Hammer & Candy Cane recession

[Fish Biscuit]

I started w/ LPS about 3 to 4 weeks ago, a hammer & a candy cane. Tank has been up for over a year & a half.

Today I notice when I come in today about a 1/4 inch of skeleton on the candy cane showing in one spot & one branch of the hammer shows small recession & the branch is not extended. The rest of both corals look fine.

I went to the LFS & had water tested, no test for Mag but everything else is below. Any suggestions? I am going to start feeding them to see if it helps. I currently use IO salt but will step up water changes.

SG 1028 - I added top off water to the tank, I showed 1026 on my refractomer & it was just recalibrated
pH 8
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 10
Alk 8
Calcium 450

Thanks,
Michele

 

[greech]

Where are they in the tank in relation to lighting and flow? Are either getting direct blasts from a powerhead?

 

[Fish Biscuit]

Bottom of the tank, 10k for lighting & not getting blasted by a powerhead. I had a 240 gph koralia nano that I took out of the tank before they were added so they wouldn't be upset.

Right now only thing I can think of is that maybe the pistol is pushing sand up around them & making them mad. I had to pick up the candy cane this morning because there was sand all the way around the base. I'll be running to Home Depot to get plastic fittings to put under them & raise them up maybe an inch off the sandbed. The recession on the candy cane is towards the top of the coral so I'm not entirely sure about that either.

And the friend that got me sucked into this hobby says "it's not science" lol

 

[greech]

The 240 should be fine in a 12 gallon as long as the corals aren't right up against the output of the PH. They actually like and need flow. Flow benefits the overall health of your tank as well.

They certainly don't like sand on them but around the base only shouldn't cause what you are seeing.

Are you having a lot of evaporation? Swings from 1.028 to 1.026 multiple times a day could upset them.

Also, I see your tank is a nano cube. Is this a closed lid cube with PC lighting? What is your temperature at in the tank and does it stay fairly stable? May also want to consider the age of you bulbs.

 

[Fish Biscuit]

The tank was really churning w/ the 240 PH in it, I have decent flow now w/o it in there. I don't really have a spot to put the corals in there out of the flow from the PH w/ the way the rock is placed in the tank.

Maybe it was evaporation over the weekend that started to upset them. I might have to do a small ATO.

It is a closed lid w/ PC lighting. I always keep the lid cracked a few inches at night while I'm gone (work tank) & the lid is always cracked open or the front part taken off while I'm in the office.

Bulbs aren't much older than the corals, maybe only by a week.

Temp is set at 76 for the summer to compensate for the temp swings, when we had days of 100 the tank is no warmer than 80 when I come in, most days it's 78 in the am. When it starts getting colder out I'll bump the temp up to 78 & it stays there in the winter.

Other than the sand & possibly evaporation, I can't think of anything major. It's strange that 3 to 4 weeks later they're getting peeved. When the hammer is fully extended would it be possible that one of the branches is blocking the receding branch from the light.

Of course all this has to happen because the LFS is ordering me an Aussie purple frogspawn & now I'm worried about doing that in too now.

 

[jwoyshnar]

It could be the same thing I had every year at this time. The same thing would happen to me. I live in Pa where the temp drops this time of the year and we button up our house and turn the heat on. This would deprive the tank of oxygen. Between us breathing, the animals breathing and the coal stove sucking oxygen up to burn te tank would then be deprived. I fixed it by pumping outside air into the water via coralife air pump piped outside and the same with my skimmer airline. With your ph at 8 when you tested it that tells me you oxygen is low. If you could test your water at 4 am. My guess its around 7.5.

 

[Fish Biscuit]

I have another pump I bought & haven't put in yet, it's 200 gph so that shouldn't cause quite the blast the Koralia would. If I don't have the right fittings to make the switch then I'll throw the Koralia back in & try to point it towards a rock in the back.

Thanks so much both of you for your help. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this does the trick. I see more recession on the candy cane now that the lights are off.

 

[Fish Biscuit]

Fed corals Marine Snow yesterday afternoon & the new pump went in before I left last night. Flow is good & I'll try to test pH today to see where I'm at.

Got the hammer off the sandbed last night & the candy cane didn't get buried again thank goodness. I'll get the candy cane off the sandbed today.

Fed again this morning & tried Coral Smoothie, hammer is happy but I have my work cut out for me with getting the branch back.

I picked up Fuel by Seachem last night at the LFS. Anyone try this? After looking at other threads I figured I would try amino acids before I feed them to get them back quicker.

 

[Fish Biscuit]

FYI - Fuel contains copper, I will have to try something else since I have shrimp in my tank

 

[sqwat]

How is it getting hurried if it is from the current way to much.can u show some Pics.mag is real important to keep right.these are very easy lps to have so something is very wrong.don't rush or try to get going faster ad you said.coral does not work that way.do not put anything with copper in you're tank ever.what kind of water do u use .something is very wrong here.

 

[Fish Biscuit]

I am not trying to rush this, I was trying to keep from losing the corals completely. I'm not losing the entire hammer, just a branch.

I am not adding the Seachem Fuel to the tank, it is being taken back to the LFS on my next trip back.

I am using RODI water mixed with IO salt. I honestly don't think water chemistry is the problem. This week I am not experiencing a ton of evaporation day to day in the tank. I know that Mag is important. I think if the Mag were off I would be losing the entire hammer & candy cane. I'm only seeing small spots of recession. I did a 10% water change yesterday & will keep them up weekly. The water test results that I posted were a week & a half after the last water change.

IMO the corals are looking really good now. I could be over reacting, it wouldn't be the first time this hobby has sent me over the deep end! :lolspin:

I think the problem was that the corals were placed on the sandbed & spots were covered in sand that was moved around by the shrimp. When I added the corals to the tank the pistol shrimp was not currently paired with a goby. I added a Randall goby to the tank on Sept 16th & major home construction started again in the tank. There was a large amount of sand piled up around the candy cane this Monday. I also picked up the hammer & moved it slightly because I noticed one of the branches had sand on it. The branch I lost is hard to see with the way it is placed in the tank. It's quite possible that branch was covered in sand by the pistol shrimp & I didn't notice it.

The only thing that changed in the tank since the corals were added was the addition of the goby. I'll post pictures of the corals when I come back from lunch.

I do appreciate everyone's suggestions & help. It just doesn't make sense to lose one branch of the hammer & only see recession on one part of the candy cane & not the entire coral. I think I need a good 10 step program or start drinking more!

 

[Fish Biscuit]

B8.jpg" border="0" alt="Uploaded from the Photobucket iPhone App"/></a>[/IMG]

 

[Fish Biscuit]

 

[Fish Biscuit]

you can see a little of the candy cane but I can't get a picture of the branch on the hammer that was lost, the spots on the picure of the candy cane is algae on the glass the spots are not on the coral itself.