Venting about my own bad husbandry

[BarIzoN]

Hi,

3 and half years in the hobby.

Experienced all kinds of normal ups and downs when kickstarting.

Then tank stabilization.

Corals growing fast, everything is happy.

Then, you start slowing down with maintenance basics.

Water changes once a month... Not cleaning the filter - yes, I don't have enough space for my 55G tank, so Ininstalled a Fluval V3. Not cleaning the external skimmer as well. Didn't change my T5 for about a year.

So, couple weeks ago, things started go south.

I noticed a small white dot in my monti...

Long story short: from my skimmer build up to the filter, the nitrates sky high and started literally butning and peeling all my corals.

I lost at least 50% of the monti. Lost a few other smaller corals and hur badly a Favia I keep since the tank started.

Yes. It was all my fault.

Yes, I'll get better and improve my husbandry.

Now, I have a question: what to do with the Montipora? Can I simply cut the bleached parts and re-arrange the leftovers?

I spent almost half day ficing the water, did a cleanup in the tank, changed the carbon, and now things are looking better than it was.




Some pics of before and after.

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[Misled]

Yes, you can cut out some of the larger "good" pieces, (frag it), and get rid of what bleached out.

 

[BarIzoN]

I actually tried to cut it, but I see a hollow structure and there was some stuff inside...

Then I stopped.

It carved a small hole in it.

Is that normal?

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[Misled]

Don't play with the dead part. Break or cut off good parts, remove the dead from the tank and glue the good stuff back.

 

[BarIzoN]

Sounds good!

Thanks for the advice! [emoji106]


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[Misled]

Good luck!!!

 

[PeterB123]

Is that a Monti or a Hollywood Stunner Chalice? I would break off a couple of good live pieces and throw the dead stuff away.