Hello. I have a bit of a bad track record with keeping corals. Despite having virtually no nitrates or phosphates, keeping up to date with water changes, dosing to maintain calcium and alkalinity, and having an established tank with coraline algae now, and maintaing control over the pest algae. I have one fish in a 30 gallon tank, and a cleanup crew. I've never seen any of my crabs (emerald and hermits) go after any of my coral polyps and I keep a sharp eye on them.
And yet, despite all of that, three of the four coral polyps I got recently aren't thriving at all. The monti cap is bleached (which may be because I put it too high too soon), and it doesn't seem to be showing signs of recovering despite feeding it and now keeping it in a shady place.
And since my first water change since getting them, my duncan coral and blue mushroom closed up. I've tried moving the duncan to a few places, keeping it shady, and leaving it per spot for a few days, and it still
The candy cane coral seems fine enough, but there was a bit of what looked like disintegrated flesh on the side of its stalk, which has me a bit worried, but it might not be much.
I feed a mixture of oyster feast, plankton, and marine snow a few times per week. And I have filter feeders and scavengers which help clean up the leftovers.
I've had duncans do this in the past where they stay closed. I've had toadstool leathers disintegrate on me. I've had photosynthetic gorgonians decay. And this is all in a tank where my paremeters have been more or less consistently fine for the past 6-8 months, with only the occasional salinity shift, phosphate spike, or alkalinity drop (all of which I would address in short time, AND my coralline algae has been thriving and spreading.
Am I missing something? These are all supposedly easy to care for beginner corals, and yet I constantly feel like I can't even take care of them in a way that they'll thrive. Will my monti recover? Why is my duncan still closed after a week? What's going to happen with my mushroom? Should I be feeding them something else? Am I feeding too much? Should I start dosing amino acids? Is anyone else having these issues? And if not, what are they doing for their corals that I'm not?
The tank is a 30 gallon btw with a thick sand bed and a decent amount of live rock
And yet, despite all of that, three of the four coral polyps I got recently aren't thriving at all. The monti cap is bleached (which may be because I put it too high too soon), and it doesn't seem to be showing signs of recovering despite feeding it and now keeping it in a shady place.
And since my first water change since getting them, my duncan coral and blue mushroom closed up. I've tried moving the duncan to a few places, keeping it shady, and leaving it per spot for a few days, and it still
The candy cane coral seems fine enough, but there was a bit of what looked like disintegrated flesh on the side of its stalk, which has me a bit worried, but it might not be much.
I feed a mixture of oyster feast, plankton, and marine snow a few times per week. And I have filter feeders and scavengers which help clean up the leftovers.
I've had duncans do this in the past where they stay closed. I've had toadstool leathers disintegrate on me. I've had photosynthetic gorgonians decay. And this is all in a tank where my paremeters have been more or less consistently fine for the past 6-8 months, with only the occasional salinity shift, phosphate spike, or alkalinity drop (all of which I would address in short time, AND my coralline algae has been thriving and spreading.
Am I missing something? These are all supposedly easy to care for beginner corals, and yet I constantly feel like I can't even take care of them in a way that they'll thrive. Will my monti recover? Why is my duncan still closed after a week? What's going to happen with my mushroom? Should I be feeding them something else? Am I feeding too much? Should I start dosing amino acids? Is anyone else having these issues? And if not, what are they doing for their corals that I'm not?
The tank is a 30 gallon btw with a thick sand bed and a decent amount of live rock