Red montipora digitata help

[Reef1121]

So I've had my monti now for the past 6 months. It started out as a 1/2" free frag from a friend and then grew out (encrusted) over a piece of rubble I had laying in the tank and only one stalk grew out of it. Recently in the last couple weeks it went from a dark red color with good polyp extension to necrosing in a few spots and turning pink. None of my water parameters have changed any. The necrosing stopped last week but the coral still looks pale. What should I do?

Water params:
Temp: 78.4 (apex seasonal temp)
pH: 8.34
Alk: 7.2
Calc: 400
Mag: 1380
Nitrate: 0
Phosphate: .03

 

[Reef1121]

 

[echopiece]

I'm dealing with this as well. I've actually struggled with SPS color for a long time, but I'm not giving up! I run BB and struggle to keep my nutrient level up. How many fish do you have and how often do you feed? I've recently upped my fish/bioload and will see how my corals react to the increased fish poop.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Have you made any sudden changes in your tank, such as sudden increase in alkalinity, changes in temperature, etc.

Have you ruled out montipora eating nudibranches?

 

[Reef1121]

I'm dealing with this as well. I've actually struggled with SPS color for a long time, but I'm not giving up! I run BB and struggle to keep my nutrient level up. How many fish do you have and how often do you feed? I've recently upped my fish/bioload and will see how my corals react to the increased fish poop.

Sorry to hear about your colors. Right now my stocking list is as follows:
1 x 3" Purple Tang
1 x 3" Powder Brown Tang
2 x 2" Semi-Picasso Percula Clownfish
1 x 3" MAC Cert Male Lyretail Anthia
2 x 2" MAC Cert Female Lyretail Anthia
1 x 3" Male Bartlett's Anthia
1 x 2" Female Bartlett's Anthia

50 mini cerith snails
5 large cerith snails
3 astrea snails
1 blue knuckle hermit crab (the snail eater lol)
1 sand sifting starfish
10 Nascarius snails

Hope this helps

 

[Reef1121]

No changes in fish for the past 4 months. And nothing drastic with the water as far as heat or cool. I do a bi weekly water change for the past 6 months. Originally was doing weekly. My tank has overall only 85 gallons of actual water in it and I change out 10 gallons each time. Haven't switched salts. Dose alk and calc over a a steady 2 week bases 2mL a day so there's no giant swings in params. The temperature is controlled by my apex and is on seasonal temperature for the area they have deemed and doesn't fluctuate more than .5 degrees plus or minus. And I checked the coral for them and couldnt see any, but re dipped the coral in coral Rx just to make sure. All my corals are dipped before being added to the tank. All of my rock and sand was dry when I started the tank as well to avoid any types of critters from potentially getting in my tank. All bought from BRS. Carbon is changed each water change and GFO is switched out at the beginning of each month.

 

[Reef1121]

Anyone?

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Assuming that no other corals apart from the said orange montipora digitata have been affected, I think that yuor montipora may be infected by montipora eating nudibranches. Can you please just check your coral and its base especially where it encrusts the live rock in the dark with a torch? Coral Rx may not kill the egss of these nudibranches I am afraid. Let's rule them out beyond doubt first.

The other thing that come to mind is sediment damage. What is the flow like in your tank?

 

[dkeller_nc]

Do you feed the tank (other than feeding the fish)? With nutrients as low as your post indicates, and such frequent changing of carbon & GFO, you're likely stripping more than just mineralized nutrients (NO3 and PO4) from the tank water.

There are a few solutions - many of us feed phytoplankton and zooplankton on a daily basis. Then there's the supplementation of the tank water with Amino Acids. Either way or both seems to work to maintain SPS in a very low nutrient system.

 

[Reef1121]

Assuming that no other corals apart from the said orange montipora digitata have been affected, I think that yuor montipora may be infected by montipora eating nudibranches. Can you please just check your coral and its base especially where it encrusts the live rock in the dark with a torch? Coral Rx may not kill the egss of these nudibranches I am afraid. Let's rule them out beyond doubt first.

The other thing that come to mind is sediment damage. What is the flow like in your tank?

Alright I'll check when I get back in town on Friday. But for your other question I have a Eheim 1262 return pump that splits to 2 return bulkheads. Then I have a MP40W ES mounted on the side of the tank and a MP10W ES mounted in the middle of the tank back wall on the yellow mode 60% for the 40 and 80% for the 10. Working in anti-sync mode.

 

[Reef1121]

I dose daily (except when I'm out of town for work, once a month or so for a few days max) with Red Sea's Reef Energy A and B. I also use they're Foundation A,B & C along with their Colors A-D and NO3O4:X.

All my other corals seem to be looking great, including 2 other SPS (red cap and mystery acro) that are around it. Just this one is fuzzing out. I'll send pics of the other corals in comparison to show if that'll help. I have a few saved on my laptop that I can upload.

 

[uhupong]

I dose daily (except when I'm out of town for work, once a month or so for a few days max) with Red Sea's Reef Energy A and B. I also use they're Foundation A,B & C along with their Colors A-D and NO3O4:X.

All my other corals seem to be looking great, including 2 other SPS (red cap and mystery acro) that are around it. Just this one is fuzzing out. I'll send pics of the other corals in comparison to show if that'll help. I have a few saved on my laptop that I can upload.

I think you have alk swing problem. If the pictures you posted have correct color, you red cap is going to have problem too.

 

[Wnsurfr]

I've had that problem when I changed the carbon and gfo at the same time, since I switched to changing one at a time it hasn't happened.

 

[kevin kaplan]

Use a flashlight at night and check for those darned Monti eating Nudibranch. They are white and look kind of hairy/spiky. The same thing you described happened to me and it turned out they were there. I seem to have them under control after a few months of seek and destroy at night with tweezers and Coral Rx, but I know they can still lurk. I would rather it be a chemistry issue.

 

[Reef1121]

I dipped it again and after that it all started growing back. Unfortunately had to tear down the tank last week when I learned I was deploying and possibly pcs'ing when I get back from the deployment