Chalice coral in bad shape. Cutting question.

[tc2007]

So I have a Hollywood Stunner (hardy?) chalice in bad shape. I had an alk swing to round 6, few days ago and by the time I fixed it, the chalice has lost half of the tissue. I don't see the skeleton but it went from dark blue / black to dull grey color for the most part. It is about 3-4" in diameter and about 30% of it is still looking recoverable. Should I move it to a shady area? Right now it's on the edge of the tank but still getting plenty of light and flow. Also do I cut the "dead" parts or leave it be?

I really hope it recovers. :sad2:

Currently Alk sits at 9.6, Ca is around 460. Nitrates are high at 50ppm and PO4 is undetectable on my salifert test.

 

[CLR]

Following along, hope it all turns out well. Have any pictures ?

 

[kevlow]

I have both the Blue Stunner and the Hollywood Green Stunner. Both thrive in direct light. I try to put them into reduced light zones just to slow down the growth.

I have never had a chalice turn grey. Can you post a pic of the piece?

But, any chalice that I have had has always been able to recover their old skeleton. I have never had to cut any old dead areas.

I have never had problems with alk swings affecting them much. [did have a swing from 7.3 to 5 in July]. But low nutrients has affected them greatly. This would cause them to die back from the edges. The edge of the tissue would recede back exposing the bare skeleton underneath. Drove me nuts trying to figure it out. But with your nitrates at 50, I doubt that is your problem.

The Stunners have been very hardy for me; but when they did show problems I did not move them.

I would be very interested to see a pic if possible.
I wish you well. The blue Stunner is a beautiful piece.

 

[tc2007]

I will try to post a pic. I forgot to mention that the alk swing was caused by Lanthanum Chloride dosage. Not sure how long the low alk stayed that way. I got busy and didn't test until I saw the signs. This is the first time I was dosing LaCl. Also the chalice had been knocked off its rock to the sandbed too. About 2 inch in height difference. I highly doubt it would have caused it to suffer though as it was there only for 2-3 days max. I think the LaCl treatment may have been the root cause.

Also P04 was in high range of the Salifert chart before LaCl dosage. After the dosage, it is barely noticeable now. Hair algae has been thriving though so maybe the algae is eating up all the remaining P04 that my rock is leeching. I have a bunch of acan frags that are all doing good (fluffy with nice reddish color).

 

[kevlow]

This may be a shot in the dark, but could the issue be that it is getting too little light? These are considered high light pieces for chalice. My Blue I had in 300 par, directly under leds. I moved it to about 125 or so just to slow it down.

I don't know if that would account for the grey.

edit: I had to leave and returned and finished my post. Then I saw you had responded already. In light of your last info, I would agree with you. The alk swing, new dosing, sharp drop in PO4, falling down off rocks is a lot of drama at once. I would leave it alone for a while.

If you do choose to cut it chalice heal very quickly[when healthy].

 

[tc2007]

It's just not gray, the green "eyes" are gone so I am guessing it is dead in those areas.

 

[tc2007]

Here's a picture. It's under blue led so not very clear. But it seems that the middle area has been almost cleared of tissue while the left side is a bit worse.