Corals looking bad

[loren_gregory]

I have a Kenya tree coral and a cauliflower coral that aren't looking good. I've had them both for over four months and they've been thriving well. But the last few weeks the cauliflower coral has been looking bad and now the kenya tree. My green star polyp died altogether. I've done two %20 percent water changes in the last two weeks.
My params are: salt=1.026, Nitrate=20ppm, Nitrite=0, Alkalinity=180, ph=8.4, Phos=0
My duncan, candy cane, Blastomuusa are doing great.

 

[Str8linespeed]

How are you measuring your Alkalinity? That reading is definitely not in dKH. Also what is your ammonia and nitrite readings?

 

[loren_gregory]

Sorry, I'm new. I received the wrong test kit in the mail and I am waiting for the correct one, so I'm using test strips. It only does kh for alkalinity. My nitrites are 0, so I assume my ammonia is as well. Won't know for sure until the new test comes.

 

[AlSimmons]

Have you made any changes to your lighting recently?

 

[Str8linespeed]

Im guessing your kit is converting it to ppm which would be around 10.0dKH. If that is the case that is not bad although I would try to keep it from 7-9. KH and dKH are the same, if your kit is measuring by ppm you can google online calculator to convert it.


Obviously your nitrates are on the high side but IMO that would not be causing your corals to die. Sorry wish I could help more

 

[loren_gregory]

My lighting is an LED bar by Fluval. I've had it for some time too.

 

[loren_gregory]

Would a protein skimmer for the film on top help? looking at something like the Fluval Surface Skimmer.

 

[Patrick.S]

Don't give up on the kenya tree. They can sulk for up to a couple weeks for no apparent reason and then open up as if nothing happened. No experience with cauli. Are you running carbon? There could be some chemical warfare going on.

 

[loren_gregory]

I'm using a Fluval 406 with carbon. But this is recent.

 

[loren_gregory]

I believe the cauliflower is in the same family as the Kenya.

 

[CrayolaViolence]

Not sure how you are measuring your salinity. But when I've seen leathers of any kind look bad like this it has usually been high salinity in the tank. If you're using a hydrometer see if you can't borrow a refractor from someone to make sure your hydrometer is correct. If it's not correct, lets say it's -2 what the refractor says, then you always know to add two when you measure with the hydrometer.

 

[ontop27]

You do have a coral beauty in the one picture which are known to nip at soft corals...

Sent from my S60 using Tapatalk

 

[loren_gregory]

Coral Beauty

Coral Beauty

I haven't seen any fish eating any coral, but I wonder if that's what happened to my green star polyp.
Would adding a coral supplement product help?

 

[mcgyvr]

Leathers will do that.. Its normal..
They will shed their skin,etc... That can last from a day to a few weeks even..

Give it time.. Many times they will come right back out of it and be bigger than ever..

 

[BrotherNature]

Increasing the circulation around the corals will sometimes help them snap out of their stupor. Definitely keep your eye on that Coral Beauty as well.