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Coral dying Help! 3/28/04 Hi, I have a green leather coral, the exact type I am not certain. When we placed it into our tank the base or stalk enlarged causing the coral to loose balance in what ever position we tried. The coral fell 3 times before we could successfully anchor the coral. Then small finger like projections came off which I initially thought I could glue down and grow more, however, the coral has since lost 2 heads, has then began sloughing from his stalk. Some of the amphipods were on him during the night, and I did notice on the finger like projection some black dots. My son works at a family owned fish store and the person taking care of saltwater tank has been doing this for several years, is with the reef society in the area and has had saltwater tank herself for years. She thought the coral might have a bacterial infection and suggested: iodine dip for 8-10 minutes, I kept him in 10 minutes followed by a 2-3 hour soak in a aerated saltwater container with an antibiotic to kill the germs. <good advice... careful with the antibiotics though> After that put him back into the tank, and repeat only the antibiotic soak for the next 5 days. He is a sorry ask to see now. His stalk is whiter in color still creamy but lighter, what remaining parts to the head area are still green some slightly brown. Now the poor thing is limp and hanging over. Is there anything we can do? <good water flow and water quality are the order at this point> Is it worth trying the antibiotic soak or will that just worsen the situation. <the latter I suspect... it is important for us as human beings globally and in all facets of life (human and pet health, etc) to be very sparing with the use of antibiotics. If you cannot confirm exactly that there is a bacterial infection... then resist the haphazard use of a drug to treat a mystery illness> Our tank is: 75 gal 115# of live rock, 2-3 inch sand base, CPRs BakPak, Rio 1100, pc lighting with 260 watts plus actinic. We also have a Eheim canister and a UV sterilizer we have found we really didn't need - still attached. Our inhabitants are: 1 mandarin, 1 damsel, short spine sea urchin, 1 fire shrimp, 1 cleaner shrimp, 5 emerald crabs, 15 blue hermits, 3 red hermits, a beautiful frogspawn coral, a green stripped mushroom and a fluorescent green/pink hairy type mushroom ( this mushroom seems to like to eat and we can feed him krill etc., will he be likely to eat any of the animals we now have). We also have a broad leaf type Caulerpa and grape Caulerpa growing. I had initially put the green leather coral above the green hairy mushroom for several days and noted that the coral did not seem to like it there. It was about 7-8 inches away from the mushroom. So I moved it, that is when I could not get it anchored again, it fell injuring itself and is now in the shape as I described above. Our water is 1.026, 8.3, no nitrites, no ammonia, slight nitrate, iodine 0.03, ca+ 450, temp is 77(trying to get it lower as I want a Linckia star fish and I here they do better at about 75 stable temperatures) I never knew how much I love the coral and the critters, nor how endangered they are until I started to help my 15 y/o son with this new hobby of his. <it really is a beautiful and educational hobby!> Thank you for being there to help support all the people trying to do their best for the animals they have. <its a labor of love> Are aquacultured coral healthier overall? <not genetically better disposed... but rather simply (usually) handled/shipped better> as buying any coral that is wild will increase more damage to the coral reefs. <not always the case/concern either... so much coral is easily sustainable to the extent that our imposition is miniscule against the enormous tracts of reef, damage by storms, disease from overgrowth and other natural "checks and balances". Some reefs destroyed by storms are fully recovered (magnificent Acropora cervicornis patches) a mere one year later. These are easily yielding corals in our small quantities for aquarium use> (someday, if I ever get this figured out I would love to grow the corals, seahorses and maybe other fish but I have so very much to learn and I hate to learn by mistakes in this case!) Thanks Sue <all is quite possible and well within your reach. I myself have written an entire book on it (Book of Coral Propagation, by Calfo 2001). Do seek a local or regional aquarium society for great fellowship and trading/lectures and topics of interest/entertainment for you and your son. With kind regards, Anthony> Sarcophyton elegans Not Doing So Well - 12/03/05 Hello WWM
Crew, <<Hi JJ>> I recently bought a yellow Sarcophyton
coral from my LFS. <<Likely Sarcophyton elegans...a delicate and
touchy species.>> It looked great in the store and was
"doing well" for the last 2 days in my tank. After reading
through your FAQs, I read that drooping is normal for this coral until
they adjust. <<Yes, usually some weeks. They don't take kindly to
being moved/touched...not a beginner's/easy coral to care for in my opinion>>
Mine has been drooping as well but regularly
extends it polyps and still has a nice yellow color to it.
<<Hopefully you have adequate lighting for this light-loving
coral.>> <<Take a look at what Aquahobby
has to say about this specimen. Marina>> When it
droops, it leans up against another piece of rock in my tank. Today I
noticed that there is a hole underneath the cap almost separating it
from the shaft! <<Hmm...>> It runs about halfway around and
I can see into the inside of its cap or rather it looks like there is
some kind of hollow section. It still looks healthy and polyps are
extending normally like in the past 2 days. I moved it to take a closer
look <<Yikes! Not a good idea to handle as previously noted. Do
place it for good water flow/light and leave it be.>> and there
is some flaking or shedding around the area only around the hole, but
not anywhere on the "inside" of the coral. It would seem like
the cap is separating to attach to the rock it is leaning against.
<<Maybe...but more likely this is a stress-induced
reaction.>> It is originally mounted kind of strangely across 2
pieces of rock, so maybe it wants to relocate? <<Not likely at
this early stage.>> I'm not sure what to think here. Is it
dying or is it propagating? Should I cut the cap off myself and remount
it? Or should I just leave it and let it go though its adjustment
period hoping for the best? <<Give it good water flow and
adequate lighting (You did your research "before" you bought
it, right?), and just keep an eye on it. More handling is only going to
worsen the problem.>> My tank parameters are as follows: Ammonia
0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 0 Calcium 360 Alk 11 (hard water in my area) SG
1.022 <<I would bring this up to 1.025>> Temp 76 deg None
of my fish have been observed picking at it and all other corals are
doing well (mostly softies and LPS). <<Yes, likely a
stress-induced situation for the Sarcophyton.>> Thanks for
reading, JJ <<Regards, EricR>>
Dying Pink Toadstool? 11/18/05 Hi WWM crew...I have recently become a SW hobbyist (2 mths now and I adopted a 10yr old tank) and came upon your site by way of Reef Sanctuary. I love all of the information I have gathered from your site, but I have been unable to get an answer as to why my toadstool is failing. I understand they are hearty creatures, but being a newbie..... Let me give you some background the best I can: 75gal tank, 80lbs LR, 2in LS substrate, Yellow tang, 2 damsels, 2 striped catfish, bi-color blenny, hermit crab, Pink Toad Stool, Mushroom rock (also not doing well), Flame Scallop and a variety of numerous tubeworms and feather dusters. Plan to add more after I get the hang of it! Water Parameters: NitrAtes 40ppm (down with H2O changes from 100+ppm) <Need to aim for getting, keeping this below 20 ppm... Whatever the causes here, this may be THE reason for you stinging-celled life's lack of vitality> NitrItes 0 Amm 0 pH 8.2 Sal 1.022 <I'd raise this up, keep it near natural seawater strength, 1.025> Temp 76 Doing weekly 10-15% water changes after 'blowing off' the rock and siphoning the 'yuck' out. Additives and food to the tank are Oceanic Natural Sea Salt. Bio-Calcium, as needed. <... what are your readings for pH, calcium, magnesium?> Kent SuperBuffer. Coral Vite, <Drop this, garbage... likely a source of nitrate here> tsp weekly. 1 drop Lugol's Solution, weekly. DT Phytoplankton, <Not necessary, or advisable> 1 capful every other 2 days. Emerald Entree, 1/2 cube every other day. One 3"X2" sheet of Nori daily. New bulbs - 1 Coralife Actinic 48" Blue and 1 Florescent 48" 40Watt 10,000K bulbs. Running lights 8 hours a day. H39 system Mechanical and Biological Filter and sump with 3 powerheads. Ok, I have attached some photos as the toadstool has deteriorate a bit in the last few days. Note the base of the Toadstool and it is leaning over. <I see> Although from what I have read, it seems that it will be ok. But my questions are, why is the base getting so skinny and shedding so much? <In two words: "water quality"> It doesn't seem to be thriving so I moved it higher up in the tank to be closer to the lamps and water flow. I used gloves and carefully pried it away from the LR to move it to a better location. Should I frag it? <I would not> I'm at a loss. I have not been able to find anything written anywhere about this strange happening. Please help!!!! I hate to see my new 'babies' suffering! Thanks so much, Cheryl <Do consider the above changes/suggestions... the DAS H39 system Mechanical and Biological Filter... is puny, and should be added to in all aspects of filtration... and for now I'd add some activated carbon in your filter flow path. Bob Fenner>
Soft Coral health 9/29/05 Dear Sir <Alan> my soft corals are shrinking and coming away from its rock that it was attached to, <Not good> I think they are disintegrating, the soft corals that I have is 1 toadstool leather coral <Usually a tough animal, Sarcophytons> 1 pussy coral 1 frilly finger coral, but the rest of the fish and inverts are ok. the inverts that I have is 1 yellow feathered cucumber/ 3 different kinds of mushroom polyps <These last may be mal-affecting your leather> on rocks. My ammonia is perfect my nitrite is also perfect ph 8.0 nitrate not good 20ppm dark orange the salt level is 23. Why are my corals doing that? I clean out and replace my filter media every 4 weeks, and I do water changes every 2 weeks. what is the problem are my corals dying off? I have got foam and bio hoops and activated super carbon in my canister filter, I hope to here from you soon. yours sincerely ALAN REID <Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/index.htm Scroll down to soft corals area, read re: Alcyoniid Compatibility, Systems, Health... Bob Fenner> Devil's hand turning white 09/13/2005 In our tank we have had a Devil's hand leather for a couple of years. It is about 5 inches, pink colored, 10+ "finger", and many polyps. It had been doing very well until a few weeks ago when a large anemone placed itself right next to it. We have moved the anemone (after a few days) but now 1/3 of the leather is turning white and the polyps are not out. The other side looks as healthy as before. Is there anything we can do to save the Devil's Hand? Also one "finger" was detached a couple of months ago and is a healthy looking stub with polyps. It is loose on the bottom of the tank. Anything we should do to aid its growth? Thanks for you help! <You could glue it where you want it with underwater epoxy. As for the mother, if the bleached side looks bad, cut it off with sharp scissors and new polyps will emerge in time. James (Salty Dog)> Carrie R. Frost Drop in pH, Colt coral suffering Hi all,
<Larry> I'm hoping that you can give me some suggestions for
a treatment plan. I have a colt coral in my reef system that
just hasn't had any luck. I added it to the tank in
February and it bleached within 1 week of being
introduced. I've been trying to nurse it back to health
ever since. Fortunately, the polyps never stopped extending
and the color has been gradually coming back over the last couple of
months. I don't know that it helped or was a
coincidence, but the color started improving after I started target
feeding with a mixture of Cyclop-eeze and DT's Oyster Eggs. I
thought we were on the road to recovery until I got home from work
today and found the colt nearly melted away. All of the
limbs were eroded to a point close to the main stalk and no polyps were
extended. Another soft coral, a green Kenya tree looks okay
(not fantastic, but okay). All other corals (including 2
yellow leathers) look fine. No corals are within 5 or so
inches from the colt and the nearest are candy canes. The
major change in the tank was a 10% water change yesterday, done with
day old aerated water matched to the temp and salinity of the tank. I
did some quick water tests, temp 78 degrees, nitrates and ammonia
undetectable. Didn't test nitrite (never really do with
this tank, but can if you think it is a good idea). Then I
checked pH. Normally it is a steady 8.3 (I usually test
around 9:00 am), tonight (7:30 pm) it is about 8.0. I
haven't checked alkalinity yet, but I can guess that it will be
below my normal readings (will check in a bit). I can/will
check other items (calcium, phosphate, iodine, silicate, etc.), but I
have a feeling that I've already found my problem. I
dosed some Reef Builder this evening. I will check the pH in
the morning and if the pH is still low I will dose some
more. Other than buffering the water and investigating
possible causes for the drop in pH (and possibly alkalinity) is there
anything you would recommend to try and save the colt? Thanks for you
help (as always!) <Larry, to be successful in keeping corals, 10%
weekly water changes are necessary. It replaces lost trace
elements and also removes waste products from the water. You
don't mention what your salinity or alkalinity
are/were. Alk should never fall below 8 dKH and calcium
levels 375/400. A weekly iodine supplement also
helps. You also don't mention your lighting intensity
(watts per gallon), and your water flow in gph. Do a Google
search on the wet web, keyword, "corals", will open up links
to most anything you are interested in. James (Salty Dog)> Larry Pods... undesirable7/5/05 Hi WWM, Recently I'm seeing "ant-like" pods burrowing in my live rock and some of my coral. Two of my soft corals look sick and these pods are crawling in and out where the tentacles of the coral are supposed to be sticking out. Are these pods harmful, <Could be> they seem to come out of their hole just for a split second and look like small red/black ant about the size of 2mm. I freshwater dip one of my live rocks and a whole bunch of them came out swirling, struggled and die in about 15 seconds. Thanks and keep up the good work. Regards, Yik Sing <You might want to look into adding a fish predator that will eliminate a bunch of these crustaceans. There are many choices. Bob Fenner>
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