All of my SPS have been closed up for over 2 weeks! Help!

[Johnacharles93]

Hey guys,
I'm new to the forums and was recommended by my local fish store to join.

So heres the issue:
Three of the largest corals in my tank have been closed for the past three weeks. I'll attach pictures below. Recently the temperature dropped down to 74 but we purchased a new heater and it is set at 78 and has been between 77.5-78.5 degrees.

I'm not sure of the parameters but the fish store says the water is in perfect condition. We do not dose.

WHAT COULD BE WRONG?

I have a 46 gallon bow front
Mp10, hang on the back filter and skimmer, as well as the Apex controller. We have the following fish, coral and invertebrates.

Fish:
2 Clowns, 1 Blue damsel, 1 Cardinal, and recently added a coral beauty.

Coral:
Frogspawn, green star polyp, zooanthids, heliofungia, a hard coral(I'm not sure of the name) and 3 other large soft corals I also don't know the name of.

Invertebrates:
10-20 snails
10 hermit crabs
1 emerald crab
1 serpent star
1 shrimp (large and red with a white stripe)

If anyone can help id really appreciate it!

 

[Nanook]

I would recommend using some quality test kits instead of trusting a LFS employee. Using a refractometer for testing specific gravity is a good start, then get a lab grade thermometer ($10-15) to make sure your controller is accurate. Getting some basic test kits like Salifert for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, calcium, alkalinity, magnesium would be good. Additionally, testing for phosphate might not be a bad idea. How old is this tank?

 

[Johnacharles93]

Okay thank you, is there a digital system to test the water with? The tank is almost a year and a half old. The green starey polyps opened up its mainly the heliofungia now.

 

[Reef Frog]

Did the beginning of the problem coincide with the addition of the dwarf angelfish? Some can nip at these corals.

Have you ruled out parasites? Some do their dirty work at night.

 

[Johnacharles93]

No it was before that but I have noticed that the larger clown just started to try to host in it. The dwarf angle does no at it from time to time. How would we know if there were parasites? Iv seen a few worms in there buttes told they were harmless.

 

[Johnacharles93]

Our alkalinity and calcium have been going crazy. This may be the cause of them closing up? I don't want to get into dosing can I avoid that?

 

[penfold2]

What do you mean by alkalinity and calcium going crazy? Did you get some test kits? If so, what are the results?

 

[mrstihl]

I'm going to assume since this tank is a year and a half old you have some sort of handle on the water chemistry. Based off of your description I tend to think your new coral beauty may be to blame. This is just a guess based off of limited info.

 

[Johnacharles93]

I have done tests for calcium and alkalinity. Alkalinity was 8.5 and calcium was 410.

 

[penfold2]

I have done tests for calcium and alkalinity. Alkalinity was 8.5 and calcium was 410.

Those values are just fine. Your temperature is better now, and I don't see any nutrient problems from your pics. It doesn't look like water quality is an issue. I'd keep a close eye on the coral beauty as others said. The fact that only one branch of your frogspawn is retracted makes a nibbling fish seem more likely.

 

[Johnacharles93]

Is there a way to prevent the fish from eating it?

 

[Johnacharles93]

Recent check alkalinity was still at 10.2 and the calcium was really high at 480

 

[E.intheC]

That's a pretty significant change in alk. Did you dose or do a water change since the last time you tested the water?

 

[Johnacharles93]

I did a small water change and dosed as well. Planning on doing a 50 percent water change and replacing the majority of the sand. Was told by a local coral farm that there is high phosphates.

 

[Reef Frog]

IMO that's pretty drastic for high phosphates. There are other ways of dealing with high phosphates. What was your reading and what tests did you use?

Large swings in any parameter over a short period of time can cause the symptoms you describe. Especially ALK since it affects pH.

Dosing of some kind is almost always needed in tanks with lots of stony corals. It's not especially labor intensive and can be automated. Best of luck.

 

[Johnacharles93]

I'm not sure what the phosphate levels we're the local coral farm owner said it was high. Calcium and alkalinity have been steady for the past week.

 

[Reef Frog]

Never heard of replacing a sand bed due to excess PO4.

 

[Johnacharles93]

The farm doesn't use sand and they said we should remove it. There's red and green algae in it.