Digitata polyps not extending anymore.

[flixxx]

Hi there,

I seem to have a problem with my Montipora Digitata.

I purchased this guy on June 5th 2014 and placed him near a high flow current & medium low in the tank.

He was doing great, and all his polyps were fully extended.

Beginning of July, i seem to have gotten a Cyano outbreak that i've been fighting.

Towards the end of July, my Digitata's polyps stopped opening. He's still got the brown color except on the tips they started turning white. And his polyps no longer extend.

Now, my Cyano caused (or result of?) some swings in my phosphate (it went as high as 0.26 PPM) and since August 26th I took a very aggressive stance on eradicating the cyano:

13% water changes every second day
Got Phosban reactor with ROWA, my Phosphate is at 0 ppm currently (I Will remove the phosban in a few weeks when everything is back to normal and continue to monitor Phosphate and identify the source).

The rest of my parameters are stable:

Tank startup: November 2013
Alk: 8.2 - 9.0 DKH
Calcium: 400
Nitrate: 0.2 ppm max (with the aggressive water changes it's now near 0)


My question: Is there any chance the digitata will recover and any steps to help in the recovery?

Other corals that are doing fine:
Zoas
Frog Spawn
Hammerhead
Stylophora
Echinata

 

[flixxx]

Hello,

I really hope someone can help with this. Here is a picture of the digitata, notice the big white patch on the bottom left side...

Up until a few weeks ago it was fully open, now you can barely see the polyps.

I did a battery of tests again on Sunday;

(Please note, the alkalanity was being raised slowly and steadily over the last month)
Alk: 9.12 DKH
Calcium: 415
Magnesium: 1245
Phosphate: 0
Nitrate: 0 ppm

Phosphate and Nitrate is at 0 because I have been doing 13% water changes every second day for the last week and I have been running a Phosban reactor. (Rowas)

 

[bmullikin1]

I had something similar happen, ended up lowering my alk to 8dkh and things have responded well, not a heavy feeder, so higher alk and low nutrients seem to have caused a lot of stn, be careful not to hit the rowa to hard all at once as it to will cause problems too.

 

[CoralsAddiction]

Has your flow changed?

 

[flixxx]

Flow is the same. He fell off the rock a few weeks ago, I glued it back on... That's about it.

 

[flixxx]

I had something similar happen, ended up lowering my alk to 8dkh and things have responded well, not a heavy feeder, so higher alk and low nutrients seem to have caused a lot of stn, be careful not to hit the rowa to hard all at once as it to will cause problems too.

I can stop dosing alk for a little while and see if that changes anything.

 

[Kaman8]

Stripping nutrient out too fast will also be a problem.

 

[Potsy]

Strange that your other corals weren't affected. I have found that lps react very poorly to drastic nutrient reduction with bleaching and recession. Are those dinoflagellates to the left of the digitata on the rock?

 

[flixxx]

Strange that your other corals weren't affected. I have found that lps react very poorly to drastic nutrient reduction with bleaching and recession. Are those dinoflagellates to the left of the digitata on the rock?

I hope it's not Dino, I've been treating it as cyano. Today was the first day back from 3 days of lights out.

This is my third attempt at the lights out. First day sameness looks great and then It keeps coming back... Difference is I am now running phosban and will keep phosphate at 0 with it for another week.... (It had reached as high as 0.26 ppm)

Reading up on dyno though... My snails have been dying... I'll also dose with hydro peroxide in case it's dyno and hope for the best.

 

[Buzz1329]

Looks like the base of the monty is white? If so, I think the best you can do is try to frag a piece or 2 from the branches and hope for the best.

Good luck,

Mike

 

[DDon]

Have you checked for pests?