sunset monti issue

[nogascans]

I need some help. About a month ago I picked up a sunset monti frag on a 2 X 2 plug. It has recently started to turn white on one side. I originally had this sitting low on small rock on sand, and after noticing the white areas I moved it up to upper middle of tank, at about same height as plating green and red moti are. What is going on with it, and what should I do?

I have a selection of LPS as well as the above SPS.

Parameters
Salinity 1.025
PH 8.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Nitrite < .5
Phosphate < .25
Ca 440- 460
Alk 7-8 dKH
Temp 82

Lighting
6 Bulb T5HO
3 Blue actinic
3 12K
Mounted 6" above water, 90 gallon bow front
I have attached a picture of monti and full view of tank for reference.

Sincerely,

David

 

[BrianN]

Check if there any monti eating nudibranch that eat off your monti. If not, and the rest of your monti still color up nicely, just leave it alone and it should grow back to normal

 

[nogascans]

Brian, was my move to the upper area of tank the correct move?

Sincerely,

David

 

[spsexpert]

your monti is starving to death

 

[xcorallusx]

how old are your bulbs?

 

[G4546]

your monti is starving to death

If I may ask, how did you come to this conclusion? Thank you in advance

 

[nogascans]

Bulbs are 6 months old.

Sincerely,

David

 

[nogascans]

So a little update. It's been almost 2 days since I noticed the issue with Monti. Seems to be getting worse, now seeing some STN on this as well as both green and red Monti caps. I had been out of town for the previous 4 days and I had not noticed on return that one of anthias was missing. I thought at first it might have met its demise at the hands of anemone, but unsure. I looked thru out tank, and I can't see any evidence of it. I do have pretty good CUC with hermits, large cleaner shrimp, and a few pepermints, so I,m guessing it's been eaten.
To be sure, I went thru all water parameters again.
Ammonia 0 (tested 3times)
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10-20ppm high for certain
Po4 .25
Ca 440
Kh 7-8 dKH
Ph 7.8

Based on these, I'm going to do a 25% water change. Is this the right path?

Sincerely,

David

 

[sponger0]

Wow....your phosphates are high...so I dont think it's a starving issue.

Have you done multiple alk tests i none day to check your swings? What about tempurature swings?

 

[doosiec]

Definitely not a P04 issue, you need some to feed the corals.
Total depletion will cause it to pale out, along with too much lighting.

Were you able to check for Nudi's?

If it's patches of white, or small white areas peeling off without any RTN it's a sure sign of pests.

Check underneath the Monti, or around the edges.

 

[nogascans]

I'll take some pictures for analysis. I couldn't see any with naked eye. Should they move or be moved with turkey blaster?
Did 16 gallon water change

Salinity 1.024
Temp 80.2
PH 8.1
Ammonia 0ppm
NO2 0ppm
NO3 5ppm
PO4 .25ppm
CA2 440-460
KH 8-9 dKH
Using instant ocean reef crystals

Sincerely,

David

 

[sirreal63]

Monti's show stress with low Magnesium levels, in my tank they are the first to be stressed by it. Have you checked the Mg?

 

[nogascans]

No, unfortunately I don't have a tester for Mag as yet. It's on my short list of must haves. I don't know if it's just me, be things looking better on all 3 pieces.

I'm leaning towards some kind of water parameter issue. Could over feeding contribute to this? No one really remarked about it, but while we were out of town we lost an disbar anthias. I never saw any ammonia spike, but the nitrates were definitely higher than normal, and ph was down from what I usually is (low 7).

Sincerely,

David

 

[sirreal63]

The water changes will help the mag levels, provided your salt has appropriate levels, which RC does.

 

[nogascans]

Thanks for info!

Sincerely,

David

 

[doosiec]

That mushroom may have stung your monti as well.
I'm 99% sure something is eating it, if it's a nutritional factor you'll see a response through the entire frag not just portions.

Examples, STN, RTN, Pale, Brown etc.

 

[nogascans]

Doosiec,
I Understand. It's really weird. All three pieces look better today. The red cap has lost over half of the white areas and turned back red, green cap the same. The green cap has these really small white dots on it, but they haven't moved (polyps?)
The sunset Monti looks the best. Since the move to top as well as the water changes, it has stopped regressing, and started to fill in. I can actually see individual polyps andy the green part is returning (fuzzy?)

I have been keeping eyes on water parameters, all looking good, and I'm double checking each.

I still wonder if this has something to do with the anthias going missing....

One more question. I started doing supplemental feeding on corals with Brightwell marine snow. The process s I turn off hob, skimmers, and power heads, and then spot feed. It always seems like something is off after this, as in stuff fish and softies act weird. Is this ok to use?

Trying to listen and learn as I go

Sincerely,

David

 

[doosiec]

Awesome, great to hear that everything is recovering!

 

[nogascans]

Looks like a spoke too soon. Got home today, and while the Sunset and the green cap looked ok, the red cap had a large white area and tissue regression next to it. I found what I assume was a nudi. It fell off when I removed the piece, and one of the clowns gobbled it up. It had little tentacles on its top for certain. I took the cap out and gently brushed it with toothbrush, then returned it to tank. I ran out of revive, so it will have to wait till Monday for Lfs.

Sincerely,

David

 

[nogascans]

Updated Pictures

Updated Pictures

So this morning, green cap is almost all brown or white, sticky stuff hanging off. other two pieces look same, not worse. I have attached a picture of green cap with sunset behind, as well as before pics of both. nitrate elevated a bit this morning to 10 ppm API, and phosphate at 0.5 ppm API. All other parameters are good. I know that something is wrong, but can't seem to find it. Like a dog chasing its tail.

Sincerely,

David