Whats wrong with my Birdsnest?

ummmm, i think the wrasse could be nipping. i highly dought that it was the firefish. and it defently was not the manderin. the pic looks like there is something in the water that it doesnt like. IMO it doesnt look like a fish was nipping at it. i do know birdsnest are not easy to keep, but i dont know what their ideal water is like. wish i could help more but i cant keep sps for the life of me

 

If it did not get nipped, i have no clue why this would happen. The coral was flourishing! It almost doubled its size in a month! Now out of nowhere its dying. I cant understand whats going on. Very frustrating. Any experts with experience with stuff like this? I think its pretty crazy. Hate unexplainable happenings.

 

i used to keep a few types of birdsnest when i had bigger tanks up, the colonys would grow and flourish, opting for new frags! i have noticed this happen quite a few times, the frags would grow out and look beautiful, then one morning they would look identical to your picture and die off. I never understood it, my water params never changed, lighting was allways the same. But still it would happen to a few of them. I never thought it was RTN but i just don't know anymore, i'm sure if you get a couple frags you might have better success. But thats just my opinion/experiance with these finicky corals.

 

btw non of your fish should be nipping at it, firefish are one of the most peaceful/reef safe fish out there.

 

alk? meq/L or dKH
lights? and for how long?
par?
salinity?

why?

 

alk = 10
salinity=35

Im using 2 150w mh 14k and 2 96w pc actinics. Coral is 16" under mh. Actinics on 12 hours a day and MH on 7 hours a day.

Whats par? you mean par of lights? i dont know.

Treating Ick with copper on Tangs in Qt so i change water often to keep ammonia down.

 

More polyps gone overnight.

 

they only disappear overnight, im beginning to think it might be a peppermint or some other critter

 

can you get a pic of your pepp. shrimp?

 

he rarely comes out why? is there a peppermint shrimp type that is more likely to do that?