Frogspawn

[saj1989]

i have a two headed frogspawn (they are still connected like an 00 shape)it was doing fine for a while then one day my phosphates whent up and it retracted. i have solved the problem but the frogspawn is completely retracted in the morning (it looks dead) but you can see the green polyps at night whether the lights are on or off they do come out very little. its been like this for months now and my lfs has no idea why. i have tried changing locations, fresh water dipping and moving it to different positions with no sucess. any ideas whats happening?. water quality is good, had it double checked by lfs and other corals are doing fine.

 

[-Nemo-]

what are your water stats specifically?

Tank size? Lighting?

 

[saj1989]

nitrate, nitrite, ammonia and phosphates= 0
calcium (420), alkalinity (9dkh),ph.(8.1), temp (80f). 200L tank with fluval 205 canister filter, small protein skimer (very small but does work).
150w metal halides for lighting. lighting cycle about 8hrs. set up for 1 and a half years.

 

[-Nemo-]

They like moderate lighting, so with that light make sure he's at the bottom of the tank. Also just enough flow to slightly move them, too much flow will cause them to not extend fully. If you move him, make sure you give him a few days in that spot before changing something again. Feeding something meaty might also provoke him to come out.

Oh and welcome to the forums, hope you stick around! If you have pictures of your tank, we'd love to see them!

 

[saj1989]

its at the bottom of the tank and i leave it for a week before moving it. i am currently trying to feed it. i will let you know if it works. another possibility of the problem is ph. how do i get it up. adding carbonate alkalinity supplement but it will not increase ph. any ideas.

 

[n3ont3tra]

Try pointing a powerhead at the surface. It'll help remove CO2 and increase the pH.

 

[demasonisrule]

Your ph isn't low enough to cause any real problems
what's your specific gravity/salinity?
have tried a fresh RO dip? maybe something is on it is eating/agitating it.

 

[saj1989]

i have a powerhead moving the surface water. salinity is 1.025. i have done a freshwater dip, how do you do a an ro dip. how long should i leave the coral in the freshwater.

 

[demasonisrule]

It's just a fresh water dip, but using reverse osmosis water, which tends to be better for our systems

 

[seffieuk]

to TFF and the salty side of the forum

Can we see a photo of the coral please?

How long has the tank been running?
How much flow do you have in the tank?
Has anything died recently?
Is the fluval your only filtration?
What corals are you stocked with?
What is the euphyllia close to?
Are you running carbon?
Do you dose the tank with anything?

just a few questions to help me


Seffie x

 

[saj1989]

tank has been running for a year and a half
a good amount (one power head) but the frogspawn is protected by live rock from strong flow.
it has been like this for about three months. lots of corals and some fish have died in that time. fish got into a fight and corals were new and never settled in properly.
fluval, live rock and a small protein skimmer
mushrooms, galaxia,trumpet coral (dying),candy cane( very healthy and growiung quickly) duncan, pink gonorpora (also not opening at the moment),toadstool which i have fragged
frogspawn is away from everything , only thing in its reach if it opened fully would be live rock
yes running carbon (started have problems with brown algae recently, about a week ago)
does the tank with live phyto, calcium additive and carbonate( as these drop very quickly within a week), on rare occasions lps amino acids as i was told by my lfs that gonopora need this.

i did a fresh water dip on sat and it came out a little ( u can barely see it) but it is completely retracted again. new thing i have noticed is that some of it had turned white( the polyps not the skeleton)i have tried feeding it but the fish always steal it before it can eat.
i am trying to control brown algae. snails have eaten most of it off the rocks but there is stil some on the sand.

 

[Harry1996]

what snails do you have?

 

[seffieuk]

nitrate, nitrite, ammonia and phosphates= 0
calcium (420), alkalinity (9dkh),ph.(8.1), temp (80f). 200L tank with fluval 205 canister filter, small protein skimer (very small but does work).
150w metal halides for lighting. lighting cycle about 8hrs. set up for 1 and a half years.

How old are your test kits? In a tank of this age diatoms are a sure sign that phosphates are high and it is time to do a good water change. I would take my water down to the lfs and get it tested, it would be lovely to have your test results in a tank of this age but is unlikely.

You dont say how much live rock you have so we can access if you have adequate filtration and you dont say how much flow you have?

So first I would take a trip to lfs to test water
Then i would be doing a large water change
next put in phosphate remover like phosban
next put in a nitrate remover like purigen
consider buying a larger skimmer

You have a euphyllia showing stress and have lost live stock, i would put money on your stats not being correct

Seffie x

 

[saj1989]

water tests fine at lfs.
i have a phosphate and nitrate remover
i do water changes (5%) with ro water weekly
the snails are turbo snails (i think)
all test kits are new less than 3 months old

 

[seffieuk]

5% water change is next to useless imho - you need to be doing a much larger cahnge unless your tank is large, is it? It is very unusually to have 0 on all your stats in a tank that has been running that long and that has diatoms. When i see diatoms in my tank I know its time for a large water change and probably the phosphate remover etc needs replacing

Seffie x

ps just had a thought, do you have a fair amount of hair algae?