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FAQs about Fungiid Coral Health/Disease
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FAQs on Fungiid Disease:
Fungiid Disease 1, Fungiid Disease 2,
Fungiid Disease 4, Fungiid Health 5,
Fungiid Health 6, Fungiid Health 7,
FAQs on Fungiid 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, Fungiid Corals,
Related FAQs: Fungiid
Disease 1, Fungiid Disease 2,
Fungiid Disease 4, Fungiid Health 5, Fungiid Health 6, Fungiid Health 7, & Coral Disease, Fungiid Corals 1, Fungiid Corals 2, Fungiid Identification, Fungiid Behavior, Fungiid Compatibility, Fungiid Selection, Fungiid Systems, Fungiid Feeding, Fungiid Reproduction, Stony/True Coral, Coral System Set-Up, Coral System Lighting, Stony Coral Identification, Stony Coral Selection, Coral Placement, Foods/Feeding/Nutrition, Disease/Health, Propagation, Growing Reef Corals, Stony Coral Behavior,
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Pink Fungia Plate Coral 01/09/09 I have been
an avid reader of your site for a couple months now and would
like some expert advice. Here is my current problem, my pink
Fungia plate coral which has been doing well, started showing
signs of white skeleton around the mouth are yesterday.
<Yikes, not good. How long have you had this coral? If
you've had it a long time (several months or more) and only
just now started target feeding it, it might be starving to
death.> I came home tonight and it was worse. I watched it
last night in the dark and it was the first night it had not open
it's tentacles at all. I tried target feeding it last night,
but never saw it eat. It still has some color, but it has puked
up a lot of it onto the sand bed. My parameters all checked out
o.k. except two, salinity was at 1.027, I have since lowered it
to 1.026. My calcium is high enough that I can't get an
accurate reading to tell you, it's at 600 or more,
<Calcium is too high... makes me suspect that your Alk is much
too low.> I have changed out water, but calcium is still high,
ph seems to reside where it always does between 8.0-8.1, is there
anything I can do? Should I remove it. <No> Here are my
tank specs. 65 gallon wide 4x96 watts 2 10,000k, two blue
actinic, 1 flower anemone, 1 tube anemone, a pair of mated
percula clownfish, 1 green Chromis, one hippo tang, 1 goby
Firefish, 1 mandarin goby, 1 coral banded shrimp, several blue
and red legged hermit crabs, 1 emerald crab(maybe 2), 1 anemone
crab, 1 sand sifting starfish, a few Cerith snails, a few turbo
snails, white star polyps, green star polyps, flower pot coral,
Kenya tree frag, xenia colony, yellow button polyps, blue
zoos(small colony growing on a half clam shell), green zoos,
amour of god zoos(very small colony), colt coral, blue anthelia,
purple, red and blue mushroom colonies, and my pink Fungia plate.
My tank may be over stocked? <This is somewhat a matter of
opinion, but yes, I think you have too many different types of
coral in too small a tank... many of which are notorious for
their toxicity to each other and other corals.> Did my high
calcium level start to kill my plate? <Perhaps not by itself,
but really high calcium usually means that other parameters are
out of whack (such as alkalinity). Also, I suspend that maybe you
haven't had this tank for very long. You may have added too
many things to the tank too quickly-- and before giving yourself
enough time to learn good aquarium maintenance... and to let your
system age.> Is there any way to save it? <Time will tell.
If you have a friend with an older tank and more reef aquarium
experience, you might give it to him/her for awhile. Otherwise, I
suggest you leave it where it is and concentrate on getting your
water parameters closer to ideal (do this slowly). If/when it
starts to recover> Do I leave it or pull it? I am running a
skimmer, and several pumps, as well as a whisper 30 hang on
filter with carbon. Everything else seems to be doing well, here
is a picture of the tank layout. <A good sign at least...>
Thanks for any help or advice in advance. Aaron
<De nada,
Sara M.>
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Re: Pink Fungia Plate Coral 01/09/09 After
testing the calcium several times(new test), seems to be
somewhere between 580-600, so it is high and I just changed out
some water with fresh water to lower the salinity, (my salt has
calcium in it, so I don't know if a further water change will
help or hurt.) Did high calcium levels lead to my dying plate
coral? Wouldn't other corals in my tank suffer first?
<Please see my response to your first query for answers to
these questions. -Cheers, Sara M.>
Re: Pink Fungia
Plate Coral 01/09/09 Thanks Sara! The tank is about
9months old, transferred with most of the water and new substrate
to a bit larger tank 3 months ago. The tank has done really well
in the last couple of months, outside of the plate coral(recent)
and the high calcium levels. <I can't say for sure, but
sometimes LPS and soft corals (especially leathers), just
don't mix.> Is there anyway to bring the calcium down and
raise the alkalinity safely and easily? I know I can do water
changes, but unless I buy cheaper salt, this is just going to add
more calcium to my tank. <You can add baking soda to slowly
raise the alkalinity... this will lower the calcium. Please see
here: http://www.asira.org/practicalchemistrybasics> How does
the layout look in the pic? <Looks fine, but expect some (or a
lot) of warfare once these things "take off"
growing.> I think I have things separated and positioned
properly for what I have. I could move some things to another
tank eventually. I can send you more pics if that would help.
<Thanks for the pics. I think your tank is fine for a soft
coral set up. Just don't be too surprised if you continually
have troubles with stony corals amongst all those softies in such
a small-ish volume of water. You could add to water volume by
adding a remote refugium.> Thanks, Aaron <De nada, Sara
M.>
Re: Pink Fungia Plate Coral 01/10/09
Thanks for the great advice and links, one last question, in your
opinion should I remove some of my soft corals if I want to try
and keep a plate coral, I do have a large sump that I was
planning on turning into a refugium <Unfortunately, moving the
soft corals to a sump or refugium might not help much since their
toxins can travel between tanks. If it were me, I would remove
(entirely) at least the leather corals. Also, you might try
moving the Fungia to the sump (if it's well lit). For
whatever reason, *sometimes* they do better there.> at some
point. I really think plate corals are fascinating <I do
agree... they are great corals!> and would love to keep one or
do I need to have a second tank for this? <I would advice you
to first get your water parameters right and stable for awhile.
I'm not entirely sure which is the problem here. So best to
get everything else in order, and stable. Then by process of
elimination, think about what the problem might be.> Is it
possible having the amount of softies I have may be a problem in
itself without trying to keep anything else. <You might have
to remove some things (like the leathers). But it is certainly
possible to keep soft corals and Fungia together. Some of these
things can get along, especially if you run a lot of activated
carbon. However, you might have to remove some of the
softies.> Still learning, at least I am slowly learning from
past mistakes. <We are all still, slowly learning. :-) Best,
Sara M.>
Re: Pink Fungia Plate Coral 01/10/09 One last
question, this is about the dumbest mistake I have ever made in
this hobby, I read my thermometer wrong, since I have set up this
tank, about two-three months since I transferred my tank to this
one, I got a new thermometer and have been reading it wrong, my
temp is at 85-86 consistently, <This is too warm. My advice,
get 1 or 2 more thermometers... of any type (they don't have
to be for aquariums necessarily, just anything reliable and
accurate that you can dip in water). Aquarium thermometers are
often unreliable. I personally have about 5 and they all read
slightly different temperatures. I usually just average them.>
which everything seems to be happy with, should I try and drop my
temp a bit and how slow. I know I should attempt to drop it no
more than 1 degree a day I would assume. <Yes, do drop the
temperature (slowly, 1 degree a day) to closer to 80 to 82F.
Best, Sara M.>
Re: Pink Fungia Plate Coral 01/10/09 I am
concerned, lowering the temp could cause more problems,
especially if it lowers too quickly. It's hard to control
this precisely. I have three heaters in the tank, I lowered the
150 watt quite a bit and left the two 100 watts as is, so far in
5 hours the temp has gone from 86 to 85 I won't be able to
check it again until morning, everything still looks well.
<good> I added two extra thermometers to be sure the temp
was correct. I suspect the temp combined with high calcium killed
the Fungia as well as perhaps irritation from the leather,
however I think it's strange that the star polyps, yellow
button polyps, anemones, and xenia <The star polyps, yellow
buttons, xenia... these are all extremely hardy corals. In fact,
many seasoned reef aquarists consider them "weeds"
because they grow so fast in healthy tanks and are actually often
difficult to kill/abate. As an experiment, I once threw some
Zoanthids (button polyps) in a 10g tank with no light (except for
a little ambient sunlight) and didn't top it off or do
anything to the tank for over a month. By the time I finally
remembered they were in there, about 1/3 of the water had
evaporated, the salinity was through the roof. The water was
actually cold and I'm sure the parameters were all completely
out of whack... even the algae had died... but those Zoanthids
hung in there. They weren't happy. They were skinny and
brown, but they were alive. I guess my point is... these are
difficult corals to kill. Just because they are doing well in
your system, that doesn't necessarily mean you're doing
everything right. Fungia are different. They are more sensitive.
That said, they are also known for their seemingly miraculous
recoveries. So unless there's no tissue at all left on the
coral, I wouldn't consider it dead yet.> are all doing so
well along with everything else. <Best, Sara M.>
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Wilted plate coral -09/05/08 I have checked out the
web trying to find an answer, I have a 150 gal. reef fish and reef tank
I have many corals soft and stony coals for about four years all corals
are fine my water is good I have a large filter my fish do not pick at
my corals my corals are so well they reproduce all the time but I have
a large long tentacled plate coral (Heliofungia) that I have had for
about four months it looked great for maybe a month or two and now for
a while it looks like its tentacles are almost wilty looking I have
moved it I have under a more bright but not too bright with a slight
current but not strong area in my tank I feed it about two times a week
I usually feed it sinking fish food pellets it does eat them all the
other coral seem good with that food please help it is beautiful I do
not want to lose it. <Unfortunately, these corals just don't do
when in captivity. People often get them thinking they are as
"hardy" as their cousins the Fungia, but they are not. Sadly,
there's likely not much you can do to save this coral. Best,
Sara M.>
Heliofungia actiniformis -09/05/08 Hi Crew,
please look at the picture on the attachment. I have 2 of these LPS
for 3 months which opens fully and this 1 is been like this for
+-10 days. I cannot see any jelly or dead flesh on the LPS, except
for stinging cells. Path of the LPS tentacles is extended, picture
035. Is this a dieses, do I need to do something, please advise?
<Unfortunately, these particular corals (Heliofungia) just do
not do well in captivity. Sorry, but there's likely not much
you can do.> thanks
Mohamed
<Best,
Sara M.> |
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Floating E. quadricolor, BTA, Plate Coral
Doing Poorly, More Information Needed -- 6/4/08 I am new to
this site and am not sure where this will end up on the site---it
appears to be a bit confusing to me. I have 2 questions.
<Okay! > I found several articles on bulb tipped anemones
and found some great information. Mine (Annie--2 weeks old) has
just decided last night to fill with water and float all over the
tank. I understand this behavior means she is not happy and is
looking for a prime spot. <Correct> Also, she seems a
little lighter in color---perhaps she is not getting the proper
nutrition/lighting. <It has expelled some of its
Zooxanthellae. This can be caused from lack of lighting,
nutrition or another form of stress. > However she refuses to
stick anywhere and has very little reaction to tentacle
stimulation---and refuses to eat anything. <This does not
sound promising. > I used tongs to target feed some fresh
shrimp, then brine shrimp---she may have eaten a small amount of
a shrimp pellet. <Brine shrimp is useless unless it is newly
hatched, or enriched. Discontinue the pellet food, and try small
portions of Krill, Mysis Shrimp, or Silversides. > My tank
parameters have been consistent and good, and all of my critters
are doing very well. How long do they usual do the float?
<Until they find a suitable spot. If one is not available, it
may float around until its death. > I know no one that has a
different/better set up. Any ideas I can do? I also was given a
small tentacle coral plate. <Fungia? > I also have read
about their behavior----swelling with water at times.
However-mine lives on a sandy substrate and the only indicator I
see that she is alive, is that she is still orange. I see no
tentacles and no food moving towards her mouth and refuses target
feeding. She also has mucous around her. <Is it getting any
flow? What are you feeding? How long have you had it? > I hope
to hear from you soon-in the meantime I will continue to read
more on your website! <Good! > 38G, live rock---mushrooms
and polyps (1/2 the tank)---"shelf" model---rest is
sand and small shells Nova extreme lighting-4 T5s-2 actinic blue,
2 VHO-Led light at night Penguin BioWheel 150 filter and a
protein skimmer <What kind of protein skimmer? Do you have any
other flow? > 2 Percula clowns, 3 green Chromis, 1 black and
white Damsel, 3 blue/yellow tail Damsels <That's a whole
lot of Damsels! > Several species of snail and hermit crabs,
<Crabs can be predators. > 1 scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp,
1 peppermint shrimp, 1 serpent star, 1 bristle star, 1 shifting
sand star T=78, PH=8.2, SG=1.022, <This is much too low of
salinity for anemones. Gradually bring up to 1.026 by adding
pre-mixed saltwater as your top off daily. > ammonia=0,
nitrite=0, nitrates=5-10, <Work on getting nitrates down to
zero. > calcium---350-400ppm, 12-14 dKH, <Your calcium is a
bit low and your dKH is a bit high. See here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/alkalinity.htm and here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/calcalkmar.htm What is your magnesium
level? > phosphates=.5 <Needs to be zero. > I also
perform a 5 gallon water changes weekly and rinse filters daily.
<Filters do not need to be rinsed daily. How old is your
system? How much live rock do you have? > Thank you! Christina
<You're welcome! Brenda>
Re: Floating E. quadricolor, BTA, Plate Coral
Doing Poorly, More Information Needed -- 6/4/08 6/9/08
Thanks for the reply Brenda! <You're welcome! > Annie
(BTA) is still alive-I am not sure how-unless she is getting
minimal nutrition from the shrimp that I feed the fish. <It is
likely getting some nutrition from the waste from the fish. >
I lightly squished her into the live rock before bedtime-and
hoped she wouldn't die---But she actually likes the spot!!!
<Perfect! I'll keep my fingers crossed that it stays. Just
be careful when handling the anemone. They are very delicate
creatures.> Today I am going to buy some Krill, Mysis shrimp
and silversides. <Great! > Re: the Fungia-I have no alt
flow-I can buy a powerhead also. <You will need the added
flow. This may have been what the anemone was looking for also.
Be sure to cover the intake to protect the anemone.> I am
feeding-frozen brine shrimp, shrimp pellets, sometimes fresh
shrimp (small chunks), and Nori. The Fungia is still bright
orange. I have had her for 4 weeks. My tank overall is a new
tank---approximately 9 months old. I put in 19 lbs live rock when
I set the tank up. I am bringing the SG up-as you said and yes, a
lot of Damsels---a couple have a "gig" next week-to
help cycle my mom's tank. <I don't recommend using
fish to cycle a tank. See here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marcyclfaq2.htm and here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/estbiofiltmar.htm The parameters are
better (ca2+ and alkalinity, ca=440ppm, and Alk=10dKH) Plan: Get
Krill, Mysis shrimp, Silversides and Powerhead Slowly increase SG
Get Magnesium tests I am trying with frequent water changes to
bring the nitrates and phosphates down. <Have you considered a
refugium and/or macro algae. More information found here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/refugium.htm > What is the best
food for Fungia-I have heard many different opinions. <Meaty
foods such as the Mysis, Silversides or Krill. > I will have
to get back to you about the type of protein Skimmer. Thanks
again!! Teena <You're welcome! Brenda>
Re: Floating E. quadricolor, BTA, Plate Coral
Doing Poorly, More Information Needed -- 6/11/08 Just a quick
update--The Anemone is eating the Silversides and the Fungia is
eating (I now actually see it) the Mysis shrimp!! Everyone if
happy with the increase in flow! Thanks again and I will talk to
you soon! <That is great news! Brenda>
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Orange Plate Coral Missing Mouth -- 5/3/08 Dear Masters
of The Waterverse, <Heeee!> Your website is the best with the
most information out there, keep up the awesome work.
<Trying> I am a newby to the salt realm. I used the search
and it seems like there was a case similar but his picture looked
somewhat different. I started about 7 months ago. Most of the time
it feels like I'm a glutton for punishment so here is my latest
escapade that hopefully any one there can help me out with. I have
a 30g tank, Aqua C HOT skimmer, Whisper 40 filter, Compact USA
Power Compact Lights 186 W, Hydor Koralia 2. My water parameters
are: Salinity : 1.024 Ammonia: 0 Nitrate: 0 Phosphate: 0 PH: 8.4
Temp: 80 F 30 lbs live rock Calcium 400 ppm KH/GH:10 I do 2 to 3
gallons water change per week. Although tank is 30 gallon the water
inside is 20 gallons. I started using ro/di water two weeks ago due
to algae, red slime, green slime, brown diatoms. I have hermit
crabs 4 big(1 inch) striped legged, 4 blue legged, 2 cleaner shrimp
and 1 peppermint and various snails, Cerith and Nerite. Fishwise I
don't have anything that can harm the coral. Yellow tang (I
know, but it's small), <Mmm... this tank is too small>
Clown fish, Chromis, blue neon goby. I have small frags of some
zoos, 1 Ricordea, 1 polyp of candy cane, 2 small open brain (3
inch), 1 red mushroom. About 5 days ago I bought an orange plate
about 2.5 inches diameter, I drop <A fox pass... Faux pas... you
would do well... much better to have/use a separate system for
acclimating/isolating new livestock> acclimated for over 2 hours
and dipped it in Lugol's solution according to the directions.
the first 2 says were great tentacles were out, I could see the
mouth open and shut, but on day 3 Wednesday the mouth looked
missing and I did not see any tentacles, I did see some white
filaments for a short period of time. Last night day 4 I did see
the peppermint shrimp picking at the mouth area <Bad...> ,
but did not see it do that the previous 2 days. And when I look I
look for a long time (my wife hates the fish tank) <Not good...
I'd be recruiting her> during the day and at night and did
not see anyone bother it. The coral has been placed on the sand. I
moved it closer to Hydor Koralia 2 pump so that it could get a
slightly stronger water flow. I've attached some pics so maybe
you have some advice for me? Is this normal for the coral? Should I
put it in a protective box and spot feed? <I would> Is it the
moving around causing it stress? <Yes> Is the mouth severely
retracted or gone (with open brain I can always see a mouth but
this is just a cavity)? <Just retracted> What should I do?
<Read> I don't think I have the tissue recession as the
other guy on the post but I could be wrong. The pictures are pretty
blurry (old school digital camera). If they are so horrible and
can't determine let me know and I'll get a better camera
and from someone and redo them. I would appreciate any and all
advice. Thanks. Steve Chen
<An intermediate setting Steve... Bob Fenner> |
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| WTF is this plate coral doing? HELP... Using
WWM 04/22/08 See WWM re Heliofungia (actiniformis)... an
inappropriate aquarium specimen... this one is dying rapidly, being
overgrown by Cyanobacteria. Bob Fenner> |
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Fungia coral hlth -04/06/08 Is there any
chance in saving this coral? <As long as there is still live
tissue, there is a chance.> Well established tank, over 9 years.
I got this coral from someone and it wasn't looking good when i
got it. There is still some flesh on it, I reduced the light on
that side of the tank. Water is all good <Why did you reduce the
light? That might not necessarily help here. Best,
Sara M.> |
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Fungia Plate Coral/Health 2/4/08 I purchased a
Fungia Plate Coral (short tentacle) a few days ago. In the shop it
looked quite smooth and very happy, it never looked like that again
ever since I've brought it home. I moved it yesterday and I
accidently moved one of my hands too quickly which sent some sand up
which stuck to the plate coral. I then used a pipette to squirt water
onto it to remove the sand. I didn't know what to do. And now it
looks very ill, it is completely retracted and its mouth is wide open
and it spits out brown stuff. I don't know what to do please help.
Would I have done something to make it ill? <The coral is more than
likely expelling it's Zooxanthellae. This occurs when water
conditions/parameters are not to it's liking. You mention nothing
of your water parameters and lighting so I cannot comment more on this.
Do read here and related articles/FAQ's on this subject. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/growingcorals.htm James (Salty Dog)>
Disintegrating Helio 12/19/07 Hi guys, another
problem has occurred. I have a Helio Fungia that has been doing very
well for over 12 months. <Unusual for this genus/species... a poor
survivor in captivity> 3 or 4 days ago I moved a powerhead (Tunze)
to change the flow around a little. I noticed yesterday that my Helio
was losing flesh and that parts of the skeleton were showing. I thought
maybe that the flow had been too forceful and had torn the poor guy. I
have 4 questions: 1. Would the force of the water be enough to do this?
(the Helio was on the opposite side of a 95 gallon tank to the Tunze
and it was "directly blasting it"). <Not likely... it
would move if so> 2. If this was the cause will the Helio recover?
<Not the cause likely, nor recovery likely> 3. Is there anything
else I can do for it ( I have already moved it to a quieter part of the
tank) and 4th. <Possibly... Perhaps iodine/ide/ate administration...
I don't proscribe fragmentation of Heliofungia> If it is not
going to make it, does it pose health risks for other inhabitants?
<In this size/volume, with good filtration, circulation, not
likely> I am quickly trying to put a hospital tank together to move
it to. Thanks once again (in advance) for your wealth of knowledge.
Olly <Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/fungiiddisfaqs.htm
and the linked files above. Bob Fenner>
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