Euphyllia not opening

[Will]

Hi there...

 

I got a tank I purchased off Wamas. Well established.  We transferred water and all... so basically just moved locations.  Im not sure exactly how old the tank is but for arguments sake it is well established.  I got it June 3rd.  June 30th I added a few corals and a very large, very bad batch of snails that were either dead when I added them or died that day.  I also made some various other changes to lighting and such.  I was trying to understand the programing through ecosmart.... The problem is.. 1st I don't really remember what the initial settings were and I had issues with connectivity so don't even ask what the actual changes were. Ugh!  Anyway, The Euphyllia was full bloomed for the month prior to adding the bad snails and making the changes and now ever since July 3rd (give or take two days) it has mostly been retracted... extends but nothing like it was.  I tried moving it down.  I tried decreasing flow and I tried putting it back where it was with the decrease flow.  For the last week I have reduced the Radion Lights from 100% during the day (using the Coral growth setting) to 65%. I don't believe it was water quality because it remained unchanged until my weekly test yesterday where nutrient level decreased.... Not that it was bad to start with. The only other major change was I got a 6 stage RO and started making my own water.  It is well water with a water softener.  TDS is 0 with one meter and 3 with another.. no chlorine.  There COULD be something that I am not testing for but then again I don't know what else to test for.  All other SPS and LPS and Fish and inverts seem to be doing great... What should I do? Im at a loss. 

Euphyllia Happy.pdf

Euphyllia NOT happy.pdf

[dpassar12]

Is it possible to ask the person you bought the tank from what intensity the light were at? I have my radions at 62% 18 inches above water in a 2ft deep tank. this tank is all radions and SPS. Have you used a PAR meter on the tank? What is your ALK and MAG? It could be high ALK that tends to %$#* off euph. Did you notice any brown strings coming out of the polyps when the lights were at 100%? Do you have the power heads setup the same way as they were and is the coral in the same spot? What are the parameter of the tank.

[dpassar12]

Also in the 2nd pic is that a dead head... the white looking piece in the center?

[Will]

No, none of it is dead.  They retract tight inside but they all come out, just nothing like before. At this point I can't be sure if there were any brown strings at the start but I don't believe so.  However, I did take it out and dip it the second week into this.  Yes, The Alkalinity did get up to 12 for a day because I was having pH swings at night (probably no more than normal) and I had the bright idea to try baking soda.  Anyway, I did a 90% water change the next day and it returned to 8dkh. However, the coral was acting badly BEFORE I did that. 

I will try to ask the guy what he set his lights to. I'm guessing lower than I had, which is why I reduced mine. Its really the only other thing I can think of.   But its odd that it would have waited a month to react like that. I feel like I am missing something.. Water parameters are all fine (within recommended ranges for a reef tank). I've been checking them weekly and more frequently when it first started. I moved it lower in the tank, I've lowered the light intensity and I lowered the power on the wavemakers. I could lower the lights a bit more but the other Corals are doing well.  I will that a try... Cant think of anything else.  Thanks

[epleeds]

Just saying, going from an 8 ALK to a 12 ALK back to an 8 ALK within 24/36 hours would %$#* of any corals. What size tank is this again? And any other corals showing signs

[Will]

Except the Coral was acting out before that and now that episode was a month ago. 75Gallon.  Everything else is doing great. Including the SPS, Anemones, fish, and inverts.

[dpassar12]

Be careful of ALK swings. 12 - 8 is a huge swing. Raise and lower ALK very slowly, IMO ALK is the most important parameter. Nothing likes 4 DKH alk swings in a short period of time. 12 is on the high side but not insane. I would only recommend 90% water change in a major emergency.. 1 coral not fully extending is not worth risking everything else. 

 

Make sure the flow is high enough so you see the tentacles moving, put it in indirect light. Is the coral oriented the same way that is was in the original tank. The happy pic looks like it is on an angle and the sad pic looks like it is vertical. I would make sure the angle, if it is different, is the same as before.... 

 

The coral is not happy but it is also not dead. Don't panic nothing good happens quickly in reef tanks. Keep tasting the water, do smaller water changes regularly. 

[Will]

The "sad" pic was after moving it around trying to get it out of direct flow. At first I thought it was a flow issue so I moved it but now I am not so sure.  Ecosmart live has an acclimation light setting for the Radions.  I think I am going to decrease the setting to your intensity (its on 65% now.. Ill put it on 62%) and then put it on the acclimation setting which will lower it even more and slowly bring up the intensity over 2 weeks.   But that is all I am doing.  Like you said... everything else is very happy and I don't want to loose everything trying to make one coral happy.  Its just frustrating that it changed and I don't know why.  Thanks!

[AlanM]

My alk was creeping up without me noticing for a while and my hammer and frogspawn were the ones that suffered first.  I'd point to that as the culprit.  Try to keep everything stable for a month or so.  The euphyllia shouldn't be right in front of a powerhead, but it can take a decent amount of flow.  It shouldn't be totally calm around it.  

[Will]

Thanks.. I will keep an eye on the Alk. It has been stable for the past month and was before the incident until I tried to "help" my evening pH swings. Thanks!