LPS Problem. Not fully extending and frogspawn heads seem puffy

[AUFishGuy]

So for the last day or so my LPS have been looking strange. Not fully extending. This goes for a large frogspawn, an Octospawn and a small hammer. Even the heads on my green trumpet don't seem to be opening fully.

The frogspawn heads look puffy, if that makes any sense and it is not extending it's tentacles very much. Gonna do a decent size water change but wanted to see if anyone might know what is going on.

[Dkuhlmann]

What are your water parameters? Most important Cal, Alk and Mag. How long have they been in your tank? What lighting do you have and where are they placed in your tank? A full tank shot would be helpful.

But yes a water change will help reset your water parameters which I suspect are low due to the corals using up the minerals in the water. Parameters will tell all.

[AUFishGuy]

What are your water parameters? Most important Cal, Alk and Mag. How long have they been in your tank? What lighting do you have and where are they placed in your tank? A full tank shot would be helpful.

But yes a water change will help reset your water parameters which I suspect are low due to the corals using up the minerals in the water. Parameters will tell all.

Well I am currently having an issue with my test kit. My Ca and Alk reading are higher than they were 5 days ago and i haven't done any water changes or added anything. Hope fully i can get that straightened out tonight but im not sure. but right now im getting Ca=415, Alk=10.1 and Mag =1300. Again Im do not really trust these numbers at the nmoment

As for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. they are all basically undetectable. I only have one clownfish and a rainbow bta in a 90 gallon tank who i spot feed. I use like a 5th of a cube of mysis when i feed and i dont feed every day.


The last LPS added were the frogspawn and octospawn and i have had them for at least 3 months. the trumpet for about 2 years. I will try and get some pictures tonight

Last night i looked at the frogspawn after the lights went out and the tentacles had retracted but the heads were still extended and they looked like a brown color on the inside. I think I know what the brown jelly disease looked like but this was different. The skin on the outside is white but it looks like they are brown underneath/inside. Zooxanthellae maybe?

I took another look this morning and did notice something else. It looks like every head on the frogspawn is splitting into 2 heads. I got it at 11 heads and like i said that was 3 months ago. Same thing for the hammer, all 3 heads are splitting. Could that cause everything to look a little different?

[AUFishGuy]

Here is a pic of the whole tank, not sure if you can tell from this picture.
<a href="http://s1063.photobucket.com/user/rcbrownr7/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151216_221857_zpsrizqfuww.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1063.photobucket.com/albums/t509/rcbrownr7/Mobile%20Uploads/20151216_221857_zpsrizqfuww.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20151216_221857_zpsrizqfuww.jpg"/></a>

[Tweaked]

Tank looks really clean, too clean IMO unless your a zeohead lol. Feed the corals, add some life, and keep all params stable.

[AUFishGuy]

Tank looks really clean, too clean IMO unless your a zeohead lol. Feed the corals, add some life, and keep all params stable.

thanks for the advice. I thought Zoa's liked it a little dirty as well?

[Dkuhlmann]

I totally agree with Tweaked! Also I find that having some nitrates and phosphates is a good thing and LPS as well as softies and like you said zoas all like to have some. I say keep nitrates under 10 and phosphates around .03 or less. It's my water too clean analogy that keeps on rearing its head to many tanks in this hobby as they mature.

[Reef Frog]

Actually, your candy canes look good and appear to be well expanded to me on my phone. I couldn't see enough detail on the others however.

Over the past year I have been moving towards a more well fed tank coral wise and slightly higher nutrients. I'm also keeping ALK closer to natural sea water levels of ~8dkh. I can say for sure that this has helped coloration, polyp inflation and tentacle expression on a wide variety of LPS & SPS as well.

Maybe something to consider if the problem you're seeing doesn't clear up.