Red planet dying

[Mj75]

Hello all. I acquired a nice size red planet colony a few months ago with a local reefer. Everything seems to be doing well. My tank has been up for almost 2 years. Now. Until last 2-3 weeks I noticed stn from the base. I tried to frag and save the other branches but those stn'ed as well.
Tank is a 95 gallon lit by 6 x 54 watt ati. All other corals (acro small colonies are doing well) are ok.

Params are:
Alk 8.5 salifert
Phos 0.3 (Hannah)
Nitrate 0.0 salifert
Calcium 490
Ph 8.35
2 part dosing 32 ml via brs doser/mix done at pm hours.

Not the first time red planet has died on me.
Can anyone help? Thanks.

 

[yt8181]

I have had a few red planets die on me too, all the other corals were fine... I think their just touchy!!! I love them but wont be waisting anymore money on them!

 

[jg93]

Same here. Incredibly sensitive coral.

 

[power boat jim]

It tends to not tolerate as bright a light as other sps. Try moving it under a tank brace or have it in a lower lit area of the tank. Thats what helped save mine.

 

[rbp 4 135]

your phos is pretty high unless you meant 0.03ppm

 

[Mj75]

your phos is pretty high unless you meant 0.03ppm

Yes I meant 0.03. I'll try
To lower what's left of the coral. Thanks all.

 

[Nano sapiens]

This coral needs initial lower light and slow acclimation to higher lighting. I had to bring a large bleaching frag from 180 PAR (LEDs) down to 90 PAR to get it to recover its zooxanthellae and start coloring up.

I fragged a few tiny pieces from the main frag and they are doing real good at somewhat higher light levels, so you might want to try that if your main frag is on it's way out.

 

[Mj75]

This coral needs initial lower light and slow acclimation to higher lighting. I had to bring a large bleaching frag from 180 PAR (LEDs) down to 90 PAR to get it to recover its zooxanthellae and start coloring up.

I fragged a few tiny pieces from the main frag and they are doing real good at somewhat higher light levels, so you might want to try that if your main frag is on it's way out.

Thank bro. I think thats the mistake I made. I rushed the coral to the top. I'm trying to save whats left of it.

 

[Nano sapiens]

I have found it micro frags well. Here you can see a 1/4" frag before and after just 2 weeks at around 150 PAR (notice the color change and the encrusting growth in the 2nd pic):

Here's my main frag right after I removed it from higher lighting to the sand bed:

...and 2 weeks later:

 

[Finland]

I also think that a red planet may like slightly higher nutrient levels. Whenever I lowered
P04 to .02-.03 and N03 to near 0, it would bleach out, while every other sps in the tank looked good. It is an 8 inch colony that I keep on the sand. It faded out up high, so that is why it is down at the bottom. Touchy coral.

 

[Nano sapiens]

That's a good point. With lower nutrients lately (fishless system at the moment) I have noticed my mini frag has gotten lighter in higher light, but the main frag in lower light is getting darker, while my other SPS all still look the same.

The RP is the strangest coral I've ever had...

 

[Xadieu]

Does anyone have experience with Phillip luxeon 3w LEDs? I'm just not getting good colors on my corals at all.

 

[JAustin]

I thought this thread was about Mother Earth for a minute.

 

[Xadieu]

I thought this thread was about Mother Earth for a minute.

hehe

 

[jroovers]

Opposite to what others have said, I've found this coral quite tolerant actually. I've had wild nutrient swings over the past 3 to 6 months and this is one of the few that really hasn't shown any ill effects. I've had too many nutrients, and too few - I've lost a few other pieces over that time, and some had spots that bleached out and died. It is in the lower 1/3 of my tank, maybe that helps. I'd take a frag just to be safe. Lugols can help with light shock preportedly, just follow directions carefully.

 

[Nano sapiens]

Your RP is doing very well and nice photography, too.