Please help

[SaltSolutions1]

Everything in my tank is open, beautiful, and feeding on frozen mysis.

But I have one zoanthid frag that is all closed up. Picture is below.

Tank - 10g tank
Alkalinity - 11 DKH
Temp - 78F
PH - 8.3
Magnesium - 1350
Calcium - 400
Salinity - 1.023
Ammonia - 0
Nitrates - 0
Phosphates - 0
Flow - Penguin 200 Powerfilter - 200gph + Koralia Nano 425gph
Lighting - (4) 18" 18watt T-5 HO bulbs - 72 watts
Additives - I add Calcium once per week along with Seachem's Ions which is basically magnesium and strontium.

All I have in the tank is a Blue Azure Damselfish, about 25 cerith snails, and 4nirite snails.

Changes - I had 2 peppermint shrimp in the tank but I removed them last week. One was caught eating a zoanthid frag and the other was trying to eat my branching hammer. The damage to the frag in question has been closed and not doing well since last week when the peppermints were still in there.

Possible things that could have contributed to the cause:

Adding Calcium and ions during the day while polyps were open.
Peppermint shrimp eating polyps and irritating the frag.

The picture was taken about an hour ago. But the polyps haven't been open and looking good since I put them in the tank two weeks ago. For the past week they've looked like this. Should I remove the frag? Is it past the point of coming back?

 

[MUCHO REEF]

Sorry to hear that, wow, lots of retracted polyps today.

Take a peek at this link and see if anything rings a bell.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1154238&highlight=mucho

When did the retraction begin?

It's hard to tell from the pic if it is past the point of return. Start by doing the sniff test. This will be the only time you should touch this coral. First wash your hands with hot water only, no soap. Or, if you have reef safe gloves, wear those. Remove the frag and sniff it. It should have little to no smell. If it has a foul rotten odor, like wet feet and burnt cabbage, LOL, well not really, but it is going to reek of a rotten odor. If it is, it's dead or near death.

Can you by chance take a clear super macro pic by chance?

If it has truly decline, your inverts and fish will finish it off in no time.

If you can take a clear pic, I can share a dip with you which might help, but you don't have long my friend.

Also, is this a recent purchase? If so, how long has it been in the tank?


Hope to hear from you soon, keep the faith.


Mucho Reef

 

[SaltSolutions1]

The tank is at my office and I won't have access to it until morning to do the "sniff test"

As for that link, I looked through it and honestly it could be a number of those things. There's really no way to tell.

I don't have a camera that takes macro shots.

The frag in question was the first coral introduced to my tank about three weeks ago. The first week it did fine and all the polyps were open. But then out of nowhere they closed up and never opened again. I am hoping that it was the peppermint shrimp that were in there because I've removed them and the frag only cost me $10. I just hope it isn't a pest because then all the other corals are in danger. I'll have to just sit back and wait.

Thank you very much for your fast and informative reply. I appreciate it.

I'll try to post a better picture tomorrow. Here's some picture of the frag open. You can see that even in some pictures there are some polyps closed.

 

[kichimark]

Hmmm when you check your coral again see if the polyps are becoming skinnier. If so it is not a good sign. Muchos list is excellent and sometimes it is best to just check your parameters and if everything is good just give it some time. I have a blue tubbs colony (300 polyps) that will close for a week then reopen. It does this about every 2-3 months and it is the only one that does.

 

[SaltSolutions1]

Hmmm when you check your coral again see if the polyps are becoming skinnier. If so it is not a good sign. Muchos list is excellent and sometimes it is best to just check your parameters and if everything is good just give it some time. I have a blue tubbs colony (300 polyps) that will close for a week then reopen. It does this about every 2-3 months and it is the only one that does.

Can't really tell if they're getting skinnier. But like you said, all I can do is give it time.

 

[MUCHO REEF]

Any chance you can drop your dkh a bit?

 

[SaltSolutions1]

Yes, I'm trying to get it down to about 8 or 9. I've read that corals do better and the other parameters are easier to maintain when it's in the 8 or 9 range.