Trachyphyllia losing tissue

[serbusfish]

I've owned a Trachyphyllia for around a year, and it has always been happy, but recently I have noticed some of its tissue has gone and some of the skeleton is showing. I dont understand why this is happening, fish/invert stock hasnt changed, no corals can sting it, parameters are all good, etc. Could it be food related as I have never fed it as the shrimp always steal the food?

[CorbinSawyer]

This may not be your issue, but I noticed the one we had at work started doing that so I replaced the t5 bulbs and it recovered. The bulbs were about 12 months old. I'm not certain that was it but it started to recover shortly after replacing them, so that's what I believed was our problem...

I'd also check all your parameters, if you can post them up and I'm sure other people will chime in

Good luck

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[serbusfish]

This may not be your issue, but I noticed the one we had at work started doing that so I replaced the t5 bulbs and it recovered. The bulbs were about 12 months old. I'm not certain that was it but it started to recover shortly after replacing them, so that's what I believed was our problem...

I'd also check all your parameters, if you can post them up and I'm sure other people will chime in

Good luck

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I have a Maxspect LED unit, so I dont think lighting is a problem unless they arent set high enough (I have them at 50% whites, 78% blues).

Beside the trachy my bubble coral is also nearly dead, and my birdsnest has parts that have bleached. Only a few weeks ago I was seeing new growth on this coral, so this is really puzzling me.

Current parameters:

Nitrate 15
Phos 0.03
Mag 1350
Cal 420
KH 8.5

S.G/salinity is a little on the high side as my refractometer was incorrectly configured, it's currently at around 1.028 - 1.029 which it will have been at for months. Im hoping weekly water changes will eventually bring it down, but ive read that other people have accidentally kept their tanks in this sort of range and not experienced any problems?

[mcgyvr]

do some water changes to bring that salinity down and try to get those nitrates lower..
While 15 isn't "bad" its not helping at all and is elevated for SPS..

[CorbinSawyer]

I agree with mcgyver. Hopefully those water changes you're doing will bring those two items down. If it looks better, soon then you nailed the issue. If not then at least you checked those off ur list. I consider your other parameters textbook and if ur temp is stable at appropriate temps, I have no more ideas, sorry.

Our trach recovered quickly so hopefully yours will do the same. I know many people do not feed them when they are healthy, BUT, I know of a few refers who like to feed them when they are recovering.

I hope some other people chime in for you, and good luck


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[serbusfish]

I agree with mcgyver. Hopefully those water changes you're doing will bring those two items down. If it looks better, soon then you nailed the issue. If not then at least you checked those off ur list. I consider your other parameters textbook and if ur temp is stable at appropriate temps, I have no more ideas, sorry.

Our trach recovered quickly so hopefully yours will do the same. I know many people do not feed them when they are healthy, BUT, I know of a few refers who like to feed them when they are recovering.

I hope some other people chime in for you, and good luck


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Unfortunately it is all but gone, just a tiny amount of tissue left. I bought new test kits to make sure I wasnt getting any incorrect results but they are reporting the same numbers as my old kits so I can rule that out. I suppose all I can do is increase water change schedule and see if it helps.

[CorbinSawyer]

That stinks, sorry to hear it

[serbusfish]

Something is definitely wrong somewhere, I now noticed some of my Acans are losing heads. I think I will take a water sample to my LFS and let them do a full test to ensure my kits are working and im doing it right. Ive heard that Acans dont normally lose heads due to water quality, normally it can be a bacterial infection or the result of chemical warfare?

Something else, I have a large amount of pulsing xenia and read that it can pull a lot of iodine out of the water, could this be a potential cause?

[serbusfish]

OK I have been to LFS and the results are:

SG 1.027 (I knew it was a little high)
Nitrate 5
Phos 0.03
KH 8.2
MAG 1470
Cal 435

He told me none of these parameters will kill corals so something else is going on. He said something could be eating them, either a pest or fish. I have a coral beauty angelfish so I will keep an eye on him, and I dipped some of the affected corals but nothing bad came off. I have seen a white crab though that comes out at night, so im going to set up a bottle trap to see if I can catch him.

This still doesnt explain the birdsnest bleaching though...