Trachyphillia Dying? Flesh turning brown and white and decaying?

[Herides]

This is the current state of one side of my poor trachy. I got him about 2 weeks ago and on the day after successfully acclimating, inflated like a balloon, ever since though he's been pretty tight to his skeleton, and now it's gotten so bad I think I can see skeleton and I'm seeking help. I've moved him to a darker less flowy spot of the tank (where he is in the picture). The following pic is the same with lines and boxes showing all the problem spots I have identified so far:

He has refused to eat either the frozen food I feed the fish or the special lps pellets I've tried giving him. No feeder tentacles, no eating display, no reaction to food or desire to eat whatsoever.
With him turning brown and white at the same time I'm so confused as to whether he has enough or too much light (especially considering he sat next to my first trachy who has been doing just fine for months now. My fish tend to leave him alone, with one of my clowns doing this one thing where he shoves his face into its crevice, but he did that with my first trachy and seemed harmless enough anyway, doesnt even do it that often. I did dip before adding him using CoralRx.

When I moved him to this shadier spot I took him out to inspect him, no visual parasites on him that I could find with the naked eye out of the water.

Here is my current water chemistry, tested of of the first of august:

I have no clue what is happening and I've been so stressed about it to the point of breaking down, especially with another new coral acquisition that's worrying me that we can talk about later, right now, this guy is going through worse. Please help!!

 

[BlennyTime]

Honestly it looks fine to me. Darker should help it recover if it got stressed by the lights. Sometimes acclimation can stress them too, especially if your water is a lot different than the water it came from.

It’s not unusual for corals to take a week or two before they settle in and are comfortable. Mostly you will see feeding tentacles at night, at least to start, so check then.

 

[jassermd]

It appears that it's getting too much light... For reference, trachys much prefer lower light (<100 par and preferably close to 75) and low/moderate flow.
I have about 20 of them in my tank of various sizes and they are all on the sand bed, most in partial shade/filtered light. The larger ones tend to go through "phases" where they won't inflate as much as normal, and that only happens for a couple days, then back to the normal appearance.
The good thing with your pics is that the tissue appears to be healthy and is somewhat inflated in the shaded areas. My bet is that it's too much light and it's just not completely acclimated to your lighting and parameters. I have noticed that trachys tend to take 1 week or so to fully acclimate to my tank and lighting. Some do so right away, but that's not the norm.
Your chemistry looks good, albeit your salinity is a bit high at 1.027. You may want to bring that down to 1.025-1.026.
Trachys, like most other LPS, do well in: Ca 440, Mg 1400, alk 8-9, nitrate 10-20 and phosphate 0.1 or so. With where your nitrates are, I'm guessing you're starving it a bit.
As for lighting, I can't stress enough that they don't like high light. I had one bleach and die on me at 125-140 par, sitting right next to another that is flourishing.
And they feed most after lights out (about 1 hr) so be on the look out then. I usually feed mysis, coral feast and/or marine snow.
Hope that helps!

 

[Herides]

Honestly it looks fine to me. Darker should help it recover if it got stressed by the lights. Sometimes acclimation can stress them too, especially if your water is a lot different than the water it came from.

It’s not unusual for corals to take a week or two before they settle in and are comfortable. Mostly you will see feeding tentacles at night, at least to start, so check then.

I've checked two hours after lights go dark, no tentacles, sometimes sunken in, and I wake up at 6 in the morning, lights don't start ramping up until 10:30, same story, no tentacles. I acquired him on July 21st so it's been about 2 weeks.

 

[BlennyTime]

I've checked two hours after lights go dark, no tentacles, sometimes sunken in, and I wake up at 6 in the morning, lights don't start ramping up until 10:30, same story, no tentacles. I acquired him on July 21st so it's been about 2 weeks.

If it’s been 2 weeks, trying somewhere different to place it seems like a good next step. Will just have to keep an eye on it, and move it from there.

Corals are hardy little critters, it certainly can pull through in the right conditions

 

[jassermd]

I've checked two hours after lights go dark, no tentacles, sometimes sunken in, and I wake up at 6 in the morning, lights don't start ramping up until 10:30, same story, no tentacles. I acquired him on July 21st so it's been about 2 weeks.

I'd tuck him in a shaded area or filtered light area with low/moderate flow and let him be for a while. I've had them stay tight for about 2 weeks. As long as the tissue is healthy and there is no skeleton exposed, it will be fine.
I noticed mine doing poorly when my nitrates drop below 10 or so and my phosphates below .07. They prefer nutrient rich water...

 

[Herides]

I'd tuck him in a shaded area or filtered light area with low/moderate flow and let him be for a while. I've had them stay tight for about 2 weeks. As long as the tissue is healthy and there is no skeleton exposed, it will be fine.
I noticed mine doing poorly when my nitrates drop below 10 or so and my phosphates below .07. They prefer nutrient rich water...

Before a few hours ago he was in a place like you described losing one, in the light, next to one that was flourishing, so the photos here are his new home, a much dark spot next to the rock work. I guess I'll feed the tank more, I just hope I don't overdo it. Also what about what I think is exposed skeleton, pointed out in the bottom right of the diagram photo?

 

[Herides]

If it’s been 2 weeks, trying somewhere different to place it seems like a good next step. Will just have to keep an eye on it, and move it from there.

Corals are hardy little critters, it certainly can pull through in the right conditions

Yes, his new place in the place in the photos, a much more shaded area next to the rock work, I hope he pulls though, I could use signs of improvement to calm me down.

 

[Pico bam]

Same thing was going down with my two I put them on a frag rack in practically still water. they are receiving very little light witch helps. Try feed a reef roid paste or even meaty pellet fish food should snap out of it. Hope this helps! Basically treat it like a dieing Lobo practically no light no flow and alot of food.

 

[Pico bam]

Also your mag is high not sure how much this affects the trachy though.

 

[jassermd]

Before a few hours ago he was in a place like you described losing one, in the light, next to one that was flourishing, so the photos here are his new home, a much dark spot next to the rock work. I guess I'll feed the tank more, I just hope I don't overdo it. Also what about what I think is exposed skeleton, pointed out in the bottom right of the diagram photo?

I don't see any tissue recession there. IME, trachys will recede and lose tissue across the top of the skeleton first; all the ones I lost along the way showed tissue loss there first... I assume that's where the most pressure is and the highest likelihood of damage. From what I see in your pic, it looks good and wouldn't alarm me.

 

[Herides]

Same thing was going down with my two I put them on a frag rack in practically still water. they are receiving very little light witch helps. Try feed a reef roid paste or even meaty pellet fish food should snap out of it. Hope this helps! Basically treat it like a dieing Lobo practically no light no flow and alot of food.

The current photo is where I decided to move him, on the the shadiest areas of the tank with what I hope is less flow. Next time i'm at my lfs I'll look for reef roids, if he'll eat at all.

 

[Herides]

I don't see any tissue recession there. IME, trachys will recede and lose tissue across the top of the skeleton first; all the ones I lost along the way showed tissue loss there first... I assume that's where the most pressure is and the highest likelihood of damage. From what I see in your pic, it looks good and wouldn't alarm me.

I'll take your word for it, maybe I'm just overreacting and its just a spot of extremely tight skin idk. In the overly hopeful event he recovers soon, should this new spot just be his perma home then? Or can I try moving him back to where I wanted him?

 

[jassermd]

I'd leave him be. If he's happy, let him be.
I usually place them and leave them be. If they show signs of stress, I try to find them a new home somewhere else...
They do best when not moved and allowed to settle in.

 

[Herides]

I'd leave him be. If he's happy, let him be.
I usually place them and leave them be. If they show signs of stress, I try to find them a new home somewhere else...
They do best when not moved and allowed to settle in.

Very well, here's hoping he recovers at all. Thank you. By the way, if you dont mind providing some further help, does a lot of what was discussed apply to wellsophyllia as well? He's the other recent acquisition/problem coral I acquired that I mentioned in the main post and his story is much the same except the only symptom of poor health he has is he's been shrunk tight to his skeleton all these 2 weeks and I caught him on one occasion spitting out a small temporary cloud of brown stuff. I have also moved him to a shadier spot, and tried (and failed) to feed him.

 

[Pico bam]

Very well, here's hoping he recovers at all. Thank you. By the way, if you dont mind providing some further help, does a lot of what was discussed apply to wellsophyllia as well? He's the other recent acquisition/problem coral I acquired that I mentioned in the main post and his story is much the same except the only symptom of poor health he has is he's been shrunk tight to his skeleton all these 2 weeks and I caught him on one occasion spitting out a small temporary cloud of brown stuff. I have also moved him to a shadier spot, and tried (and failed) to feed him.

Some coral arnt used to eating so it takes a few trys spread over a few days. I find it best to have them up high on a shelf style frag rack. Makes it easy to feed them also you can position them in between lights so there isnt much par. Also if the food is blowing away it likely to much flow. They take a very long time to eat... You could try bluing out your spectrum a bit also turning your lights down.

 

[jassermd]

Sure thing. Always my pleasure!
Yes, applies to wellso as well. Again, low light and low flow is important.
They will on occasion "poop" zooxanthellae out the and what you described sounds just like that. They will tighten up and exude through their mouth the zooxanthellae every so often. Nothing to be concerned about.
You may want to get a par meter and check your lighting intensity...

 

[Pico bam]

It really is quite easy to get them back to normal once you've experimented with them this long and find out what they need. These coral are pretty easy to keep.

 

[Herides]

Some coral arnt used to eating so it takes a few trys spread over a few days. I find it best to have them up high on a shelf style frag rack. Makes it easy to feed them also you can position them in between lights so there isnt much par. Also if the food is blowing away it likely to much flow. They take a very long time to eat... You could try bluing out your spectrum a bit also turning your lights down.

I have a small 40g tank that is filtered with a canister filter and a spray bar. All that to say that unfortunately my flow actually gets stronger the higher up you go so a frag rack prolly wont work out. And my lighting arrangement, while I have an equivalent par spread last time I measured, means that the only way to give a coral less light is to dim the lights (which I don't want to do I've got a really happy monte that I'm growing) or put them in the shade. Food isnt really blowing away, sometimes but not problematically, the real issue is when the food just sits on them long enough (i.e my first trachy eats immediately while the 2 new ones don't even try), my fish pick the food off of them!! Not sure what to do about that other than hope the 2 new corals just start eating.
I do have my lighting set to ramp to blue over a half hour period a half hour before lights out, so maybe i'll try feeding at peak blue time.

 

[Herides]

It really is quite easy to get them back to normal once you've experimented with them this long and find out what they need. These coral are pretty easy to keep.

That's what I thought when my first trachy went so well, boy how confusing and frustrating this experience has been. Also I missed your comment on my magnesium, yeah that's been a constant thing in my tank, I've never been able to get it much lower and I think it has to do with my salt mix (Fritz Reef Pro Mix (The blue box)) and I do ~10% water changes every weekend.