Why is my digi dying/fading?

[JaneG]

Hello everyone! :wave:

My orange digitata is "fading" from the base up. It's been happening over the course of about a week. I can see some white parts on the faded areas at the bottom. I was at first told this was a flow issue, so I increased my flow some more and it's still "fading." Is it STNing? I think (but I'm not sure) I see some white polyps on the faded areas. My nitrates are pretty bad at this point- 5. However, I finally dialed in my skimmer (reef octopus NW110) and they've been lowering quickly. My Alk is at 9, and my Calcium is at 450. My flow is good (vortech mp10) and I'm running 60 watts of LED lighting over an 18g tank (with a 20g sump). Any thoughts on what could be wrong? I'm considering to frag the pieces that aren't "fading." The odd thing is that my tabling acro and monti cap are both doing fine... I've had the digi for about 2-3 weeks. However, I did buy a piece of pink birdsnest a week ago that already had some of its tissue missing (I didn't notice this) and it RTN'd on me in about a day (I saved a small piece)... the contrast between the alive parts and dead parts was quite stark (not like this, where the transition is smoother). Any ideas? What would you do?

Thank you
Jane

 

[chrishayes]

My orange digi has done the same thing. I feel it is due to lack of nutrients. When my tank is fatter it gets darker and grows more, when the tank is skinny it turns white base with slightly orange polyps. Ive moved it all over the place and cant figure a good spot to keep its color. Mine lays down a base like nobodies buisness but never branches. It will start to but the branch will just stay a nub forever...sorry im not providing much help here but like I said I feel it is nutrient issue. 5ppm nitrates is not high either. What is the PO4?

 

[Logzor]

My orange digi has done the same thing. I feel it is due to lack of nutrients. When my tank is fatter it gets darker and grows more, when the tank is skinny it turns white base with slightly orange polyps. Ive moved it all over the place and cant figure a good spot to keep its color. Mine lays down a base like nobodies buisness but never branches. It will start to but the branch will just stay a nub forever...sorry im not providing much help here but like I said I feel it is nutrient issue. 5ppm nitrates is not high either. What is the PO4?

Same with mine, the more I feed the better it looks.

 

[JaneG]

Hm, I just did a retest of my nitrates. Now they're 1 or 2 (the last time I checked, 3 days ago, they were 5). Ive been feeding 2x a day and only have one fish at this point. I'm staring to think that you could have a point: maybe my nutrients aren't high enough? On a little 18g tank I have a 20g sump, a skimmer rated for up to 100g, chaeto, purigen and just started running carbon. What would you do if you were in my place? I'm not sure if I should start fragging it, dipping it, etc. I'm really confused- is it STNing? It's odd because my other sps (tabling acro and a monti cap) are fine.

 

[JaneG]

Dipped it in Revive and examined it in a little cup. Nothing came off. It looks like it is the same as before, maybe a little worse. This is a pretty small frag - should I frag it? I could probably get 4 micro frags from it... I'm so clueless as to what's happening. My tabling acro (which is supposed to be difficult to keep) has been doing really well.