What is happening to my soft corals?

sixline

sixline

Member
I've been having trouble migrating my tank from a FOWLR to one that includes soft corals. I've purchased green star polyps, zooanthids and toadstool leathers several times now, and everything eventually dies, or in some cases, never even opens at all after getting into my tank. For example, I recently bought some zoas, a pair of kenya trees and some GSP. The GSP never opened and the kenya trees withered away in two or three days. The zooanthids opened right away, but now are looking a bit more tentative.

I'm trying to figure out the issue.

Some preliminary information:

  • 100g tank, set up for 10 years. Fish and inverts (snails, conch, urchin) never die.

  • Good circulation with Ecotech vortex pumps

  • Lighting is a pair of Hydra 26 LEDs using a time tested color algorithm from successful soft coral tanks

  • RO/DI water for water changes and ATO (tested at 0.0 total dissolved solids)

  • Reef crystals salt
I test my water on occasion, but to be honest I'm a bit skeptical of the accuracy of tests.

First of all, I tested some freshly mixed water. I got these numbers:

  • specific gravity 1.025

  • pH 8.3

  • calcium 430ppm

  • dKH 12.5 (Salifert) 12.3 (Red Sea)
I've only done that test once, but I test my tank water periodically and the results tend to be like this:

  • specific gravity 1.025

  • pH 8.2 + or - 0.1

  • calcium 400ppm + or - 15ppm

  • dKH 5.9 to 6.8 (Red Sea reading is usually lower than Salifert)

  • Magnesium 1450ppm

  • Phosphates/Ammonia 0

  • Nitrates 5ppm
I wanted to get some opinions on what might be going on. I have a few guesses but don't want to say because I don't want to influence anyone's answer and also I am not too confident in my opinion. feel free to request any more information if needed.
 
PSU4ME

PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
Was the tank ever treated with any chemicals or medications? Your all seems to be pretty high.
 
D

DaveK

Well-Known Member
What fish and other livestock do you have in the tank? Some species feed on soft corals. Others will simply bother them a lot. Do you have any hitchhikers in the system especially crabs or those unwanted small anemones?

What happens when you try adding a soft coral? Do they die right away or do they slowly fade away? Sometimes they seem ok for awhile and then quickly die.

As a note, in order to grow soft corals will retract, and then shead their "skin". This is normal, but more than a few people thought the coral was dead.

With soft corals, if a section is dead, it's possible to frag off the remaining good parts, and grow them out. This can allow you to save at least part of the coral.

Soft corals often prefer dimmer light compared to LPS and SPS corals, especially just after you move them. Be sure to cut your light way back when you add them, and them slowly increase it over several weeks.
 
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