Need brains

[ole farny]

i hope the light solves the issue for you and it may take a month or more for your toadstool to recover.

i recently put a goniopora in too much light, back in november. it looked okay for the first day, but by the third day the polyps weren't even coming out of the corallites at all. i had put it by some bernardpora that was doing well, but it was too bright and i moved it to about the darkest spot in the tank.

its been a couple months now and the polyps are extending some again, but it partially bleached. hope it keeps recovering.

i don't have any experience with the 160s or 360s, but i did check the wattage on those to get an idea. 160s are 40 watts and 360s are 90 watts. i'd say 70% could roughly be in acro territory on the 360s.

 

[iTzJu]

I’d suggest grabbing an inexpensive LPS coral to test how it does, and temporarily moving the coral beauty and filefish out of the tank. Observe both the new coral and your struggling toadstool to see if there’s any improvement. If your parameters are within range according to your ICP test, and there are no other issues, it’s worth checking if removing those two fish helps. When fish nibble on corals, the corals often stay retracted and eventually peel, which can appear like degradation.

I also doubt it’s the lights. Two Kessil 360x lights on a 4-ft, 22-inch-high tank is the minimum I’d recommend for a softies or LPS tank. For comparison, I’m running 2x A7+ Kessil clones and an Orphek Atlantic Icon Compact at 75% blues and around 24% whites, reds, and greens at peak on a 4-ft, 18-inch-high IceCap AIO tank.

 

[reefsandrotts]

What inverts are in the tank,snails,shrimp crabs?

 

[MadReefer]

When I had a similar problem with my leathers everyone said my puffer and hawkish were the problem. I got rid of them and still had the problem . I started testing Calc, alk, and mag. Mag was low, alk and Calc all over the place. I added a doser and once the parameters stabilized my leathers did much better.

 

[ole farny]

its hard to diagnose without seeing stuff. you used the words "regression and then died." how fast did they regress?

i keep different parameters then you do, but if you dial your lights back to 30%, i'd say throw a low light, easy lps frag in there, like a caulastrea (candy can) or duncan, etc.

if that frag does okay, that would support the light theory.

it could definitely be nipping too. i had a coral beauty in a sofites tank with no issues. never kept a filefish though. i had a flame angel that liked lps. he'd take about a month or so to eat acans.

 

[Hallowhead]

What inverts are in the tank,snails,shrimp crabs?

I have minimal crew, tuxedo and maybe 2 red hermits and 2 blue legged and maybe 2/3 astrea

 

[Hallowhead]

When I had a similar problem with my leathers everyone said my puffer and hawkish were the problem. I got rid of them and still had the problem . I started testing Calc, alk, and mag. Mag was low, alk and Calc all over the place. I added a doser and once the parameters stabilized my leathers did much better.

I've had a doser since the inception of the tank, it's definitely not the filefish because I just added him. I have a camera on the tank and I've watched and never see the flame angel near the coral, not saying he's not from time to time but

 

[iTzJu]

I've had a doser since the inception of the tank, it's definitely not the filefish because I just added him. I have a camera on the tank and I've watched and never see the flame angel near the coral, not saying he's not from time to time but

Another suggestion—if removing the fish is difficult, consider using a breeder box to isolate a coral and observe its condition.

You can try something like this: Amazon.com

Make sure to place the breeder box slightly below the waterline, where flow is naturally forced in from the top, but the fish can’t swim in or out. Monitor the coral’s health over a few weeks. If it does well inside the breeder box, you can likely narrow down the issue to fish nipping at your corals.

 

[Hallowhead]

Here is a photo yesterday, today the tentacles are slightly extended everywhere. But no where near as much as it used to.

 

[MadReefer]

You never know what is bothering it, especially at night. I have cool favia frag that has receded. I caught my dwarf angel and puffer picking at it after main lights shut down. Moved it to my other tank and will see if it comes back.

 

[Hallowhead]

I think I'm also going to do as some suggested and buy some cheaper LPS and see how they do now. I'm gonna also get a par meter and test my par