[cooksalot]

I bought a new piece of coral on wednesday. it is some kind of brain moon...the center circles were all bright green...(and btw, the red dots there are just food..i had just fed it when i took the pic)


now i've noticed that four of the green centers have turned white (not the greatest pic, but look on the left side):


i thought it might be sand, so i tried blowing it off, but nothing came off. is this bleaching? or could something in my tank be eating it, or is it just dying. the known critters in my tank are:

2 orange cat's eye snails
3 nassarius
4 cerith
two scarlett hermits
one emerald green crab

anyone have any ideas and suggestions?
thanks!

[Deanos]

Dying

What light was it under when you bought it and what light is it under now?

[cooksalot]

it was in the lfs display tank..not sure what lighting. i have a 24G aquapod with stock flourescent lighting. is there anything i can do?

[regal]

It has only been two days since you got it. I doubt that it is your lighting although you may need to upgrade your lighting if you want to keep coral. 2 days of inadequate lighting is not going to kill your coral. What are your water parameters?

[cooksalot]

Quote: Originally Posted by regal It has only been two days since you got it. I doubt that it is your lighting although you may need to upgrade your lighting if you want to keep coral. 2 days of inadequate lighting is not going to kill your coral. What are your water parameters?

i've been testing my water daily as it's a new tank and everything looks great and has stayed completely stable. my only other coral, a mushroom, is thriving...i've had it for a little over a week and it has already doubled in size (not too sure of the correct terminology, but the base split and there are two of them now), and the few frags that came with my LR are flourishing...seems to be just this one that is having trouble.

[loismustdie]

Quote: i've been testing my water daily as it's a new tank and everything looks great and has stayed completely stable.

What did you test for and what kits did you use? Is it possible the kits are expired, or you didn't test correctly? I've screwed tests up before.
You need better lights if you are going to try LPS. Mushrooms don't count. I swear they can grow in sewage with an incandescent bulb. My advice for you is to go T-5. Cheap and effective option.
I'm not sure exactly what's wrong, but I would guess some water parameter is out of wack. Probably PO4 (phosphate). FWI: at the beginning, you need to test ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and PO4. Once your cycle is complete and you begin adding livestock, you no longer need to test for ammonia and nitrite (well, you can do it occasionally since you have a small tank, just to be sure).
Then you need to test nitrate, phosphate, calcium, alkalinity and magnesium. Those are the big ones. I test them weekly. You can test other stuff.

	LPS Large Polyped Stony corals – In the aquarium hobby this is a common division of the species of stony corals based upon the visual assessment of the size of the polyps. Corals in this category were among the first stony corals to be kept successfully in captivity and include many very beautiful species. Commonly kept Genera include Euphyllia (hammer/frogspawn coral), Favia (brain coral), Plerogyra (bubble coral), Lobophyllia (meat/tooth coral), and Caulastrea (candycane coral). LPS corals also include the popular solitary non-colonial stony corals such as Fungia (plate coral), Cynarina (button coral), Trachyphyllia (open brain coral), and Herpolitha (tongue coral). Like their SPS counterparts, LPS corals require good water quality, intense lighting of the appropriate spectrum, adequate water movement and regular supplementation of calcium.

[cooksalot]

thanks...calcium is 420, phosphate is 0 ph is 8.2 and alk is coming up a little low...it had been staying in the normal range, but just this morning is showing a lower reading...perhaps that's it? what can i do to correct the alk?

[loismustdie]

Low alk wouldn't cause this. High alk might. You can bake baking soda in the oven for 1 hour @ 300 degrees to make an alkalinity solution. 2 1/4 cups to every gallon of RO/DI. You should be checking magnesium as well. Calcium, alkalinity and magnesium are all related and when one is out of wack, your other kits can give false readings and be out as well. I don't want to get to deep into reef chemistry on this thread. Deanos posted an excellent link in the Advanced reef forum I think.
What test kits did you say you used?

[cooksalot]

Quote: Originally Posted by loismustdie Low alk wouldn't cause this. High alk might. You can bake baking soda in the oven for 1 hour @ 300 degrees to make an alkalinity solution. 2 1/4 cups to every gallon of RO/DI. You should be checking magnesium as well. Calcium, alkalinity and magnesium are all related and when one is out of wack, your other kits can give false readings and be out as well. I don't want to get to deep into reef chemistry on this thread. Deanos posted an excellent link in the Advanced reef forum I think. What test kits did you say you used?

i actually found a good water chemistry link when i did a search on the alk before..thanks

i use red sea test kits, and instead of banging my head on the wall any more, i called my lfs when it opened this morning. they told me to bring in the coral and a water sample. they ran a battery of tests and everything checked out. they also said my lights are actually better than the lights they have on their coral tank, so that probably wasn't it. i told them exactly what i did, how i acclimated it, tank position, etc. and they said i did everything right, they had just gotten that coral in and it was probably just one of those things. they took it back (and put it in a QT tank to see what happens) and i exchanged it for this (and i can't believe after all the talking we did i forgot the name...anyone know?):



he said it should do better in my 24G aquapod than the brain did and is hardier in terms of any parameter shifts.

btw, for anyone on LI, this was aquarium adventure...i know a lot of people complain about their prices, but i have to say i've been happy there so far. they gave me a baby snail i liked last week for free because i thought it was cure and today gave me a glass lid for my QT tank for free, and there was no hassle at all on returning the coral. it doesn't hurt that they are having 40% off all their livestock right now...not sure i'll want to pay those prices when the sale is over though.

i also got my first fish! a false perc, he's adorable and is drip acclimating now (he's going in my QT tank which has been set up for a week).

thanks again for all the advice.

[nanoreefer22]

Looks like a carnation coral, I could be wrong but I believe they don't have the best track record.