Reef Central Online Community - Sympodium Experience

Does anyone have experience with blue/green sympodium?

I bought a 6-inch frag disc of these about 6 months ago and it started out fine but it quickly turned brown and slowly regressed over the course of a couple months. It started closing up and then started just melting away in parts. I tried dipping it on a couple occasions but there were never any visible pests. There were no known water issues, and I tried a few different lighting and flow positions but nothing ever seemed to work.

Eventually I just fragged off about 5 small pieces that still appeared savable and placed them in a few different locations around the tank, in different lighting and flow positions. Most of those pieces continued their unexplained but steady (and very slow) march toward death as well, but one piece actually seemed to take off. No idea why, since it is in one of the original positions I tried putting it in before, and it didn't like it there.

It is now intermingling with some of my zoas and everyone appears perfectly happy. The little colony has doubled in size and is usually quite full and healthy looking. The only thing I can't figure out now is that this piece is still brown.

Does anyone have any care advice about these things. Without the blue/green color these things are kind of just ugly, but when they are colored up, they're gorgeous.

Everything else in my tank is growing like weeds (softies, LPS an SPS). So much so that I am now out of space in my little 29 gallon and I'm refurbishing a second-hand 90 gallon tank/stand in my garage for transition after the first of the year. This is the only coral that has given me fits. I can't figure them out.