Sick Birds nest??

[TiggerandRoo]

This birds nest frag has been in my tank for just about a month. Generally seemed happy along with other (not sps) corals. Numbers look good - I think. I am trying to work my way up higher in Ca but currently just making small increases over time w/ dosing till I get there (see pic for results).

The polyps on the base suddenly don’t look great. Day two of this. Maybe just not extending maybe bleaching hard to see even in real life because the polyps are so small.

So I am trying to decide if best to wait and see or take action. I’m not opposed to cutting off first 1/4” and gluing to new plug although never done before. Hoping someone might recognize what issue is to help decide. I think I’m just paranoid about any hitchhikers or diseases at this moment.

 

[Adam]

Birdsnest is a great canary coral. It will left you know when something is off before most anything else will.

You don't say how old the tank is. Also, you're not recording the temp.
Cal is fine in the 400-450 range.
Alk and salinity are bouncing around a good bit if the tests are accurate. That's not good and if the temp is off too it'll exasperat things.

The biggest thing is no NO3 or PO4. That could be because of the test kits your using for those. There needs to be some of both though. If not most corals will not be happy. One of the 1st signs of low NO3 is the colors will look muted and pale.

Which test kits are you using for all the tests?

 

[TiggerandRoo]

It is a new tank - small too, really pico almost at 5gal. We are just over two months in. Birds nest was a bit of a stretch for this tiny tank. I just wanted to to learn quickly. Plan is to ultimately move the birds nest and many others out of this tank and into my, currently under construction 40. Just starting cycling that 40g yesterday (!).

So temp has been rock steady at 81* from day one. Not going to lie - I would like it lower but cannot physically get the adjustment ring to budge (ehiem).

Salifert kits for Ca KH and Mg. I think the flyers are me judging test results and not that the KH is truly bouncing around. Maybe I will start doing two tests or day AM/PM and see if that gives better consistency.

just API for nitrogen related testing. It was great for cycling but I don’t think it reads true at low levels so I doubt I’m hard on zero for NO3. I’ve ordered Tropic Marine kit for NO3 and when that comes in I think I will have better read on it.

I just recently purchased PO4 kit days ago so didn’t have a spot on my chart for results. Really really hard to read this one but definitely low towards zero probably .01

Maybe you are on to something with low nutrients. I do have a lot of soft corals and even some Xenia so perhaps they are soaking it up to quickly.

 

[Adam]

Do as you are and upgrade the test kits as you go. The API kits can be hard to read and judge the colors. Pico's are tough to learn on. The parameters bounce so fast. Things that take a day or more to change can happen in hours.

 

[TiggerandRoo]

As an update…. Tested with a Tropic Marin kit and indeed N03 is pretty low - .05ppm. Not 100% convinced that is the primary issue with this guy though though.

Over the week it continued to die from bottom up. Creeping up more each day. Last night I decided to cut and frag what’s left. It was my first try cutting coral and was a rough go at it so not super hopeful of survival but we will see in a few days and update.

(that’s glue at base in pic)

 

[TiggerandRoo]

Tentatively, I think it’s gonna make it!

He was definitely a little angry the first few days but no more tissue recession. I realized the timing was after I changed lighting. Didn’t put that together previously. Maybe light shocked it just a bit, but not enough to be obvious. Weakened it and perhaps some disease got a foothold. Who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

My frag tank is finally cycled though so I will start moving over some of the coral. I think trying to keep all those hungry frags (~20) in tiny tank are why nutrients could never accumulate.