Flesh Falling Off Skeleton

[majority_rules]

Hello!

Every time I put a Euphyllia in my tank it looks fine an open for a while, but then the whole thing falls of the skeleton and floats off without having ever declined. One day it's open and happy and the next the whole polyp is floating around. It's happened every time. I had it happen the other day and the whole thing is open sitting at the bottom of the tank. Has anyone ever had this happen and/or any ideas why it's detaching?
Thank you!
Joy

 

[claydogg84]

It could be many things - Flow, light, parameters, something in the tank irritating it?

 

[stE25wy14]

what are parameters how old is the tank? what other coral are in the tank?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Its called polyp bailout, they do it to escape stress. Something about your tank makes them unhappy.

 

[majority_rules]

what are parameters how old is the tank? what other coral are in the tank?

Sorry, I should have included that.
ORP 316
Salinity 35.5
pH 7.95
Temp 78.1
I'll check Ca and Mg tonight, but I just did a 15 gallon water change so I'd expect them to be fine at the moment. I have 3 acans and some zoas all of which aren't anywhere near the hammer that I just lost. The flow is only dialed up 3 notches on the Vortech under short pulse. Anymore than that seems too strong for my nano (26g). I use carbon as well. I guess maybe it's time for an API test.
Thank you!
Joy

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Nitrate, phosphate, and alkalinity levels would be helpful.

 

[VintageReefer]

Also list of fish, crabs, shrimp

 

[waqas_01]

Post the rest of your test results. What kind of lights are you using and how long.

Do you have a lot of frags? Do you do regular water changes?

Look everywhere else first but for me everything was in check so I tried dosing trace elements. BAM! That turned things around in 2-3 weeks. Otherwise, same as you, all euphyllia would bail for me. Actually even SPS were STNing from the base up.

 

[majority_rules]

Here are the results from today:
Nitrate (Hanna checker) 0 ppm
Ammonia and Nitrite 0 ppm
Mg 1600 ppm
Ca 350 ppm
Alkalinity 11.2 dKH

I can't find my phosphate checker which is very annoying. But I don't use any media to get rid of it and my corals aren't bleaching so hopefully I have a little bit. When I first set up my tank I bleached a bunch of corals because my light was too strong and I didn't have any phosphates. Lesson learned the hard way.

I wouldn't say I do regular water changes. Once a month probably. I don't have a lot of frags. 3 acans, a button scoly, blastos, 8 frags of zoas. But I run carbon. I have a Kessil A150 on the tank and a Vortech MP10 on a very low setting. I run the light from 11 AM to 7 PM.

I'm not dosing any trace elements at the moment, but I can start doing that. It's just so odd that all of the other corals look good and then I put a Euphyllia in there and it literally tries running away.

I just want to say thank you to everyone who has responded! I really appreciate it!

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Looks like the corals are starving.
I'd get that nitrate up to at least 10, if not higher.

 

[VintageReefer]

Alk is acceptable but high, and this doesn’t pair well with low nutrients.

Nitrates are zero and should be raised, more feeding or a product like neonitro (I’ve used it, very easy)

And if you get nitrates to be 5-10 then alk should be closer to 8-8.5

I’m happy if Phosphate was .02- .2

 

[Shirak]

Photos in white light would help too.

Kessil is good but photo of the whole tank with light might help too. What are you using for settings and power on the light? Any idea what the par is around the tank?

When you say "it looks fine an open for a while" What kind of time frame are we looking at?

 

[Pod_01]

Just observation:

Ca 350 ppm

That should be in the 400-440 ppm range, maybe it is typo.

Mg is also elevated but I am not sure if that can stress corals.

Also if:

Nitrate (Hanna checker) 0 ppm

Your PO4 may be zero or in that range.

With elevated Alk I always had issues with corals when PO4 was below 0.05ppm and newer tank.

I prefer Alk 7.5-8.5 dKh range and PO4 in the 0.1-0.2 ppm range.

Maybe you can provide pictures of the other corals as well…

LPS corals should be all puffed up when happy:

Good luck,

 

[majority_rules]

I'm just taking pictures on my phone so the quality is horrible. I didn't bother cleaning the sand bed so you get the full actual picture. I've got a UV sterilizer in there for the dinos on the sand bed (not working obviously). I have the Kessil at 100% intensity.
PAR:
Top/middle of rock structure is 316
Euphyllia was at the mid right where the Court Jester Goby is 120
Scoly at the bottom 129
Zoa rock at the bottom left was 91

Acans and scoly seem fat and happy.

The hammer polyp is now sitting on the sand bed. It's try to extend it's polyps even though it's literally not attached to the skeleton anymore. This is the 4th time it's happened to me.

Some zoas:

I have some aminos I can start dosing today. I was worried to add more food because I don't want to fuel the dinos, but I care about my corals more.
Thank you all so much for the help!

 

[waqas_01]

What the others have mentioned already. Get your nitrates and phosphates corrected and bring your alkalinity down slowly.

The zero phos and nitrate is probably also the reason for the dinos.

 

[majority_rules]

What the others have mentioned already. Get your nitrates and phosphates corrected and bring your alkalinity down slowly.

The zero phos and nitrate is probably also the reason for the dinos.

I didn't know that zero phosphate and nitrate causes dinos. I'll definitely work on getting them up. Thank you so much for your help!

I've got the polyp that fell of it's skeleton in a little cup. He seems to be fully extended in there. Maybe he's going to regrow a new skeleton.

 

[waqas_01]

I didn't know that zero phosphate and nitrate causes dinos. I'll definitely work on getting them up. Thank you so much for your help!

I've got the polyp that fell of it's skeleton in a little cup. He seems to be fully extended in there. Maybe he's going to regrow a new skeleton.

I'm no biologist but my understanding is the very low or trace levels of phosphate and nitrate allows the dinos to out compete the other bacteria and micro fauna. They are better able to use those very low nutrient levels while other organisms die out.

That's why one of the steps to beating dino is to keep elevated phospahte and nitrate while introducing new bacteria so the bacteria take over again.