Logo
Please visit our Sponsors
FAQs about Faviid Coral Disease/Health, Pests 3

FAQs on Faviid Disease: Faviid Disease 1, Faviid Disease 2, Faviid Disease 4, Faviid Disease 5,
FAQs on Faviid Disease by Category: Diagnosing, Environmental (Pollution/Poisoning, Lighting...), Nutritional, Social (Allelopathy), Trauma, Pathogenic (Infectious, Parasitic, Viral) Predatory/Pest, Treatments 

Related Articles: Coral Pests and Disease; pests, predators, diseases and conditions by Sara Mavinkurve, Faviid Corals

FAQs on Stony Coral Disease by Category: Diagnosing, Environmental (Pollution/Poisoning, Lighting...), Nutritional, Social (Allelopathy), Trauma, Pathogenic (Infectious, Parasitic, Viral) Predatory/Pest, Treatments 

Faviids 1, Faviids 2, Faviids 3, Faviid Identification, Faviid Behavior, Faviid Compatibility, Faviid Selection, Faviid Systems, Faviid Feeding, Faviid Reproduction/Propagation,

Caulastrea (Candy Cane) Coral Not Extending Tentacles   10/4/08 Hello Crew, <Travis> Thanks for all the dedication to answering our questions! <Welcome> We have a 15 head Candy Cane coral that we purchased from a local store a little over 1.5 months ago. During the time that we have had it in the tank, we have never observed any tentacle extension. <Mmmm, likely "the neighbours"> For the first 4 weeks, we had him on the sandy floor in a moderately high flow area by the front of the tank. We thought that the flow might have been too strong for him so 2 weeks ago we moved him to a spot in the middle of the tank with a lower flow rate, and closer to the light. He will sit with his mouths open at various times during the day and night, but never extends or shows signs of extending his tentacles. <Well... can take some time to acclimate to captive conditions... most Scleractinians period "feed" during the night... makes sense... when there's much more out to snare, collect> Today I turned off all the pumps and fed all the corals DT's Phytoplankton. He did appear to puff up a little bit, but no tentacles. Is this something that I should worry about? <Mmm, maybe... see below> Tank Details: 29 Gallon BioCube Nitrate: 0 Nitrite: 0 Ammonia: 0 Phosphate: 0.5 (and falling finally... bad water from our LFS last week. Previously this has been at 0) Temp: 77night 79day Ph: 8.4 Salinity: 1.025 Lighting: 1 Coralife 36w 10,000k white on for 10hrs, 1 Coralife 36w Actinic on for 12hrs Weekly 5 gallon water change. Occupants: 2 False Percs (2" each) 1 Yellow Tailed Damsel (1") 1 Chromis (1") 1 Lawnmower Blenny (3") 1 Fire Shrimp 3 Mexican Turbo Snails 3 Nassarius 10 Nerite 10 Cerith 8-10 Hermit crabs 1 Sand Sifting Sea Star 1 Medium size Bubble Coral 1 Medium Torch Coral 2 Large Zoa Colonies 2 Large Purple Mushrooms 1 Small Green Star Polyp 1 Red Lobo 1 Purple/Gray Brain Coral 1 Green Brain Coral 2 Montipora Attached is a photo of the tank to help identify the players. Regards, -Travis <I suspect this is a case of "allelopathy"... particularly the Euphylliid above and large Zoanthid population poisoning the newcomer... Is it/this too much? Maybe not... and perhaps all will "grow accustomed to each other over time"... But I assure you, if the Faviid was in another setting in the circumstances you describe, it would do much better. Please read here re: http://wetwebmedia.com/cnidcompppt.htm  and the linked files above. Bob Fenner>

See it here? ^

Candy Canes/Caulastrea... Allelopathy In A Nano Tank  8/5/08 Hi Crew, <Hi there, Mich here.> I have a 10 gallon that is over 5 years old. Penguin mini filter, 10 pounds live rock, less than an inch of sand and 65w PC. Over times I have had mushrooms, star polyps and candy canes. Mushrooms used to work well for me as they would multiply. As of late I can not seem to hold any mushrooms. They just whither away. <Sounds like inhospitable environmental conditions. Perhaps allelopathy from the star polyps would be my guess.> So I have gone to different colors of candy canes. My inventory is bright green (2 heads), brown with green centers (4 heads), Brown with teal centers (4 heads), tan with teal centers (8 heads), pink with white centers (10 heads) and one that looks like a Faviid <Faviid? Caulastrea are in the Family Faviidae.> of sorts with 8 heads. It is brown but has a bluish haze over it. It looks more like brown to the eye but when I take pictures it looks blue. <Sounds pretty.> Will they also battle each other? <To a degree but not as much as corals from different species would.> One that I bought recently was almost gone. It did not look as bad in the store as when I got it home. It looked like it was just skeleton. It is starting to get some meat on the bones and has a tan color that looks almost pink. The centers so far are just white. Is that normal is just a result of what this coral went through. <This is not normal. These corals do not look like your description in the wild.> Is there a chance some color will appear? <Perhaps. Your system is very small. I hope you are running carbon on the system. If not, then it is it is well past time to start. Your entire system will benefit. This will help reduce the allelopathy. Frequent water changes would also be most helpful. I am wondering if you are running a protein skimmer. You would be wise to keep a species specific tank, which it sounds like you are well on your way. Green Star polyps can be quiet toxic and you might think about removing them from your system. Caulastrea can send out stinging sweeper tentacles so nearby corals can be affected. Caulastrea benefit from feeding. I would especially encourage you to try manual feeding the one with the white center. You might try Mysis shrimp chopped finely and soaked in Selcon. Some links you might find helpful: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/scottsh2ochgart.htm http://www.wetwebmedia.com/chemFiltrMar.htm http://www.wetwebmedia.com/clavulariids.htm http://www.wetwebmedia.com/envdisphysiof.htm Good luck!
Mich>

Candy Cane Coral, hlth.  - 7/28/08 Hello: <Hello!> A few months ago a successful hobbyist gave me 2 nice size pieces of healthy Candy Cane Coral and for almost 2 months they were doing fine and then towards the 3rd month they have lost the green center on the heads. They now are brown the same color as the white striped rim. <Loss of UV-blocking pigments, browning because of nitrate, malnutrition likely causes...> I have a 46 bow tank with a Fluval 404 with a prism hang on skimmer and 2 power heads. In the tank is about 50lbs of live rock, about 1/2? of crushed coral on the bottom, several hermit crabs, several snails of different types, 2 clowns, 1 yellow tang, <Needs a much larger tank> 1 Sally Light Foot Crab, 2 cleaner shrimp, 2 different pieces of frogs spawn, 1 leather coral, several mushrooms and some polyps. I have had this tank for 3+ years. I only wish I researched more before getting involved because I would have chose a different size & style tank which would have allowed me to have a different filtration system. But here I am. Any suggestions on where I should begin to figure out what the problem is? Most of the other items in the tank have been there for a year or more. <What sort of lights are you using? Perhaps your bulbs are old? If you aren't feeding this coral, do check the search feature and our forum at bb.wetwebmedia.com re information about this.> Regards Tom From Connecticut <Benjamin>

Re: Candy Cane Coral - 7/28/08 - 7/30/08 Hello Benjamin: <Hello Tom!> Thank you for commenting. <You're very welcome!> The lighting is Coralife 36" dual total of 192w. <Good. Do keep these bulbs fresh> What am I supposed to feed it? <Finely chopped meaty particulates, when the tentacles are out> And based on the test kit I always had and still do a nitrate problem. It seems always to be between 40-80. <We've found your problem> And I cannot seem to get it lower. <A familiar story...I understand> The PH always seem fine by the test kit. Now I have installed a monitor and it goes from 7.70 to 8.00. The Salinity is 024. Zero nitrite & zero ammonia. I have removed the sponges from the Fluval 404 filter and the only items in the canister are activated charcoal in the bottom tray & Phos Zorb in the top tray which I change both every 4-5 weeks. <Perhaps switch the carbon more often. Consider adding a DSB or mayhap one of those nifty acrylic HOB refugia? I'm assuming you don't have a sump...if you do, perhaps a little Chaetomorpha and a light? Is there anyway I can save the candy cane coral? <At the current time, the nitrate won't necessarily kill the coral, but it will keep it looking pretty drab (search re: 'browning out'). You might try popping over to the forum at bb.wetwebmedia.com to talk tank with folks and see what tricks you might be able to try for lowering the nitrate...some pretty amazing DIY solutions that are effective on the cheap.> Thanks, Tom <No problem! Benjamin>

Re: Candy Cane Coral - 7/29/08   8/1/08 Hello Benjamin: <Hello again, Tom> Thanks again! I did register on WWM forum & posted what I have asking for any suggestions. <Wonderful! Glad to hear it> Can you clarify the abbreviations you used in your response? "Consider adding a DSB or mayhap one of those nifty acrylic HOB refugia" <Sure thing: DSB is an abbreviation for deep sand bed, and HOB is the industry shortcut for 'hang-on-back' equipment that.. well, hangs on the back of your tank> Yes you assumed correct I do not have a sump. Should I? Should I consider investigating changing to a different type of filtration system which would include removing the Fluval canister? <To do this you'd need an overflow siphon box, which I am NOT a fan of. I'd recommend finding ways to work with what you've got now- unless of course upgrading to a large drilled aquarium is up your alley...hee!> Regards, Tom <Benjamin>

Candy Cane Coral Problem  7/22/08 Good morning all, <Shawn> I have gone over your website trying to find something regarding my problem but could find nothing. My problem is that my Candy Cane Coral has been doing great up until the last few weeks. It has been changing colors around the edge. <Mmm, any changes to your system?> The inside has remained the same green color but the outer edge has been turning a lighter fluorescent green to almost yellow. All else seems to be ok with them except that color change. All water checks were very good with the exception of ph was a little low, 8.0. I do 15% water changes every 2 weeks. Might this be a normal color change or could it be something more serious. Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, Shawn <... Could be an influence... but feeding, light changes (are your lamps getting old?), water quality, a lack of phosphate/useful phosphorus, nitrogen... many other possibilities exist. Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/faviiddisfaqs.htm and the linked files above. Bob Fenner>

Favia-Bleaching-Lighting? -03/28/08 I recently got a Favia specimen. It is about the size of my fist, and is for the most part a powder blue. It has long brown splotches around the ridges, but I am sure that this is the natural coloring. Though especially around the top and not around the sides of the coral it is beginning to become pale around the ridges, but not in the mouths. They are still very brilliant. I think that lighting is the issue. Is it possible for a Favia to have to<o> much light? <Yes and no. They can acclimate to just about any level of lighting (even intense lighting). However, this takes time. It sounds like the coral is starting to bleach in response to a sudden change in lighting.> How much is good. The coral was about a 10 inches form the surface where there are two VHO bulbs. One is actinic and the other is 50/50. <What was it under previously, when you purchased it?> I recently moved it to the sandbed, which is about 18 inches from the surface. Was this right? What should I do? Are there anymore details I should include? <Again, if it's a lighting issue, it's an issue of *change* in lighting. You should find out what kind of lighting the coral was under previously, then try and place the coral under similar lighting before slowing moving it to where you want it. If it continues to bleach, be sure to feed it well. Bleaching is not a death sentence. Corals "often" bleach out, then recover. Please see here for some additional info on Faviid health: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/faviiddisfaqs.htm Best, Sara M.>

Trumpet Coral... env. hlth... need useful data   11/26/07 OK. I think I've made a mistake, but want to check and see whether it's salvageable. I've got a trumpet coral I've had for a few years. I had a tank leak and did an emergency switch to a larger tank. When I moved everything, I figured this was a good time to upgrade a lot of stuff and bought a MUCH better light (outer orbit T5HO). <Mmm, what sort and from what previously?> Initially, everything responded well to increased light. This was in part, I think, due to the fact that there was a film on top the water until I finally got the sump/overflow set up. I've never seen the trumpet coral look so good. NOW, however, the trumpet coral looks like it might be burned. I have two pieces. One up higher, and one in the middle of the rock wall. The one at the top has a red mark or two on it and is behaving strangely (tentacles out in the middle of the day kind of strange) but never fully opening to what it can be. The one in the middle has gone white almost. Not dead and still looking fine at night, but white. I've moved them both to the bottom of the tank after reading a few things on your forums (which have saved me more times than I can count). I'm wondering whether that's enough and what steps I should take if any that I haven't already. At least I know now that start the corals arriving this week at the bottom till they adjust to the light ;) <Mmm... could you send along some close up images? And list your other life, particularly photosynthetic sessile invert.s... Bob Fenner>

Caulastrea... Improvement related to ? 9/26/07 Hi Crew, <Greetings Mich here.> I have this Caulastrea for a few months. I was told it was a candy cane but it is not. <Candy cane is a common name used for Caulastrea.> I did find a picture of what I think it is but I cannot remember what it was called. <Looks like Caulastrea to me.> The skeleton poked through in a few place but it stayed like that for a couple months. <Yikes!> The whole top looks like it is flesh the same as each head. It looks like it is brown underneath with a see through cover that is bluish. The mouths are blue. It opens at night like candy cane but not as often and not all the heads open. <Still think this is Caulastrea.> It was in the front corner in a 10-gallon with 65w power compacts. <Small system.> I do not feed anything other than what I give my fish. <It would likely benefit from supplemental feedings.> Tank is about 4 years old. As you can see to the right is a candy cane and behind it there is a mushroom. <Yes, I see.> All of a sudden the flesh started retracting from the body and the heads. <I am wondering how your calcium levels are.> I moved it to the back corner where it gets the same amount of light. The one difference is that before it was on the sand on now it is on a small rock. It seems to be making a comeback after a few weeks being there. A few of the heads have a lot of flesh on them, more that they ever had since I have this piece. Can being on a rock instead of sand make that much of a difference? <Likely not the rock, but the location. May be exposed to more suitable water flow or perhaps less direct allelopathy, likely just more favorable conditions. If you are not running carbon on this system you should be.> Thanks <Welcome! Mich>

Caulastrea... Improvement Related To ? Thanks, <Welcome!> In regards to using carbon, I saw a response recently that said that using a poly filter is the same as using carbon. Did I misunderstand or is that true? <Will function in many of the same ways and may actually be better for some applications, though I don't think it polishes the water in the same way as carbon does. Mich>

Re: Caulastrea... Improvement related to?  11/06/07 Hi Crew (Mich if you are there), <Am still here Samuel> Thanks for the previous response. <Welcome!> Yes the new position does have a stronger water flow. And I did just add carbon so we will see if that makes it even better. <Let's hope!> Since this is a small setup (10-gallon with 65w power compacts) I was wondering how bad my mix of corals may be as it relates to allelopathy. Besides the Caulastrea in question I have a candy cane with about 10 babies blue heads, another with 5 brown heads with a teal center and another with 4 heads and green centers. Then I have a lavender star polyp about 1 inch square, a brown star polyp with white centers about 2 inches square <Pachyclavularia are quite toxic.> and a clove polyp with about 20 polyps. There are a total of 11 mushrooms. 4 are red, 4 have very short hairs that are mostly shades of brown with a blue outer ring. One green striped, one bright green and one Yuma type. There are days the star polyps do not open, there are days that the mushrooms curl up and there are days that the candy canes are not as plump as usual. But most of the time they all look fine. The reds used to have babies but they stopped about a year ago. <Likely related to environmental stress. This is a highly allelopathic mix and is way too small quarters.> The hairy ones started as two and split once. My candy cane heads split every once and a long while. I do not feed them other than to put a few drops of Selcon in the water once a week when the lights are out. <The Caulastrea would benefit from supplemental feeding.> I have a neon goby and a clown goby and last week added a Firefish. <It's mighty crowded in there!> They got along fine and he was out and eating the first day. I have a cover on the tank with about a half inch split down the middle and on night 5 the Firefish managed to jump out. <Happens> I have read about it but did not think it would happen to me but it did. Seeing is believing. <Indeed.> When I found him in the morning he was all dried out. <Sorry for your loss. Mich> Thanks

Re: Caulastrea... Improvement related to? 11/9/07 Thanks Mich, <Welcome Samuel.> So if I get rid of the star polyps can the candy canes get along with mushrooms as long as they do not touch? <It's not the touching that is the issue in so much as it is the chemical compounds that these corals produce, which disseminate into your critically small (10 gallons) volume of water. This is where the potential from problems arise. In the sort term (several months) some, perhaps even most will thrive, but in the long term (year/s) a winner will emerge to the detriment of the loser. Does this make sense? More here: http://saltaquarium.about.com/library/blank/bl_CoralCompetition.htm Thanks
<Welcome, Mich>

Re: BTA & Candy Cane Coral Concerns - 09/14/07 <Hello again Jackie.> Thanks for the valued information. <You're welcome.> Sorry to hear about your Cleaner Shrimp. <Thanks. Was quite a while ago now.> I have another question regarding the Candy Cane coral. <OK.> Do they, throughout the course of a day, change from soft to rock hard? <They can change, though rock hard is generally not happy.> Or is that a sign that all is not well? <Prolonged periods of rock hard is not a good sign... consult a doctor if lasting 4 hours or more... oh wait... that's something else... heehee!> Also, how important is Strontium for LPS corals? <If you do regular water changes you should be fine. You may want to check your calcium levels.> Again, thanks for all the good advise your team provides. <On behalf of Bob and the crew, you're welcome! Mich> Jackie

Healing Favites    7/25/07 To the truly amazing staff at WetWeb, <I'm good with this. There are some wonderful people here!> I am new to marine systems, <Welcome o the briny world CJ!> with a year old 60 gallon and a copy of Mr. Fenner's book- which drove me to become the marine junkie I now am. <Mmm, yep, been there.> I follow Mr. Fenner's advice religiously, <You are wise. Thought the website is more up to date than the book with some things.> and what I cannot afford, I make. <You are lucky to have these skills.> My tank somehow became a refuge for rescued fish and coral. Sadly, I usually receive neglected animals that this site recommends not be collected or sold. <This is sad.> Although constantly daunted, I am quite proud of my unexpected successes. (Those at WetWeb should be too, as this site is my largest reference!) <Good to hear!> The issue: I recently acquired a Favites in terrible condition. It is eating now, and plumping up a bit- no problems there. <Very good!> However, when I received the Favites, it had receded to approximately one third (flesh covering skeleton), perhaps due to lighting or feeding. (I have many pictures, if you need one). <Pictures usually help.> It must have been this way for some time, <Likely so.> as the exposed skeleton is covered in coralline, and along the periphery of flesh are a handful of what I thought where small feather dusters. Upon concentrated inspection, these dusters' appear to be some type of tubeworms that secrete a 'slime web', and have no head. <Sounds like small worm snails of the family Vermetidae, generally harmless filter feeder casting out their mucus net to collect food.> I would like to know if I should attempt to remove the worms, and if they are harming the Favites (or inhibiting it's healing). <Generally no, these should create a problem, not unless there is a significant amount of mucus that the coral had difficulty removing.> I believe this poor guy might come back, if helped along. <Hopefully!> I appreciate any advice that can be given, and thank you so much for taking the time with this, and every question. --CJ <Thank you for your kind words. You are most welcome! Mich>

Candy Cane...Nursing Caulastrea Back to Health - 6/19/07 Hi Crew, <Hello, Mich with you tonight.> I just picked up a candy cane that I volunteered to nurse back to health. <OK.> I have some candy canes and each head is nice and plump. They are brown or tan outside and green or teal inside. <OK.> The one I just got is tan and green but it is in bad shape. Some heads are just skeletons but many have some brown but very little. The skeletons are poking through the 'meat'. It looks very different than mine in that mine are like a tree with branches upward. This one is almost round. It does have a main stem but the heads are going out in all directions and it is actually a ball shape. This makes it impossible to get light to all heads. I can not figure out how it grew this way. When you look at it it just looks like a ball of candy cane heads. Any suggestions? <Yes. You will likely need to hand feed this coral to bring it back. I would try Mysis shrimp soaked in Selcon. Depending on how badly this coral has shrunk you may even need to cut up the Mysis into very tiny pieces. This can be a very tedious job, typically requiring tweezers, keeping thieves away (i.e. shrimp, crabs, fish) and stopping all water movement in the tank for an hour or more so the polyp has a chance to engulf its food. When done daily or multiple time a day, you often get quick results. Lighting alone probably won't bring this coral back, regardless of its shape. That being said you could always frag it. It is quite simple to do, particularly with corals of this type. It is often easy enough to break it by hand if there is enough room to get your fingers in there. But right now, I think I would keep this coral in one piece and move it to a place where you will be able to access it easily and keep food in it's mouths.> Thanks <Welcome! Mich>
Re: Candy Cane...Nursing Caulastrea Back to Health  7/28/07
Hi Crew, <Greetings Mich here again.> Regarding my sick Caulastrea. It has improved a little but I have not been able to feed it. I add Selcon to the water but since I have not seen it send out any tentacles I have not been able to feed it. <You do not and should not wait for feeder tentacles. You need to place very tiny pieces (size of a pin head) of food near/in its mouth. (The mouth is the small circle in the center of the polyp.) Cyclop-eeze works well or very tiny pieces of Mysis. It may take several tries and a lot of patience before the mouth swells and opens, but with time it should. If these Caulastrea were in as poor condition as you say you may not see tentacles for quite some time.> I am practicing the feeding by feeding my others that have their tentacles extended which is something I never tried before. Is there any way to get it to extend its tentacles. <Get the food into its mouth first. This is what's most important. Right now you are giving a baby a spoon and food and wonder why the infant isn't feeding itself.... Neither the baby nor this coral has the capacity at this point. You need to put the food near/in the coral's mouth.> I check most nights after the lights are out and so far no luck. My blue Caulastrea seems to have a few heads with the tentacles out even after the lights come on in the morning. But the sick one is not cooperating. <It's not cooperating because it's incapacitated. Tiny foods, near the mouth... as described below... tweezers, no circulation, multiple times a day. You may want to position these corals so the mouth is facing upward so you don't have to fight gravity as well.> Thanks <Welcome! Mich>

New Brain Question. Symphyllia radians troubles  - 05/08/07 I recently purchased a new brain coral, Symphyllia radians. <Cool.> I seem to be having a problem with the coral now. <Let's see what we can do about that!> The tank is a 92g with ample live rock/live sand. Water parameters are: temp 78-79, pH 8.2, Ca 400, Alk 10.5, nitrates 0, nitrites 0, phosphates 0, Salinity 1.025. <Acceptable.> The coral seems to have some stringy substance around the edge of the coral and near the mouths. It reminds me of a mushroom that is expelling its guts. <Could be expelling Zooxanthellae. Are there any noxious soft corals or anemones in the tank, and if so how close? Also what type of lighting so you have and in what relation is the animal to it? Do you know the lighting if the system from which the tank came? Where in the tank is the animal placed and what is the flow like in that area? Sorry for all the questions, but they will help me to help you better.> I have only had this coral for about 6 days, so I am guessing that it is stress. <Surely a factor…is a traumatic change for naturally immobile (for the most part) creatures.> I acclimated for around 1:45 by drip acclimation. Can you advise me how I can help the coral? <Answer my questions above and I will able to so.> I really want to get the coral in great shape and feeding again. Thanks for your help. <Brian, I look forward to your next e-mail.> Brian <Adam J.>
Re: Symphyllia radians troubles  - 05/08/07
Thank you for you quick reply. <No problem.> Below is the original message that I sent you. My tank is a 92g corner tank. The only noxious corals that I can think of would be GSP or leathers I have, but both of those corals are pretty distant in the tank. <Still could be affecting the denizen in question, especially if the brain is "down-wind." I'd run some carbon to be on the safe side.> The tank is mainly an LPS/Softy tank. Inhabitants include: mushrooms, Zoas, Kenya trees, GSP, hammer coral, another brain, clams, leather trees, devils hand leather, finger leather, sea pen (this sea pen has been in home aquaria for several years, and I am very proud of it), <Several years huh? That is something to write home about considering most don't survive shipping. Though you do have a lot of different Cnidaria life in the tank, I would not be surprised if they were negatively/chemically interacting.> and frogspawn. I have the GSP isolated in the upper, rear left corner of the tank. The brain I isolated in the upper rear, right of the tank. <In the rockwork? Is it arranged in such a manor that it can expand without the tissue coming into contact with the rockwork. The "scraping" of tissue could cause tissue retention. Just FYI.> These Lighting is 5x39W T5s (it is an Aquactinics fixture); the coral came from 400W 20K MH lighting at Reefermadness. <So it may be still be adjusting.......> The way my lighting is setup, the back part of the tank is somewhat of a shaded area since I am lighting a corner tank with a strip of light. I have this coral placed in a low flow area; the tank has 3 Tunze 6025s (660 gph/each), 1 Tunze 6045 ( (1189 gph), and the return pump for flow. Should I try placing the coral in a different spot on the sand bed? I initially had it on the sand bed, but then I saw the stringy stuff and moved it to a low flow/low light area higher up (I know that doesn't sound right, but as I said before the back of my tank is low light). <If you can find enough room on the sand bed I would prefer it there for the reasons I mentioned above. However, I fear that to many movements in such a short-time period might prove more detrimental. Unless the animal exhibits any obvious negative behavior (bleaching. etc. .) I would leave it where it is for now, as long as it is positioned in a manor where it will not "scrape" the rockwork.> Thank you for your help with this. <Anytime.>
Brian
<AJ.>

Pineapple Coral, bleached coral   4/1/07 Hi, <Hello Christina, Mich here.> First I'd like to say thanks for having such a wonderful website! <Thank you for your kind words.> I started a saltwater tank 2 years ago - and it has become a wonderful hobby. <Happy to hear this.> I couldn't have done it w/ out your knowledge & expertise. <Glad you have found helpful information.> My problem is that I bought a pineapple/brain coral a couple months ago from Live Aquaria.com. It was cold out when they shipped and the heat packs didn't stay warm. Well, I acclimated the brain coral anyways in a low light spot and a couple weeks later, I noticed that the back part that wasn't getting any light had turned almost white (but still completely fleshy). I thought it was dying and one evening I saw very small sweeper tentacles (about 1/4 inch coming out of it). Then I moved it to a  more lit location (see pics). <Oh yes, the photos are not showing a pretty picture.  This coral appears rather bleached.  Needs more light and some supplemental feeding with foods soaked in the vitamin supplement Selcon.>   One of my fish nipped at it once out of curiosity and the nick completely healed in a just few days - which was surprising! <Quite, with how bleached the coral is.> So I know it's still alive. I don't know why the color is so washed out in the back. It's been in it's new location for almost 3 weeks now and no change. <Takes time, but this coral is not happy.> I have only seen the sweeper tentacles that one time. Any suggestions? <Supplemental feedings and slowly, gradually, place it higher in the tank.> Thanks,
<Welcome, Mich>
Christina

Question from GrahamT on Moon Coral - 01/25/07 Fellow crew-members, <<Hello Graham...Eric here>> This is a coral in one of Rick's service customer's tanks.  He forwarded the pic and here email to me, and wondered what WWM might make of it. -GrahamT <<I too have a Faviid displaying this phenomena (behavior?).  The "balloon" will inflate/deflate periodically.  My first thought was asexual reproduction...but it has persisted for about a year now with no indication of separating from the "mother" colony.  Maybe Rick's impression of trapped gases (perhaps from photo-inhibition or over-saturation of gases within the water column) is closer to the truth.  Either way, other than the often flaccid appearance the affected tissue on my specimen does not seem to be damaged and the coral continues to feed/grow/exhibit good health so I'm doubtful this is anything of much concern.  Cheers, Eric Russell>> <To RMF this looks like an encrusting Brown (Phaeophyte) algae... like Colpomenia... which can display the mentioned expansion/contractile behavior. Might be... and has taken up residence on a damaged area of this Faviid> --------- Graham, I have never seen anything like this. What do you think? I think it may be a bacterial problem resulting in trapped gases. What does wet web think?  Rick Rick, We have something weird going on with our moon coral.  One side of it has ballooned out, is this how they enlarge?  It looks like it's full of air, but it feels more squishy when you touch it.  Otherwise, it looks healthy.  It's been like this for a couple of weeks now.  Have you ever seen anything like this? Thanks,
Lisa

What is wrong with my brain coral?   1/20/07 Hello, I purchased this brain from my LFS about 2.5 weeks ago.  Since then he has gone from beautiful to this. I know the pictures are poor quality and flared (cell phone my digi cam died yesterday). Hopefully my description will suffice, He seems to be growing brown algae <Mmm, perhaps a/the "Jelly" disease of Scleractinians... or maybe just an algae taking residence on an opportunistic (decomposing) circumstance> on his ridges, and seems to be excreting these white fibers, both from his mouths and from the ridges (they are not long and stringy, they look balled up). <Stress... mesentery...> He is in a 30 gal <Not easy to keep small volumes stable...> with a 175w MH and sits on the sand(~12-14" from the light). <Is this similar to where this colony was previously?> Also, my nitrates are HIGH, <How high is high, sigh...> and I have been battling to get them lower (I Have a refugium being setup as we speak, <"First comes love, then comes..."> I'm waiting for the miracle mud to settle) any ideas what to do in the mean time?, <Move this organism to a better situation... system> also all of my other corals seem happy as can be (tree leather, Zoos, star polyps, candy, brush coral). <... In thirty gallons of water? These are the winners... the new colony, a loser... Allelopathy very likely> I have been reading and saw somewhere that bristleworms might be part of the problem?. <Highly unlikely...> I more than likely have more than should ever be in any tank this size. <Bingo> I would appreciate any help I could get.  Thanks guys and keep up the good work. -Jason <Read re Faviid Systems, Disease, Cnidarian Allelopathy (under Compatibility) on WWM... and soon. Bob Fenner>

Re: What is wrong with my brain coral? - Update   1/20/07 Hello Again, I managed to get a better picture with my phone, along with a short video (should play with QuickTime) which shows what is going on better.   -Jason <Start here: http://wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/index.htm Scroll down... Read. Bob Fenner>

Re: What is wrong with my brain coral?    1/21/07 Hello, I just wanted to ask a couple more questions, you had stated that allelopathy was very likely I was wondering if this was a possibility even though the closest other coral to him are the white star polyps at ~8-10"? <Yes... chemical can be as profound as physical contact> And yes I do know I should have waited until my parameters were in check before adding him to the tank, it was my fiancés impulse buy (never again with something as delicate as coral/fish).  Also, this is only occurring on 1/4 of his surface area at most. I have read that I should probably put that part of him in a darker area (to promote healing , if possible) as it currently gets pretty direct light.  Yes it is in a similar location a to where it was at the LFS, possibly a couple of inches closer to the light in my system.  It doesn't really look like jelly disease. Also, when he opens up at night, more mesentery fibers become present, as the day progresses, with current etc, they blow off. <This is a natural behavior, time frame>   I'm not sure if that is relevant but figured I would include it.  Thanks again for all your assistance through my idiotic decisions. -Jason <Patience and observation are your best tools here. Bob Fenner> 


Propagation-the hard way   12/27/06 Hi Crew, <Greeting!  Mich here.> With all of us writing in our problems, the casual observer may get the idea that this hobby is just a pain. <Hehehehehe!  But we all know better!> But there is lots to enjoy and there are many surprises. <This is true, even more true when the surprises are good!> I did not intend to split my candy cane which has two branches. <Hee!  Intent and action are not always equivalent.> One branch has one very large polyp and a second branch that used to be one but now is 3 distinct polyps <polyps>. <Growth is good.> I have a glass cover on my tank, the kind that has a plastic hinge in the middle. I removed the hinge and have two glass pieces with a half inch gap between them. Somehow I managed to drop one glass into the tank and it hit the candy cane and I now have two candy canes, one with 3 polyps and no base and the other with a base and one polyp. <Oops, accidental fragging.> I just stuck the branch into a small hole in my rock and all seems well.   <Should be, hopefully.> I have a mushroom that I bought about 3 months ago. It is on a two inch rock covered with purple coralline algae. I noticed a small lump at one side of the rock and now it is a nice Zoanthid polyp with a peach colored mouth. <A good surprise!  Very nice.> I just discovered a feather duster under the mushroom. It open up to about the size of a shirt button and the mushroom lift up as if to give it some breathing room. The feathers start off as a grey/blue color and at the tips they are yellow. The feathers look like they are v shaped and it looks as if there is a black barb at the end of each yellow end. <It sounds quite beautiful!> I look around quite often and was surprised that I had not noticed it before. <I think you could almost see something new everyday if you are observant enough.  It is an awe inspiring hobby!  Thank you for sharing some of your delights.  It is always nice to hear!>   Happy holidays. <Wishing you the best of the season!  -Mich>

Re: Candy Cane...the polyp stands alone.   1/3/07 Hi Crew, <Hi there!  Mich with you again.> I wrote in about a week ago about an accident with my candy cane. I have a glass cover which fell into the tank and cracked off one branch with 3 polyps. At that time I took the branch and put it into a small hole in a rock. What remained on the original piece was two branches, one with nothing alive on it and the other a fairly large polyp. There is hair algae on this piece so from time to time I take a brush to it. Well, this time while I was brushing, the remaining polyp came off just at the point where the new growth attaches to the skeleton. I will explain how this polyp looks. It has a brown ring with a teal inside. The brown part (which is smooth) goes down the branch about an inch till the point where there is a hard rough skeleton. I am not sure how much of the brown part is soft since I try not to touch it. In any case the whole brown part came off the branch. I put it in the sand and last night after the lights went out the tentacles did come out. Is there anything else I should do?   <Hmm, Not such a good situation.  The fact that the tentacles are still expanding is a good sign.  Though it is possible that this polyp could survive, it is does not have a favorable prognosis.  They best you can do at this point is try to feed it and keep it clear of debris.  Good luck.  -Mich>

Re: Candy Cane...the polyp stands alone.  - 02/22/07 Hi Crew, This is an update to my candy cane polyp that fell off. It is about 8 weeks later and it is still alive. The teal color went away for a couple weeks and now it is back. Also the tentacles which used to be about 1/2 inch and had at least 50 of them are now few in number but very long, over an inch. It is in the sand as is about an inch tall but it has not grown as far as I can tell. But it is a very large plump polyp. It is in the center of this picture. <Thank you for this update.  It appears to be in decent shape.  Looks like there is some skeleton formation under the polyp which would be a very good thing!  -Mich>

Become a Sponsor Features:
Daily FAQs FW Daily FAQs SW Pix of the Day FW Pix of the Day New On WWM
Helpful Links Hobbyist Forum Calendars Admin Index Cover Images
Featured Sponsors: