Button Polyp help

[cindys]

Button polyps been doing well for many weeks with 4 polyps on frag. Doing great this am when left for work but tonight one of the heads has curled under tightly. Still pretty and green and other 3 heads look good and are spread out as usual. Any thoughts?

Temp 74.9, salinity 25.9, nitrates 0.....what other parameters do I need to post for input?

 

[hurrafreak]

I think a picture would do good. It may be something normal to us but since you've never seen it, not normal to you? Also what kind of lights are you using? IMO the temp might be a little low, I _think_ most people try and keep it around 78-80. I'd also look into nitrates, and ammonia depending on how long the whole system has been setup.

 

[cindys]

Thanks.....nitrates and ammonia are nil.....tank has been set up since early June. Was trying to take a pic but my camera is really bad and it wasn't worth posting. Anyway, polyp opened back up about an hour ago.....is that normal? Looked really cool, but nothing I've seen before
Lights are AIs set at highest of 35 for white and 40 for blue.

 

[303travism]

I saw a fish swim by a frag I had on the sand bed and kick up some sand and it went on the polyp and it hasn't opened for 2 days. With your polyp it could have been anything a hermit/snail crawling across it never can tell.

 

[Cake_Boss]

Temp 74.9, salinity 25.9, nitrates 0.....what other parameters do I need to post for input?

your salinity also looks a bit low. What are you using to check?

Ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, ca, alk, mg, po4, pH, temp. Also, any new additions would be helpful. But now I'm just being picky

 

[Wicked Color]

Yes its normal for a polyp here or there to not open once in a while, or gape the mouth, or pucker up, all kinds of weird stuff.

 

[cindys]

I have a Marin digital meter that was just recalibrated. I actually reported that wrong.....salinity is 1.025-6 and specific gravity is 33. Ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are all nil. Ca is 500, KH is 10.9, Mg is 1500......haven't tested pH and po4......

 

[Jamie.m]

maybe test the iodine level? a low iodine level can make softies unhappy. I never tested the iodine in my tank and found out it was low to none, once i added some iodine my softies really opened up.

 

[cindys]

Thanks, Jamie......I've never tested that, either.......there are so many tests, I'm not sure which are and which aren't important. Thanks for the help and Merry Christmas!

 

[Jamie.m]

Temperature
Ph
Alkalinity
Salinity
Ammonia
Nitrite
Magnesium
Calcium
Iodine

That's what I usually test on a regular basis. The Iodine a little less frequent than the rest though.

There are other test too but if your good about water changes the new salt mix usually brings the other parameters up. Still good to test every so often though.

 

[cindys]

I test all of those but ammonia (heard that it didn't need to be tested if you were testing for nitrates because they go hand in hand....thoughts?) and iodine.
What tests do you like for ammonia and iodine?

 

[Wicked Color]

I wouldn't worry about iodine.....and the only way you would have an issue with ammonia (with no nit) is if the tank doesn't have a complete bacteria cycle.

 

[Cake_Boss]

maybe test the iodine level? a low iodine level can make softies unhappy. I never tested the iodine in my tank and found out it was low to none, once i added some iodine my softies really opened up.

What iodine did you dose.

 

[Jamie.m]

I have used both the Two Little Fishies Iodine Concentrate and the kent marine lougol's solution. I like the Two Little Fishies Iodine Concentrate.

Iodine is an important thing. its needed for a lot of soft corals and crustaceans. The Iodine level may or may not be causing the polyps to curl up, just thought I would through it out there, testing it wont hurt anything. It seemed to help me.

ammonia brakes down into nitrite and nitrite brakes down into nitrate, so they do kinda go hand in hand. like rockys_pride said usually not an issue if your tank is through its cycle.

 

[cindys]

okay, so bought iodine test.....a little low, but not bad. about .04. Added some iodine supplement and we'll see what happens