Devil's Hand NEEDS HELP!!!!

[jake21ld]

I just noticed yesterday that my devil's hand coral has been looking sick. It has decreased in size, becoming less rigid, and began to detatch a portion of its base. The base is only about 4 inches and about an inch has detached. I also noticed that about 1/2 inch ring of green algae has developed around the bottom of the base. I checked all the water quality parameters and they are all right there. I moved him from a medium flow to a little higher of flow area. I just wondered if it is a start of a bacteria infection or something else.
55 gallon with 5 watts per gallon
pH 8.1
nitrites 0
nitrates 5 and decreasing every week
ammonia 0
S.G. 1.024
calcium 450
phosphates 0
temp 78

 

[jake21ld]

29 views and no replies

PLEASE HELP....

 

[kipsreef]

if you have green algae around the base... then i'd say your parameters arent all "right there"
be sure it isnt getting forceful flow.. make sure nothing around it is irritating it
make sure it is getting the same dose of lighting each day
make sure the temp and pH arent swinging beyond 2*F and .2 respectively in a 24hr period
make sure the salinity stays dead on at 35ppt 24/7/365 (usually accomplished via auto-topoff)
your Ca and dkh... keep them stable and balanced without much swing
be sure your no3 and po4 are at a minimum... dont go by test kits.. use your eyes. You can get false zeros from test kits because the algae, etc in the tank is absorbing these mal-nutrients as fast as they are being produced so there are no free ions for the test kit to pick up
outside of this... nice indirect flow around the tank and frequent water changes should be all you need to keep most corals happy.
good luck

 

[jake21ld]

KipsReef,
Thanks for the info...just to be safe, I gave it an iodine dip lastnight and returned it to the same position it was before...thanks for the advice on the algae, even though it has not regularly been on the glass, i am taking extra steps by adding some phosphate sponge to my filter....
thanks again