So in the last week my 65g tank has been acting funny particularly on the right side. I have 2 corals, a pulsing xenia, I've had for 2 months now and a pink paly from the swap that have been doing poorly out of nowhere. On my left side of the tank I have tons of zoas and acros on the topshelf that appear to be in excellent shape. The xenia isn't a small frag, its got about 300+ pulps on 2 different colonies in the same area. So I did the first thing I think most people would do and thats check my parameters. Mg-1350 Ca-580 P04-0 Alk-7 Nitrates: 0 These have been the same parameters I've been around for 3 months. So no real parameter swings. I do a 5% water change gradually over the week, every week. Just to be safe I did a 10% water change right when I started noticing the xenias doing poorly. However, instead of seeing improvement, the pink palys swelled up greatly and then 3/6 pulps have not opened up since. The remaining three only open up partially and the other three appear to have shriveled up completely. The birdsnest which is on the middle tier between the two (Xenia on bottom of tank) appears to be healthy with extended pulps and shows no signs of agitation or change. The rest of the tank seems to be the same. So I've continued water changes but the corals don't appear to changing in health. As of this morning, only 2/6 pulps opened for the pink paly and the xenias, they open up but they don't pulse and have what I call semi-burnt looking fringes. So I thought maybe it could be a light issue. I run a rapid-led DIY 3w solderless. It has 14-3w cree leds. 6 royal blue, 4 white, 2 UV, 1 red, 1 green. I've checked to make sure my lights are cooled and both seem to be working properly. Also the other corals around the pink paly and xenias don't seem to be distressed if it was a light issue I would say. I have a green stylophora on the topshelf above the pink paly and orange zoas right next to the xeniay and the look pretty normal and I've had them for 4 months on both. So I'm kinda thinking light is probably not my issue. I haven't added any new media to the tank since my phosban incident. I run 3 packs of chemi-pure elite and some activated carbon. Just to make sure I'm not removing too much from the tank, I've pulled out 1 pack of chemi-pure elite and the carbon. This was done 4 days ago. I see no improvement as well with either of the corals. I run a heavily stocked tank so it should quickly buildup phosphates and etc. Current Livestock: x2 bartlett's x4 clowns x2 blue reef chromis x2 blue green chromis x1 scooter blenny x1 mandarin x1 wheelri watchmen x1 clownfish goby x16 astrea snails x6 mexican turbos x3 normal turbos x8 hermits x1 conch. I've done a careful inspection of the corals and I dont see any pests of any kind that would target these soft corals. So today I checked up on my waterflow at around 5:30 p.m. today. I noticed that one of the powerheads I run in the back of the tank on the right side was not working. I run 3 reg power heads in my tank with x1 10wes ecotech vortech. I thought maybe it burnt out. I pulled it out and cleaned the magentic propeller and plugged it back in. It started working but rather poorly, probably why it got jammed. However, I noticed that immediately 1/6 pulps on the pink play started to open up again when I removed the powerhead. So instead of putting the powerhead back in, I've left it out. So as of right now 3/6 pulps are partially opening again. However, the xenia has made no improvement since the removal of the powerhead. Its a bit early but I'll wait and see how things go over the next few days. I plan to buy a new powerhead tommorow. This powerhead isn't directed on the corals, it actually blows on the backside of my rocks to remove waste into the overflow. I think maybe something electrical may have been doing all this? The power head is placed on the right side of the tank above those two corals and was jammed. For how long, I don't know. Does anyone else have any suggestions on what I should do? I was planning to buy some final frags to finish off my tank but atm I'm going to hold back until I know for sure whats wrong. DARN, i was excited to finish off my tank too.
A bad pump producing electric current in the water can affect corals. You may not feel it if you have the tank grounded but the corals can sence the current. It sounds like you may have found the problem. The only other thing to consider if the xenia don't perk up over the next few days would be your salt or supplements. Have you started a new bag of salt or new bottle since the change?
Couple of observations, your zoas may be responding to your light, my zoas do not like my LEDs; I have seen others do well but I have heard lots of people note that with the LEDs they struggle. I have removed all my zoas from my tank due to my light intensity. Second Zenia and SPS won't mix, it's only a matter of time till it covers your tank, yes I have seen pictures of beautiful tanks where it's mixed; but it's aggressive so be careful. The burnt look could also be a reaction to your light intensity, if you Zenia on the right was higher in your tank it could be that. LEDs are awesome, but are very intense and are closer to the spectrum of the sun. Your soft corals may need to be on the bottom of the tank to survive. Let me know if I can be of any assistance.
Yeah, the xenia do grow fast. They have grown from a quarter size frag to almost 2 baseball size colonies. Actually growing this for my sibling. Once they get bigger we are moving it to his softie tanks, he has a hard time getting them to survive. They are currently almost at the bottom of my tank and grow in one direction only. Up. From the frag plug they were on, they have moved 3 inches up as they continue to grow. As for the LED's and zoo's, I do have one frag of scrambled eggs that I got from the aquarium odd-balls that does not seem to like my LED's. I've had to move it into the shade at the bottom of my tank. Unfortunately last night, the hermits ate one the dead paly pulps. 4/5 pulps are partially opened today. I think the last pulp is dead as well. To be safe, I removed the large hermit eatting the dead pulps. The xenia have opened up this morning and have plumped out. They aren't pulsing like crazy yet but they aren't really burnt looking this morning. I'm hoping it was just because my pump was producing a small current. Wish I had noticed the jammed pump much sooner.
You say close to acros, how close? Acros don't sting like most corals in defense, they release toxins in the water to fight back. I've only seen it a couple times with SPS where they affect the corals that are too close to them in this fashion, leather's are usually the culprit. Also, your calcium seems high to me, but that shouldn't make a difference.
