Toadstool Dying?!

[jtgrimes]

I have had a healthy large toadstool now for many years. This same toadstool I thought was going through its normal shedding, but it seemed to be taking longer than it normally does. I noticed a round brown spot developed almost overnight right near the center. As I normally do daily, I was blowing off the rocks with the baster and decided to blow what seemed to be a brown film on the toadstool. The tissue in the area was so soft that it blew a hole directly through the outer skin making a hole!! What is going on?! Never seen this before and need to know what I need to do. All other corals, including my sps are all fine, but it. See pic.

 

  
 

[mcarroll]

What has changed in the tank or it's care?

 

What are your nitrate and phosphate levels?

 

The only time I've seen something like this is when phosphate removers are being abused, for what it's worth.

[jtgrimes]

Not running any phosphate removers at the moment as I have an algae scrubber running. Have thought about bringing phos back online but haven't. All levels are in check, I have slowly increased my cal and alk but dont see that as being a problem due to it being open just the other week. All other coral are fine. 

[mcarroll]

I would take the algae scubber offline if that's the only change.  It seems like it may be competing with the coral for necessary nutrients.

 

Is there any residual nitrate or phosphate in the water as you test now???

[jtgrimes]

Algae scrubber has been running for about 9 months, not a recent change. There is a trace of some phos and nitrate, but not high. 

[mcarroll]

If it's only a trace, that may be the same as zero when considering the accuracy/precision of the tests.

 

How long have nutrient levels been this depressed? 

 

I'm guessing that nutrient levels were high 9 months ago and now they're zero.  Not a good switch, and zero nutrients is not a good position for corals in lots of cases. 

 

I'd seriously considering throttling the ATS or even disabling it.

 

I'd also consider adding at least some phosphates to increase levels to at least 0.03 ppm.  Raising nitrates to 5ppm wouldn't hurt anything.

 

At the very least you can see that the coral has A LOT of repair to do....impossible without adequate nutrient levels.

 

Seachem and Brightwell both make appropriate products with good, accurate dosing instructions on the bottle.

 

While you're doing that check for stray voltage and maybe stay up late one night to see if anything unexpected is happening there after lights-out.

[Tamberav]

I bought one that had a hole like that, I removed the dead tissue and it healed up eventually. 

[mcarroll]

Toadstools are very receptive to "fragging"....you could supposedly even remove the whole cap and he should regrow another.  (And the cap, if you keep it, will  regrow a stem.  You could even dice up the cap and grow LOTS of toadstools.)

[jtgrimes]

I love the size, its a neon green. Would hate to dice up ahaha. 

[kblazewicz]

Hi @jtgrimes, I'm dealing with similar issue with my toadstool. I also had this brown ash-like debris filled hole in mine. I made a little surgical procedure and removed the tissue surrounding the dead spot with a scalpel, then I dipped the coral in DVH coral Protec solution. I still can see a small brown hole inside the bigger one though.

 

Can you tell what happened to your toadstool since then?