Help with with Ricordea recovery

[vaporlockv2]

My ricordea has been through hell and back. First it kept detaching itself from the rock and had to be found and reattached to different spots until it finally settled down. Than I had a cowry that seemed to thing it was tasteful and ate about three quarters of it. Well it made an amazing recovery and looked great for about 3 months, now it looks like it is shriveling up again. All my other corals are doing fantastic. I even moved it to a tank with lower lighting and seemed to do great there and started growing, then the same thing happened again. Any ideas on why it might be doing this?

Specs
Sp 1.024
Nitrate 20ppm (running skimmerless)
Nitrite 0ppm
Ammonia 0ppm
ph 8.1
Alk 10dhk
Calcium 400 a little low I know, but bringing it back up

 

[celamb89]

I dont really know much and never kept rics but I believe ur nitrates are on the high side. I'd get those down with some water changes, vodka dosing and if possible getting a skimmer.

Good Luck! That ric seems like a fighter hehe

 

[shroutk3]

Is the cowrie still around?? Sounds like something is irritating it. Are you running carbon or gfo?

 

[vaporlockv2]

As soon as I noticed the cowry serving itself a delicacy I removed him and traded him for a frag. After the cowry was gone it seemed to really recover and I thought all was ok. I guess I was wrong. As far as water changes I do a 5gal change a week. Can't dose vodka don't have a skimmer to remove the ethanol. I am running carbon but it's about time to change it. I'll do that today. Any other suggestions?

 

[buck326]

How long has it been shriveling up?