Duncan coral closed up!!

[j.speaks]

Hello everyone

My Duncan has been closed up for about two weeks now, and I’m starting to get worried. One of the two polyps is so far into the skeleton that I don’t know if it is even still there! I started this tank around 5 months ago and got the have had the coral for 3. No problems until this point, and my other corals seem okay

I have
2 ocellaris clownfish
2 firefish
1 cleaner shrimp
3 zebra hermit crabs

Here is some pics of the coral:

BEFORE

NOW

I noticed some whitening around the base, and some kind of stringy substance coming from the bottom. My first thought was that this was just algae, but I’m not sure.

The coral was placed in a spot where it wasn’t getting a lot of flow or light, (which is where my lfs told me to put it) and I definitely placed it too close to the side of the rock, which is what I though was making it close at first.

Params:
Temp - 78.8 F
Salinity - 1.026
Ph - 8.0
Ammonia - 0
Nitrate - 2ppm
alk - 161.1ppm or 9dkh
Phos - >0.25ppm

Thanks to anyone who can help me out! I’m brand new to this and this community has been extremely welcoming.

 

[Gman83]

Give it some light, they are pretty resilient. I moved mine to a pre drilled hole, in a rock that was angled. It has 9 or so heads. The ones facing the bottom stopped opening. Moved it up a bit, and put it on a flat rock, and they all are back.

 

[j.speaks]

Boost

 

[Lingwendil]

Whats your filtration look like? I almost think that your Nitrate is a little low which can cause issues, maybe overskimming?

Have you recently fragged or trimmed anything else that could be putting some kind substance in the water it doesn't like?

Personally, I would do a 30-40% water change and see if it improves.

 

[WalkerLoves_TheOcean]

Duncan's are a very easy LPS coral to keep. All you have to do to get it to thrive in your tank, then find what's causing the problem, fix it, and boom, within a few months it will be a completely different coral!

I agree with above, give it more light, they like moderate light and flow, not low.

 

[codenfx]

I agree with the others, more light and medium flow. That's where I have two of mine and both are thriving. Don't forget to feed, they love to eat!