Hole in my toadstool?

[abby_n]

I am not sure what is going on. My toadstool has been spending more time flopped over lately and I noticed this morning that there is a hole in the flesh. I’ve had it for about 9 months and never had any problem like this.

Parameters:
Phosphate: 0.09 (working on lowering this)
Alkalinity: 8.5 dkh
Salinity: 1.026
Calcium: 400 ppm
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0
pH: 7.8
Magnesium: 1320 ppm

I’m also having a pretty bad hair algae problem right now so I’m working on getting the phosphates down and changing my light schedule to fix that. Also probably going to up my dose of all for reef to raise the calcium and alkalinity.

[Flaxon-Waxon]

0 Nitrate is concerning. What do you feed 1) your fish and how often, and 2) your coral and how often? What is your light setup, tank size, and flow situation? I wouldn’t worry too much about the PO4, you’ll be chasing that number until you drive yourself crazy. Just manually remove whatever nuisance algae. The algae is likely sponging up your available NO3 (free coral food yay) and your corals could be hungry.

A full tank shot can definitely help.

[Flaxon-Waxon]

A quick Google search brought up a few things to explore:


Flow (not enough)
Built up detritus (usually due to above)
Nudibranch

[abby_n]

Originally Posted by Flaxon-Waxon

0 Nitrate is concerning. What do you feed 1) your fish and how often, and 2) your coral and how often? What is your light setup, tank size, and flow situation? I wouldn’t worry too much about the PO4, you’ll be chasing that number until you drive yourself crazy. Just manually remove whatever nuisance algae. The algae is likely sponging up your available NO3 (free coral food yay) and your corals could be hungry.

A full tank shot can definitely help.

Here’s the full tank! Toadstool is standing back up now so it’s hard to see the hole.

It might be a good idea for me to retest the nitrate, that value was from a quick test strip. But that is a good point. I feed a mixture of brine shrimp (normal and spirulina infused) and a variety pack with fish eggs, copepods, and a meaty mixture of a couple things. It’s all frozen. For the coral I do aminos and sometimes phytoplankton. I used to use reef roids but my shrimp was harassing the coral too much when I would feed to the point where tentacles would come off / they would throw up. So I stopped.

And yeah I have been pulling out algae a lot but it feels like a bit of an uphill battle. It’s gotten to the point where it’s blocking the light from some of the shorter corals :/

[abby_n]

Originally Posted by Flaxon-Waxon

A quick Google search brought up a few things to explore:


Flow (not enough)
Built up detritus (usually due to above)
Nudibranch

Good to know! Right now my flow situation is kind of lame. I have the built in outflow pump on the tank and then an extra pump on the side. But I just got a Nero 3 and will be adding it soon which would hopefully help of this is the issue. That should create flow that is a bit more dynamic as well!

[Flaxon-Waxon]

Originally Posted by abby_n

Good to know! Right now my flow situation is kind of lame. I have the built in outflow pump on the tank and then an extra pump on the side. But I just got a Nero 3 and will be adding it soon which would hopefully help of this is the issue. That should create flow that is a bit more dynamic as well!

So I own a Biocube and first that that stuck out to my seeing your pic was there’s no powerhead… set that Nero up ASAP. I have 2 of them on my Biocube.

That said, I know filtration is not optimal in these tanks. How are you set up in the back chambers?


You’re overfeeding I’m guessing. You have plenty of nutrients they’re just being sponged up by the algae. I’d try to scrub that algae off with a brush and suck it out as often as you can. Start limiting feeding the aminos, and broadcasted food like that, and start feeding frozen only for the most part so the fish can eat. You’re basically dumping all this food in and it’s just settling in the rocks, then leaching back out in the form of algae, I’d bet anyways… flow will help bring excess food into the filtration as intended. Do start weekly water changes if you haven’t. This will offset the lack of feeding extra amino acids, etc. Water changes are really a terrific way to feed your corals the trace elements they need plus keeping Alk/cal/mag replenished as well. That plus frozen food for your fish being processed will give corals the nitrate they feed on as well.

Scratch any test that involves strips. Invest in a titration kit like Red Sea Pro. Just my $.02.

[abby_n]

Originally Posted by Flaxon-Waxon

So I own a Biocube and first that that stuck out to my seeing your pic was there’s no powerhead… set that Nero up ASAP. I have 2 of them on my Biocube.

That said, I know filtration is not optimal in these tanks. How are you set up in the back chambers?


You’re overfeeding I’m guessing. You have plenty of nutrients they’re just being sponged up by the algae. I’d try to scrub that algae off with a brush and suck it out as often as you can. Start limiting feeding the aminos, and broadcasted food like that, and start feeding frozen only for the most part so the fish can eat. You’re basically dumping all this food in and it’s just settling in the rocks, then leaching back out in the form of algae, I’d bet anyways… flow will help bring excess food into the filtration as intended. Do start weekly water changes if you haven’t. This will offset the lack of feeding extra amino acids, etc. Water changes are really a terrific way to feed your corals the trace elements they need plus keeping Alk/cal/mag replenished as well. That plus frozen food for your fish being processed will give corals the nitrate they feed on as well.

Scratch any test that involves strips. Invest in a titration kit like Red Sea Pro. Just my $.02.

Thank you for the reply!

There is a power head but it is in the corner and there’s sort of a reflection blocking it in the picture. Either way, I’m pretty sure it’s not enough which is why I have the additional one to add. Glad to hear that this is a good move.

In the back I switched out the filtration chamber that comes with the tank so now I have one section that is an algae refugium and another with bioballs, carbon, GFO, and filter floss. I also have a water director to ensure that everything by flows through that area. There’s a protein skimmer back there too, but it doesn’t seem to be very good. I wasn’t finding many options that would fit in the biocube.

And thank you for the water change/ feeding tips. Any suggestions on ensuring that fish who live at the bottom, like gobies, get enough to eat? I worry about my diamond goby not getting as much food as everyone else and I could definitely see how I might be adding too much food in an effort to give him enough.

And yeah the test strips are not great. I kind of forgot I had them until today. I’ll retest the nitrate with an actual kit tomorrow.

[Flaxon-Waxon]

So correct me if I’m wrong, but seems like you upgraded to something like the InTank fuge and media baskets, and are using the Coralife V2 skimmer?

In terms of the goby, if you feed something like
mysis, there should be enough bits that will eventually sink to the bottom of the tank. Turn your pumps off when you feed and you’ll see it. If that doesn’t suffice, get something like a coral feeder (look kinda like a turkey baster) and spot feed some food in front of it.

[melosu58]

Is this diamond goby a sand sifter. I mean does it go around sifting up sand at the bottom of the tank. Most of them will do that but not all. If they are sifting then they are getting plenty of food unless your tank is brand new.
You can also sit there and take a toothbrush and rubber band it to some plastic tubing and siphon out the nuisance algea. Gently scrub the algae off the coral.