I've been searching here and elsewhere on the internet for weeks and can't seem to find a good answer for what's going on.
This is a frag/invert only QT tank. Currently I have a Frogspawn, frammer, zoa, 2 cyphastreas and a pocillopora in it. I also just recently added couple of hermit crabs and a snail (but those were long after the problem started and more to deal with the appearance of algae). I noticed a few weeks ago, and the timeline is a but fuzzy, but it wasn't all at the same time, that the zoas have stopped fully opening (if at all on any given day) and the frogspawn and frammer stay almost entirely retracted. The euphyllia have maintained their color, they're just not extended. The heads used to be the size of a ping pong ball or bigger, now all I can just see a tight mass of green tips. The zoa may still be fully colored, but it's too closed up to tell.
And, for all I know the cyphastreas and pocillopora maybe be stressed as well, but if they are, they're not really showing it.
I did dip ALL corals in Coral RX before going into the tank and I've since redipped those three in Revive, later on Reef Builder (iodine) and recently CoralRX and Reef Builder one after another. No change (other than the zoa starting to come around for a few days after the 'middle' Reef Builder dip).
I have tried moving them, increasing/decreasing lights and adjusting the flow, each time giving the a week or two, but without noticing even a hint of change, I always end up putting them back where they were originally doing well.
There's only two things that I can think of that have changed since I got them. The main one being that they were moved from the LFS water to my water, the other being that the tank is considerbly more mature than it was when I put them in there, but I assumed that would make things better for them, not worse. Also, it's worth mentioning that nothing is touching them. So no CUC irritating them or other frags stinging them.
I usually rotate which params I take on any given day, typically getting to all them once or twice a week. They're typically stable and are:
pH 8.13
temp 78ish
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10ish
Salinity 1.025
Alk 9.5
Calcium 400-500*
phosphate 0.03
Magnesium 1400
I've attempted to test iodide/iodate but it comes up as zero every single time. Even using freshly mixed salt water and adding a few drops of Seachem iodide directly to the test vial. Makes me wonder if I'm doing it wrong.
The only thing I can think of is that perhaps phosphate needs to be bumped up to .1, but I'm really not sure. Also, I do target feed them once or twice a week. Usually Reef Chili, Red Sea AB+, Sustainable Aquatics Hatchery Diet, phytoplankon/pods and most recently I tossed some mysis into the water column to see what would happen. So far, everything looks the same, though historically, they gobbled up anything I target fed them, now they, for lack of a better term, 'nibble' at it and that's it.
I did also pull the filter socks (it's an 20g AIO tank) out a week or two ago so they'd stop catching the pods and just today added some carbon to see what would happen.
The only other thing I've noticed, and it's entirely possible I just never noticed it before due to how the frag was in the tank, is that the frogspawn (or maybe it's the frammer), which has two heads, has one of the heads getting larger. The 'bottom' of the head is almost down to the plug. I don't *think* it's splitting, but maybe I'm wrong. Do splitting euphyllia release any kind of chemicals/hormones that might cause other frags to retract as well?
I can grab some pictures, but they essentially look like this: (not my picture).
I'm tempted to put them in my (still empty and 'young', but cycled DT along with the clowns that should be ready to go in. But I'm holding off on the clowns until the Gramma finishes QT so I can put them in at the same time and, well, they're not doing well and this is exactly why they're in QT.
If I get near a LFS tomorrow, I was going to get some Oyster Feast (and maybe something to bump up the phospate). Not expecting it to make a difference, but I'll certainly give it a shot. I do also have some BRS two-part and did add a small amount of Alk a while back to bump my Alk above 9 and my pH above 8. Not that it made a difference, just 'felt' like the right thing to do.
*probably more stable than that, but I'm sure switching between hanna and salifert, and probably some user error gives me that range
This is a frag/invert only QT tank. Currently I have a Frogspawn, frammer, zoa, 2 cyphastreas and a pocillopora in it. I also just recently added couple of hermit crabs and a snail (but those were long after the problem started and more to deal with the appearance of algae). I noticed a few weeks ago, and the timeline is a but fuzzy, but it wasn't all at the same time, that the zoas have stopped fully opening (if at all on any given day) and the frogspawn and frammer stay almost entirely retracted. The euphyllia have maintained their color, they're just not extended. The heads used to be the size of a ping pong ball or bigger, now all I can just see a tight mass of green tips. The zoa may still be fully colored, but it's too closed up to tell.
And, for all I know the cyphastreas and pocillopora maybe be stressed as well, but if they are, they're not really showing it.
I did dip ALL corals in Coral RX before going into the tank and I've since redipped those three in Revive, later on Reef Builder (iodine) and recently CoralRX and Reef Builder one after another. No change (other than the zoa starting to come around for a few days after the 'middle' Reef Builder dip).
I have tried moving them, increasing/decreasing lights and adjusting the flow, each time giving the a week or two, but without noticing even a hint of change, I always end up putting them back where they were originally doing well.
There's only two things that I can think of that have changed since I got them. The main one being that they were moved from the LFS water to my water, the other being that the tank is considerbly more mature than it was when I put them in there, but I assumed that would make things better for them, not worse. Also, it's worth mentioning that nothing is touching them. So no CUC irritating them or other frags stinging them.
I usually rotate which params I take on any given day, typically getting to all them once or twice a week. They're typically stable and are:
pH 8.13
temp 78ish
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10ish
Salinity 1.025
Alk 9.5
Calcium 400-500*
phosphate 0.03
Magnesium 1400
I've attempted to test iodide/iodate but it comes up as zero every single time. Even using freshly mixed salt water and adding a few drops of Seachem iodide directly to the test vial. Makes me wonder if I'm doing it wrong.
The only thing I can think of is that perhaps phosphate needs to be bumped up to .1, but I'm really not sure. Also, I do target feed them once or twice a week. Usually Reef Chili, Red Sea AB+, Sustainable Aquatics Hatchery Diet, phytoplankon/pods and most recently I tossed some mysis into the water column to see what would happen. So far, everything looks the same, though historically, they gobbled up anything I target fed them, now they, for lack of a better term, 'nibble' at it and that's it.
I did also pull the filter socks (it's an 20g AIO tank) out a week or two ago so they'd stop catching the pods and just today added some carbon to see what would happen.
The only other thing I've noticed, and it's entirely possible I just never noticed it before due to how the frag was in the tank, is that the frogspawn (or maybe it's the frammer), which has two heads, has one of the heads getting larger. The 'bottom' of the head is almost down to the plug. I don't *think* it's splitting, but maybe I'm wrong. Do splitting euphyllia release any kind of chemicals/hormones that might cause other frags to retract as well?
I can grab some pictures, but they essentially look like this: (not my picture).
I'm tempted to put them in my (still empty and 'young', but cycled DT along with the clowns that should be ready to go in. But I'm holding off on the clowns until the Gramma finishes QT so I can put them in at the same time and, well, they're not doing well and this is exactly why they're in QT.
If I get near a LFS tomorrow, I was going to get some Oyster Feast (and maybe something to bump up the phospate). Not expecting it to make a difference, but I'll certainly give it a shot. I do also have some BRS two-part and did add a small amount of Alk a while back to bump my Alk above 9 and my pH above 8. Not that it made a difference, just 'felt' like the right thing to do.
*probably more stable than that, but I'm sure switching between hanna and salifert, and probably some user error gives me that range