Frogspawn Issue Help.

[MNtadpole]

For the last 3 days my frogspawn has looked deflated and sad. I'm reaching out for some suggestions as to the possible reasons. The frogspawn is in a 24 gal JBJ NanoCube. The aquarium has been running for about 3 months and I've been in the ugly stage for about a month. I've had noticeable diatom and green hair algae blooms. I do weekly clean outs of the algae and diatoms. I typically do 10% WC every week (2.5gal) along with parameter testing. The frogspawn is accompanied by a zoa frag, GSP, and a larger colony of clove polyp. The clove polyp, zoa, and GSP aren't showing any signs of stress. The other tank mates that we have in the tank are: 2 large Picasso clownish, yellow watchman goby, and a tiger pistol shrimp. I am typically feeding the fish twice a day - frozen mysis and brine. I never feed an amount that goes uneaten. There is a possibility that I feed heavy, but only to ensure that the goby gets food.

Aquarium Setup:
AI Prime 16HD Reef (primarily blue spectrum to cut down on nuisance algae)
Tunze 9001 Protein Skimmer
IM titanium 100w heater
InTank media try (filter floss, diamond carbon in bag, and ceramic bio media)
Duetto 2 ATO with 5gal tank

Current parameters:
35.0 Salinity
8.3 dkh
8.0 pH
0 ammo
0 nitrite
5 ppm nitrate
0.13 ppm phosphate

I brought a water sample to the LFS and they didn't see anything significant other than the possibility of high phosphate. They also mentioned that the nitrate testing might be reporting low, even though nitrate is high. Apparently, the LR can be taking in the nitrate on-demand.

Here a photo from a couple weeks ago when it was look much happier:

Here's a photo showing what the frogspawn is looking like now:

Here's a YouTube short showing the frogspawn and its neighboring corals:

Reactive Actions Taken:
1.)This afternoon I stepped up the WC to 25% with 5 gallon change. I'm debating doing an additional 5 gal WC to bring the total to 50%.
2.)Swapped out to a new bag of activated carbon in the media tray.
3.)Adjusted the tunze 9001 to produce a larger gathering wetter skim again. I had been trying to run drier lately, so it wouldn't fill the collection cup as fast. Prior to trying to run drier, my cup could fill 1/2 full in a 24hr period.

**The LFS did recommend using Phosphate RX to bring my phosphate levels down. I have this product on hand, but I'm a little hesitant to use it. I usually prefer more natural solutions to a problem.

I'm doing my best to not take actions that would cause too much of a swing. Any advise or suggestions would be appreciated. I don't really know what I should be doing, and I feel like the actions I taking are like throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks.

 

[griss]

I am no expert with LPS, I’m more of an Acro person,

That said, I’m concerned you’re trying to change too much at once…reactive actions taken. I’d say slow down.

I would not do a 50% water change. Changing much water at once is just as bad, IMO, as doing none.

I’m not familiar with the phosphate stuff the LFS is recommending but, GFO can safely lower PO4 with no issues.

IME, LPS sometimes just melt…brown jelly disease, although based on the pics that isn’t what’s happening with your coral.

 

[MNtadpole]

The aquarium is 'asleep' here but here's a night shot.

 

[griss]

It doesn’t look happy. Based on what you’ve posted, I’m not sure what the issue could be.

 

[wvned]

What moves water in your tank. Is it possible it has decreased over time/ pumps need cleaned. Have you adjusted the light in that time?
To me those are the 2 biggies.
I would turn the light down. It is definitely in poor shape. Then slowly increase it again if that makes a difference.
0.13 -phosphate is not bad at all. These corals typically do fine at 0.1.
In this case I agree large water changes may make things worse. 2.5 gallons every 4 days is better than a bigger water change once a week.

I will be honest. It is close to death. Anything now might be too little but my best advice would be to move it a bit if possible into higher flow. At least until it shows gentle constant movement and turn the light down 10-15%. My LEDs seem to end up at 55-60% power. I have no idea but new people seem to think more is better and go to high levels.

Hammers, Torches, and Frogspawn (Euphyllia sp.) do not require as much light as some other corals.
Moderate to strong water movement is recommended. One of the main draws to this type of LPS coral is how it sways in the current.

I have seen mine that look like that recover. So it is possible

 

[MNtadpole]

What moves water in your tank. Is it possible it has decreased over time/ pumps need cleaned. Have you adjusted the light in that time?
To me those are the 2 biggies.
I would turn the light down. It is definitely in poor shape. Then slowly increase it again if that makes a difference.
0.13 -phosphate is not bad at all. These corals typically do fine at 0.1.
In this case I agree large water changes may make things worse. 2.5 gallons every 4 days is better than a bigger water change once a week.

I will be honest. It is close to death. Anything now might be too little but my best advice would be to move it a bit if possible into higher flow. At least until it shows gentle constant movement and turn the light down 10-15%. My LEDs seem to end up at 55-60% power. I have no idea but new people seem to think more is better and go to high levels.

Hammers, Torches, and Frogspawn (Euphyllia sp.) do not require as much light as some other corals.
Moderate to strong water movement is recommended. One of the main draws to this type of LPS coral is how it sways in the current.

I have seen mine that look like that recover. So it is possible

I appreciate your honesty. This frogspawn is my favorite in the tank.

I really haven't adjusted the light in a month. A month ago I took the whites, reds, and greens out of the spectrum to slow down algae growth. When I did remove those spectrums, I didn't notice any negative effects for weeks.

Here's a snap of my light schedule:

About 2 weeks ago I actually added a AI Nero 3 pump to bring more current to the tank.

Here's a snap of the wave schedule:

 

[wvned]

Nothing stands out to me in that. When you removed those spectrums on the light did you increase the blue ones into the 90s?
I run my lights with all the channels at 55% or close to it.
I would turn the blue channels to 75% and see if it makes a difference. When you change lighting, do it in increments of 3-5% every 3 days going up. Down it really doesnt matter.

I do not turn my pumps down at night. I would run them at some power that maintains good flow overnight in random mode.
Corals have a sweet spot for light and flow and some just wither away outside of it.
I think I would run the Nero in random mode high enough to get movement on the corals through the day and slightly decrease it at night. I cant suggest power levels because I dont know what will be too little or blasting. You dont want either.
If you are using the pulse modes to stir up the tank run them at night. I have a 2 hour period for this every night.
Good luck.

 

[MNtadpole]

Nothing stands out to me in that. When you removed those spectrums on the light did you increase the blue ones into the 90s?
I run my lights with all the channels at 55% or close to it.
I would turn the blue channels to 75% and see if it makes a difference. When you change lighting, do it in increments of 3-5% every 3 days going up. Down it really doesnt matter.

I do not turn my pumps down at night. I would run them at some power that maintains good flow overnight in random mode.
Corals have a sweet spot for light and flow and some just wither away outside of it.
I think I would run the Nero in random mode high enough to get movement on the corals through the day and slightly decrease it at night. I cant suggest power levels because I dont know what will be too little or blasting. You dont want either.
If you are using the pulse modes to stir up the tank run them at night. I have a 2 hour period for this every night.
Good luck.

I literally went into the spectrum profile and removed the colors in question only. The intensities should have remained the same, for better or worse.

I went ahead and dropped the whole lighting profile to max out at only 75% as you have suggested.

It's really tough to see such a down-turn in my favorite animal in the tank. I made it a point to always do my due diligence to monitoring the parameters and signs in the tank. I wish that there was an obvious smoking gun to the issue or something that I can definitively improve on moving forward.

 

[MNtadpole]

Here's where the frogspawn is at currently this afternoon:

 

[kharmaguru]

Here's where the frogspawn is at currently this afternoon:
View attachment 32406489

My guess would have been the extra flow you added since frogspawn don't like to be battered around, but reducing the light seems to be reducing the stress on it. They're tough corals.

 

[MNtadpole]

My guess would have been the extra flow you added since frogspawn don't like to be battered around, but reducing the light seems to be reducing the stress on it. They're tough corals.

That is a very strong possibility. My goal with the added flow was to get better circulation throughout the tank - eliminating dead zones.

I did have the flow scheduled to ramp up at 1am to about 85% for 1 minute to really turn-over the tank stir up the detritus.

I'm strongly considering shifting to 24/7 random flow mode at 34% max. At least until the Frogspawn hopefully bounces back.