Help with xenia and spider man zoa.

[elmafioso52988]

I woke up this morning and Everyhing looks normal. I started starring at my tank to see how everyone was doing. Then I say my xenia had one stalk on it in which each polyp had one black finger/feathery thing on it. The polls are intact but just the black color on the polyps worry me. What could have caused it? Is there anything I can do? I have a sun coral right inder the xenia could I have stung them? Would that cause this?

Also have somespidder man zoa that has no been doing well. Two of the polyps have 1/8 of their skirts melted. Should I move them to Different position? What stops them from melting?

NEED HELP! PLEASE!!

I have a 55 with a sump/fuge. Lighting two t5 108 watts. Have four but only turn on two of the t5s. I never have any nitrates, nitrite, amonia. Ph 8.2, calcium 370ish, phosphates very low, alk 9. I have good water movement. I feed the coral pods, cyclopeese, marine snow, phytoplex and misys.

All th other corals are doing great. I get new growth weekly. Everything look great other than these two.

[elmafioso52988]

Bump

[cbrownfish]

Water changes. When all else fails, do water changes.

How long has the tank been set up?? Nuisance algae? What are your parameters?

[elmafioso52988]

Tank has been up for a year and a half. I'll do another water change on Tuesday. The params are in the last paragraph. Thank for your help.

[cbrownfish]

So do you have nuisance algae? PO4 or NO3 being "low" can be the result of those nutrients being tied up in algae growth. So, there are 3 possibilities that come to mind:

1. Nutrient levels are higher than you realize and/or your test kits are bad (if nuisance algae is present).

2. No nuisance algae present - Nutrient levels are actually pretty low and your soft corals are stressed as a result (xenia and zoas typically like dirtier water).

3. You have a contaminant of natural or unnatural origin, hence you should start an accelerated water change regimen. 10% every other day until you have replaced 50% or so of your water volume. Never underestimate the basics. I recently overcame a mysterious problem with my SPS by changing out 125-150 gallons of my 200 gallon total volume. Naturally, I did that over a couple week period with 10-15% water changes. Running a lot of GAC (carbon) can help with contaminants also.

[elmafioso52988]

No algae at all. White sand. I changed my skimmer about a month ago and added a fuge. The fugE is about 1 gallon with some sand and cheato. I replace the sea clone withe esshop skimmer and the new skimmer pulls out about 1/4 cut of junk a day. Could this be the reason for my zoa and xenia looking weird?
Should I stop skmming?
I feed every other day and my coral seem to lik it. Should I feed more?
Confused water is perfect. I'll have my lfs check for me.
I added carbon just invade I introduce some thing bad. Thanks any thing else I can do?

[cbrownfish]

The new skimmer may be pulling out more organics and keeping the system leaner. Hard to say overall......this is where you get into some trial and error. If you rule out a contaminant, you may try increasing your feeding bit.

[elmafioso52988]

I run my skimmer 24/7 should I put a timer on it and only run is about 8 hours a day?

[zy112]

I agree with everything cbrownfish has stated.

I would NOT put your skimmer on a timer. I would start twice a week water changes until things turn around. Sorry I cant offer too much more advise but at this point its a guessing game, especially with your params looking good.

[BigAl07]

anytime you see something "out of whack" your first line of defense is (as already noted)

A) Add carbon in case it's a contaminant
B) Prepare for large/often Water Changes
C) Repeat "Dilution is the Solution to Pollution" 100 x's.


Good luck and keep us posted.

[elmafioso52988]

Thank you all for your help. I'll let you know how it goes :-)

[cbrownfish]

For the record, keep the skimmer running and increase feeding if you think that the skimmer is pulling too much. Unlike most, your nutrient import may be lacking a bit. The general populous (like me ) are always increasing export to deal with our high level of import (over feeding).

[elmafioso52988]

I moved the spiderman zoa to a different location with more flow and they seem to be doing better. The xenias black tenticles went back to normal. I did a few water changes and feed my aquarium everyday. They both seem to be better. Thanks for the help everyone. :-)

[intenseneal]

I would retest all water parameters with a different kit. IMO your ca is low and your alk is high. Water changes are the best way to fix this as already stated. You can always dip any corals that way have a problem. Use Logals, Reef Dip, TM dip any of the better coral dips will do fine. This will kill any pests and or infections that may cause problems. Your skimmer has no effect on the corals in this way. IMO over skimming is always better.