Unhappy lepto

[klmt]

I bought a beautiful and bright lepto frag over the summer but it has gone downhill since. My other corals (zoas, mushrooms, acans, hammer, favia) have all done well and have grown and appear happy. Initially I put the frag on the sanded and it stayed bright but wasn't really growing so I moved it up some and after a bit it was bleaching but was growing well and spending on the plug. I moved it again to a more shaded spot and it stopped growing, and the edges appear to have died back while the center is a darker dirtier/faded orange. I have moved it once again back to its original location where it at least had good color. What gives? Can it bounce back?

 

Water params:

pH 8.2

Temp 78F

Ammonia 0

Nitrite 0

Nitrate 10

Salinity 1.025

Alk 9.5

Ca 380

Mg 1240

 

First shot is the location 2 where it bleached shot 2 is from today and shot 3 is when I bought it where it lived on the sanded and was colorful., shot 4 is today. Excuse the brown algae bloom. I had a shimp die and nitrates jumped causing the bloom.

[growsomething]

Do you have any phosphates? 

I have many of the same corals, and my lepto just sat there for 10 mo, then took off.  They are known for doing that, and are supposed to be one of the easiest "sps".

I like to cut frags like that into 2 or 3 peices and see how they do in several different areas.

[klmt]

I have heard and read many of the same things. I'll have to buy a phosphate test I'll admit I have been lazy about that. I may frag it and stick a few pieces here and there in hopes that it succeeds somewhere. I'm still trying to dial in lighting and moving around my frags to find where they do best. So many variables to account for. I figure as long as I keep up with my water changes and maintain proper water quality I'm giving myself my best shot. The only other coral I've lost aside from a small bit remaining is a pulsing xenia which may have been a blessing in disguise. 

[mcarroll]

On 10/12/2021 at 1:38 PM, klmt said:

I'm still trying to dial in lighting and moving around my frags to find where they do best. So many variables to account for.

The corals do most of the accounting....but they have to be given time and stability while they adapt.  You can't keep moving them and resetting that clock – it's stressful.

 

On 10/12/2021 at 1:38 PM, klmt said:

I figure as long as I keep up with my water changes and maintain proper water quality I'm giving myself my best shot.

Your water changes contain no nutrients.  So if your tank turns out to be phosphate deficient already, then the water changes are actually contributing to a problem.

 

Keep us posted on the test results!  🙂 

[Tired]

Proper water quality includes having nutrients. As a general rule, you don't want to go under 0.03ppm phosphate and 5ppm nitrate. Particularly the phosphate. Otherwise, photosynthetic organisms suffer. Probably not the issue if you have other corals doing well, but definitely worth checking- might be everything else is going to start heading downhill in a bit.

 

It should probably be in the spot it was growing in (growth is often a better indicator of health than color), and you should stop moving it after that. I wouldn't frag it, that's not a large piece and you don't want to be stressing it worse by fragging it. 

 

Has your coraline been growing? 

 

Not what you asked about, but how has that anemone been doing? Your rock doesn't look very mature at all, which isn't a good sign for the anemone. Keep a close eye on its health, they really need stable, mature tanks. 

[klmt]

On 10/19/2021 at 8:47 PM, Tired said:

Proper water quality includes having nutrients. As a general rule, you don't want to go under 0.03ppm phosphate and 5ppm nitrate. Particularly the phosphate. Otherwise, photosynthetic organisms suffer. Probably not the issue if you have other corals doing well, but definitely worth checking- might be everything else is going to start heading downhill in a bit.

 

It should probably be in the spot it was growing in (growth is often a better indicator of health than color), and you should stop moving it after that. I wouldn't frag it, that's not a large piece and you don't want to be stressing it worse by fragging it. 

 

Has your coraline been growing? 

 

Not what you asked about, but how has that anemone been doing? Your rock doesn't look very mature at all, which isn't a good sign for the anemone. Keep a close eye on its health, they really need stable, mature tanks. 

Well it has been months, the lepto died and I have struggled with LPS corals. My softies have done excellent as has my anemone. The anemone has almost done too well. Just came home from a week away to an algae bloom... always something. Anyways here's an idea of how everyone looked today, excuse the green. 

[mcarroll]

Wondering if you ever had a chance to take any of the suggestions?   What was your experience?  Can you tell us how the water tests now?

 

 

And is that powerhead aimed at the bottom of the tank?  Can you post a whole-tank shot showing all the flow sources/everything?

[Tired]

Skeletal corals dying suggests a lack of calcium, or possibly a lack of flow. More info and water testing definitely needed. 

 

The green is fine. That looks like an algae that's unlikely to bother any corals, so it's purely aesthetic. You might need more snails- how many do you have, and of what species? 

[klmt]

I think my cleanup crew had dwindled over time resulting in more algal growth. I bought a couple turbo snails, and some more hermits and within a week the tank has looks much cleaner. I think the algae growing on the powerhead was cutting off flow further exacerbating the problem. The turbo snails have since cleaned it, flow has been restored and the tank looks better. Current water params are as follows. 

 

I have a chalice frag that I got, it began to bleach initially but then stopped and has colored back up and begun growing in the shade, and an acans that looks poor. My favia that was doing great got dislodged and fell into the green star polyp and got nuked. Other than that all of my soft corals have done very well, as has the anemone. 

Temperature: 78 °C
pH: 8.4
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 15 ppm
Salinity: 35 SG
Alkalinity: 12.0 dKH
Calcium: 410 ppm
Magnesium: 1400 ppm
 

[klmt]

I also plan to get some cerith and nassarius snails to compliment my two turbos, a few astreas and some bumble bee snails. Would a sand sifting starfish be a good idea as well to maintain the health of the sandbed?

[Tired]

Sand sifting starfish eat your sand microfauna and will eventually starve unless the tank is huge. Just manually stir small patches of the sandbed during water changes, and get some ceriths. Nassarius do very little stirring and are mostly to eat uneaten food; IMO, just don't have lots of uneaten food, and skip the nassarius. A scarlet reef hermit will eat uneaten food and also algae, if you really want something to eat scraps. 

[burtbollinger]

i gave up stirring sandbed LONG ago...just get some certiths.  my guess is you have high phosphates, when my tank goes south, that is always the cause.

[klmt]

Thank you both for your replies! This is the kind of experience info I need. I bought three Scarlet Reef hermits but haven't found Ceriths yet. I'll skip the Nassarius and star fish, and buy a phosphate kit.