kenya tree sick?

[scottkraft]

i have a kenya tree that 2 days ago stopped opening. I just did a water change 4 days ago it did fine and seemed to be growing, even got a new bud off to the side it seems fine. I have have him about 2 months with no problems. Just tested the tank SG is @ 1.026 and nittrate and trites are 0 PH is 8.4 (really close if not) calcium is near 500,amonia is also 0, but phosphate was up a tad, but just put in a new bag or pellets. i feed every other day phydo, but i got a larger bottle this time... it's about a month old now, could it be getting stale or bad?
90gal reef 15-20 gal drip filter
90lb rock,40ish coral base
20 to 25 snails (all doing well)
qabout 12 small comm. fish (2 percula clown, 2 grn cromis,1 mandarin goby, 1 yellow tang, 4 pj cardnials) and about 8 other corals doing just fine, none are close to him.

 

[melosu58]

I would stop feeding the phyto. I have not target fed my corals the 12 yrs I`ve had them. All they need is good lighting and feeding from the water column. Probably why you phosphates are up.

 

[Bige]

I have to agree. Feeding corals tends to fill tank with phosphates that hurt more than the food helps. Clean water and feeding the fish tends to be the best way to keep tank in balance. But I have a 29g tank so I have to be careful about over feeding.

 

[scottkraft]

Thanks, it's still looking very sriveled(sp) this morning, turned the filter output a small amount to change the flow around it. Just hoping it makes it. Thanks again

 

[thincat]

Kenya trees are hard to kill. I agree with the above and that your phosp. May be your problem. Also I see you have a crushed coral base. That may come back to haunt you in the future. It is hard to keep clean. I also see that you have new light bulb. What type of bulbs are they. T-5, VHO, compact ect...

 

[scottkraft]

they are the twin tube 10k coralife.. so i think they are compact. And ya i have already noticed thet the base is "fun" to keep clean, i do use a siphon and clean it when i do a water change.
This morning he seems to be trying to open.... i do have about 12 pcs. of coral in the tank, maybe i don't have enough trace elem. to keep all happy?

 

[melosu58]

maybe i don't have enough trace elem. to keep all happy?

That can easily accomplished with regular PWC`s.

 

[thincat]

"they are the twin tube 10k coralife.. so i think they are compact."

Can you give us a picture of your lights?

 

[Kristall-99]

+1 on them being that they are hard to kill. I lost my main colony due to some uncured caulk cause my tank to crash along with all my corals. Suddenly about a week ago I noticed a small nub of a kenya tree growing. The crash happened back in may. Don't give up hope yet.

When i had my Kenya tree it would be closed up for a few days for some reason. I didn't know the cause of it. I only target fed some polyps and never had any access nutrients. Give it a few more days. Switch some current up. Mine never liked flow pointed directly at it.

 

[scottkraft]

they are compact lights. the water flow is now not directly at it... not sure how it got pointed at it, but.....
Also i am new only 4 months into reefing.. what is PWC? Pure Water Change?
Sorry if i sound dumb but IMHO only dumb question is the one not asked
thanks again for all the help
P.S. he is now open today woot!!
Scott

 

[Jimbo7]

PWC is a partial water change. If you hover your mouse over some of the common acronyms, they display what it means.
Glad to hear your kenya is back.

 

[scottkraft]

TY on both items and everybodies input. Still pretty new to SW stuff hovered over a lot of diff boards before i set mine up, but realized i learned some but not enough, what we did 20 years ago is not what goes on now, hqave to relearn everything. Though learning by the seat of your pants is fun it can be trying (mostly on my sanity, and with only 2 marbles left rolling around up there)... well again thank all for your input and help
Scott