Losing Coral, Please Advise

J

Jumpman23

New member
OK guys sometimes this hobby really pisses me off and then I love it at same time. Is it possible to keep zoos,shrooms,palys in a Sps tank? I think that maybe the water is to clean for them. They like dirty water? My palys and mushrooms were doing great then I moved them like 12 inches to the left on my sandbed and they all disappeared and the palys are all closing and looks like they are shrinking now its getting frustrat
ing!!!
 
They should be fine together. Although they like dirtier water, they do fine in clean water. I ran a mixed reef with no problems. I would recommend running carbon though as softies sometimes expel toxins that can bother SPS. Otherwise no problems.
 
Although I don't have that many SPS yet, my zoas seem to be doing fine in "cleaner" water. They're reproducing fine and often see baby heads pop out from the zoa frags. The only issue i've had with zoas/palys is the frag that Dre gave me this past summer. No idea why it opened up under MH's at first, then after i switch to new bulbs, it just kept closed and wouldn't open fully. I even moved it to a shaded area. Moved it to my 12gal nanocube with PC's and now it's opened up fully
 
I have been starting to notice some pissed off LPS and soft stuff in my tank as well now that I am running bio pellets. My phosphates and nitrates are zero and near zero at this point. My sps has been coloring up better then it ever has been. Zoas however have not grown at all that I notice. Their not turning colors yet or melting away but they are definitely shrunken. My acans, frog spawn and Florida ricordia, look great. But some blue striped shrooms, tonga mushrooms, and once beautiful Yuma collection looks bad as well. My yumas were so bad I traded them ... I know this doesn't help you but I feel your pain! Any suggestions from the few true mixed reefers??
Heidi
 
Lil BamBam said:
Im starting to wonder if this is why I don't see that many mixed reefs..
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My guess is there's 2 reasons. One, (as mentioned above) the toxins can kill sps and people don't want to risk their sps. Two, the high light requirements for sps are too much for most softies, especially shrooms. I still have a few softies that imbedded themselves in my tank before I started getting sps. Some of them fried while but some found places in caves and overhangs to hide form the intense light.

All the softies I've ever had THRIVED in my ultra-low nutrient system. When people say that such-n-such softie likes dirtier water, what they really should be saying is that they can tolerate dirtier water compared to other corals that will not. The only "dirty" water areas in the ocean are found at the mouths of rivers and these places tend to be entirely covered in macroalgae, not coral.
 
Heidi said:
I have been starting to notice some pissed off LPS and soft stuff in my tank as well now that I am running bio pellets. My phosphates and nitrates are zero and near zero at this point. My sps has been coloring up better then it ever has been. Zoas however have not grown at all that I notice. Their not turning colors yet or melting away but they are definitely shrunken. My acans, frog spawn and Florida ricordia, look great. But some blue striped shrooms, tonga mushrooms, and once beautiful Yuma collection looks bad as well. My yumas were so bad I traded them ... I know this doesn't help you but I feel your pain! Any suggestions from the few true mixed reefers??
Heidi
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How long has it been since you've been at zero for nitrates and phosphates? I saw a similar reaction when i went w/ biopellets but after a few weeks everything improved and my LPS have never been better.
 
Fish_wiz2 said:
They should be fine together. Although they like dirtier water, they do fine in clean water. I ran a mixed reef with no problems. I would recommend running carbon though as softies sometimes expel toxins that can bother SPS. Otherwise no problems.
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^^^+1^^^
 
EricTheRed said:
My guess is there's 2 reasons. One, (as mentioned above) the toxins can kill sps and people don't want to risk their sps. Two, the high light requirements for sps are too much for most softies, especially shrooms. I still have a few softies that imbedded themselves in my tank before I started getting sps. Some of them fried while but some found places in caves and overhangs to hide form the intense light.

All the softies I've ever had THRIVED in my ultra-low nutrient system. When people say that such-n-such softie likes dirtier water, what they really should be saying is that they can tolerate dirtier water compared to other corals that will not. The only "dirty" water areas in the ocean are found at the mouths of rivers and these places tend to be entirely covered in macroalgae, not coral.
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Can corals adapt to any condition in order to survive? You can keep certain SPS, but not the ones that we all want. LOL!! They are mostly your starter SPS. I’m going to give a try with my tank as I already have a strong lighting system and my softies are doing good with it. Trying BP right now with ¼ of a cup to see what results I get. Keeping a close eye to see any issues down the road.
 
Well my palys and zoas were booming and then it looks like they wont open up and looks like my shrooms melted!!!! I don't get it
 
Did you increase your light cycle or upgrade your lighting? Also, you said you moved them 12" to the left. Were they moved into more/less flow or more/less light. It could be coincidence, but if they went down hill after you moved them, then maybe something about the move did it....?
Perhaps something is attacking them or maybe a fungus. Have you tried to dip what's left? It does seem odd that moving various types of softies would kill them all at the same time.
 
No I've had the same lights and cycle since tank has started. I'm really satrting to get pissed I keep losing acro frags too. I'm about to give up on this tank. I've done this for 10 years and never had a main acro tank. I keep losing them slowly. I'm about to go softie only tank help!!!!!!! I'm going to pull my hair out
 
What are the parameters in your tank? Acro's can be pretty specific and they do not like things to fluctuate...stability is very important. Also, I changed the title of your thread to hopefully attract some of our sps experts to advise.
 
EricTheRed said:
How long has it been since you've been at zero for nitrates and phosphates? I saw a similar reaction when i went w/ biopellets but after a few weeks everything improved and my LPS have never been better.
Click to expand...

It's been only a week and a half. I am in the "wait and see" period. Thanks for the encouragement though :)
Heidi
 
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