Coral Dying

[jerjon5]

I need some advice. I have a soft coral in my 35 gallon tank. For 8 months it was super healthy and got absolutely huge. Then I don't know what happened. the tips got bleached and it started to sag down.

This is all that changed: We upgraded from a Radion xr30w (g1) to a g2. The intensity is set at 65% intensity with a natural schedule. We also did a 10 gal waterswap.

Yesterday this is what we discovered when doing some tests: calc 500+ dKH was 4.2. We started dosing with an alkaline supplement to fix.

Can anything be done to save this coral, or is it too late? Also what do you think caused this?

 

[thegrun]

It could be that the lighting was too intense (you really need a PAR meter to be sure where to initially set your LED lighting), but light would not have changed your water parameters. If your test kits are accurate the big drop in alkalinity is the likely cause of your problems. Most corals are surprisingly hardy so they may pull through, but keep an eye on your ammonia to be sure the die-off does not start a new cycle.

 

[jerjon5]

what causes a big drop in alkalinity like that? We'll test the ammonia to make sure it isnt heading into a new cycle.

 

[thegrun]

It is difficult to say, your water change mix may have been low in alkalinity. Some brands of salt are not mixed up well at the factory, it is a good idea to mix up a new bucket of dry salt yourself before using it.

 

[jerjon5]

The ammonia levels are at close to 0ppm. Keep in mind it was a cheap petco test, but levels are super low. Does that mean that the coral is still alive?

 

[pmt81777]

did you slowly increase the dosage of alkalinity ? or did you raise it up at once? Can you give us the water parameters? temp, sg, etc etc.

 

[Fizz71]

The good news is it appears to be bleaching, not dying. When an LPS goes white that's total tissue death in that area....softies? They can recover if you fix the problem. The photos look to me like the polyps are still all extending it's just lost its color.

Did you change any color setting from the g1 to g2?