Zoos look good, but LPS & mushrooms bad?

aschroeder · 07/13/2007, 07:30 AM

I've posted a few times about my 20 gallon nano crashing a few weeks ago. I had a major calcium/Alk imbalance that caused a downward spiral.

Everything is now close to back in line with my parameters:

Calcium:420
Alk: 13 (Still a bit high)
Ph: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrates: 0

My zoos have recovered nicely, but my bubble coral, frogspawn, leather and mushrooms refuse to open. During the crash I lost 2 heads off the frogspawn, 3 mushrooms and a colony of cloves. I've done water changes, so I don't think my water is contaminated. I'm also running 2 bags of carbon, which is quite a bit for a tank this small.

Why won't my coral recover? Someone suggested I need to check my magnesium level. Would that affect the corals I listed? All of my zoos are coming around, but I'm afraid I will lose more livestock if I don't figure out the problem. Thanks.

Frick-n-Frags · 07/13/2007, 07:39 AM

I've had animals sulk for the better part of a year or more before they finally got their act together. and a couple that are still stunted whatever 5+ years after an incident. It depends on how close to death they were put. zoos are tough as nails. So, if that was me, I would keep on top of my parameters and wait and see for a couple of months. reefing time = weeks/months not hrs/days. things need to chill to get it together, so have patience.

I have a colony of moon polyps, I think they are just green palythoas, which I've had since the beginning. they spent like 2 years shut down after my huge crash like in '92 which killed everything else.

they obviously have sailed through the couple of other oopsies I have had over the years, which also took out a ton of other corals.

aschroeder · 07/13/2007, 07:42 AM

I've always thought mushrooms were tough as nails too, but I had 3 on a rock that just melted away over a couple of days.

I've been testing everyday for the past 2 weeks. I'll give it more time.

Frick-n-Frags · 07/13/2007, 07:43 AM

by keeping on top of parameters, I mean more than usual water changes vs anything crazy like iodine or even Mg.
just SG,temp, alk, pH and ca<-but keep those tight to keep stress low.

edit to catch up: yeah, I think you will find that your fertilizers won't be the issue due to an alk accident (NO3, PO4 etc).
you probably can reduce that to a once a week spot check if at all.

alk is the most important thing to keep steady, especially for stressed out corals that have an extra hill to climb. more smaller doses with the goal of holding it within like 1 dKH daily swing or a dripper etc to smooth that out. good alk will hold good pH(assuming no CO2 issues etc).
also, if you don't have a tank full of calcium hogs, you can slide Ca down to 380 which enables the alk to hang tougher(380 is ocean level)

07/13/2007, 07:30 AM	#1
aschroeder Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Johnston, Iowa Posts: 438	Zoos look good, but LPS & mushrooms bad? I've posted a few times about my 20 gallon nano crashing a few weeks ago. I had a major calcium/Alk imbalance that caused a downward spiral. Everything is now close to back in line with my parameters: Calcium:420 Alk: 13 (Still a bit high) Ph: 8.2 Ammonia: 0 Nitrates: 0 My zoos have recovered nicely, but my bubble coral, frogspawn, leather and mushrooms refuse to open. During the crash I lost 2 heads off the frogspawn, 3 mushrooms and a colony of cloves. I've done water changes, so I don't think my water is contaminated. I'm also running 2 bags of carbon, which is quite a bit for a tank this small. Why won't my coral recover? Someone suggested I need to check my magnesium level. Would that affect the corals I listed? All of my zoos are coming around, but I'm afraid I will lose more livestock if I don't figure out the problem. Thanks.

07/13/2007, 07:39 AM	#2
Frick-n-Frags Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: north central OH Posts: 10,740	I've had animals sulk for the better part of a year or more before they finally got their act together. and a couple that are still stunted whatever 5+ years after an incident. It depends on how close to death they were put. zoos are tough as nails. So, if that was me, I would keep on top of my parameters and wait and see for a couple of months. reefing time = weeks/months not hrs/days. things need to chill to get it together, so have patience. I have a colony of moon polyps, I think they are just green palythoas, which I've had since the beginning. they spent like 2 years shut down after my huge crash like in '92 which killed everything else. they obviously have sailed through the couple of other oopsies I have had over the years, which also took out a ton of other corals. __________________ Only Dead fish swim with the current. Current Tank Info: 2 50 gal tanks, sump, still BB

07/13/2007, 07:43 AM	#4
Frick-n-Frags Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: north central OH Posts: 10,740	by keeping on top of parameters, I mean more than usual water changes vs anything crazy like iodine or even Mg. just SG,temp, alk, pH and ca<-but keep those tight to keep stress low. edit to catch up: yeah, I think you will find that your fertilizers won't be the issue due to an alk accident (NO3, PO4 etc). you probably can reduce that to a once a week spot check if at all. alk is the most important thing to keep steady, especially for stressed out corals that have an extra hill to climb. more smaller doses with the goal of holding it within like 1 dKH daily swing or a dripper etc to smooth that out. good alk will hold good pH(assuming no CO2 issues etc). also, if you don't have a tank full of calcium hogs, you can slide Ca down to 380 which enables the alk to hang tougher(380 is ocean level) __________________ Only Dead fish swim with the current. Current Tank Info: 2 50 gal tanks, sump, still BB Last edited by Frick-n-Frags; 07/13/2007 at 07:51 AM.

07/13/2007, 07:42 AM	#3
aschroeder Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Johnston, Iowa Posts: 438	I've always thought mushrooms were tough as nails too, but I had 3 on a rock that just melted away over a couple of days. I've been testing everyday for the past 2 weeks. I'll give it more time.