhang to prevent my blenny from nipping at it. Ive read plate corals do okay in shaded areas. Of course my goby began sand sifting on top of the plate coral daily (despite never doing so in that area before moving my coral there). 9 days ago I saw exposed skeleton around the edges (at first I thought it was sand).

currently, I spot feed Red Sea ab+ daily. I also place a bottle over the coral to feed reef roids every other day. Plate coral is still eating, so that’s the good news!

as for my second coral, it’s a small mushroom coral. I accidentally removed it from the rock while cleaning/blasting rock for detritus. I believe it lost its foot in the process.

today I purchased an acclimation box for both the plate coral and mushroom coral to prevent any sand sifting/irritation from tank inhabitants.

I’m wondering if anyone has any helpful suggestions that could help aid in my coral recovery quest? Are there any downsides to the use of an acclimation box? I couldn’t find anything online about using one for coral recovery.

current parameters:
Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 77-78F
Nitrate: 15PPM
PO4: 0.14 (currently working to get this down slowly with Phosgaurd the past couple months)
Alk: 7
Ca: 400
pH: 8.0
Mg: last checked ~2 weeks ago and in the 1300 range if I recall.

love this hobby, but sometimes it feels like I’m constantly fixing my mistakes.

 

[Tired]

As long as the corals are getting appropriate flow, light, and (in the case of the plate) substrate, the box will work fine.

No need to worry about the mushroom coral- they'll grow back from tiny scraps of flesh, they can deal with losing a foot.

I'm not terribly familiar with plate corals, but "provide good conditions, feed it if it'll eat, and leave it alone" works for just about any coral.

You might want to leave the phosphate alone, unless you're seeing any problems as a result of it being elevated. High phosphate is often nothing to worry about.

 

[mr.lordacan]

As long as the corals are getting appropriate flow, light, and (in the case of the plate) substrate, the box will work fine.

No need to worry about the mushroom coral- they'll grow back from tiny scraps of flesh, they can deal with losing a foot.

I'm not terribly familiar with plate corals, but "provide good conditions, feed it if it'll eat, and leave it alone" works for just about any coral.

You might want to leave the phosphate alone, unless you're seeing any problems as a result of it being elevated. High phosphate is often nothing to worry about.

Thanks Tired. That’s what I’ve been reading on mushrooms. It’s been moving around on the sandbed nonstop. Maybe tomorrow I’ll put it back in the tank if it’s attaching to the rubble. Makes me nervous keeping it slow close to the plate.

as for the plate, the box will be handy for feeding (keeps the cleaner shrimp out). I’ll be monitoring it closely to make sure it’s not reacting poorly. I’ve read they like flow on the lower side. I’m hoping the acclimation box doesn’t block too much of the flow.

 

[mr.lordacan]

As long as the corals are getting appropriate flow, light, and (in the case of the plate) substrate, the box will work fine.

No need to worry about the mushroom coral- they'll grow back from tiny scraps of flesh, they can deal with losing a foot.

I'm not terribly familiar with plate corals, but "provide good conditions, feed it if it'll eat, and leave it alone" works for just about any coral.

You might want to leave the phosphate alone, unless you're seeing any problems as a result of it being elevated. High phosphate is often nothing to worry about.

Forgot to mention - the phosphate battle started due to a GHA outbreak in January. Phosphates were up to 0.61 and it has been a long battle to get it where it is today lol. I’ve been going slow though and using small portions