Bubble in Trouble?

[Anonymous]

For the past couple of weeks I had some algae problems. The bubble algae got on the bubble coral and seemed to have damaged it. The algae problem went away and now the bubble doesn't look normal. The center area, if you can see from the picture, has opened up for the first time. I don't know if thats bad or good....

My question is, is this coral going to die or is there something I can do to increase its chance of survival?

My water parameters are good. FYI, I am a noobie, and I think the cause of my algae problem was from overfeeding. I fixed that and my algae problem is better. Nitrates are always low. All the other corals and fish are fine.

 

[Len]

The coral definitely does not look healthy, but I've seen them recover. It probably is very unhappy with water quality, and I recommend you do a water change with good quality water (RO water) and salt mix. There is also some tissue recession that is readily visible. This, again, could be due to poor water quality (such as low Ca or Strontium) or because the coral is not getting enough light or nutrition.

 

[bleedingthought]

What are the water parameters and what kits did you use to test it? Could also be that it's being blasted by a powerhead or something similar.

 

[Anonymous]

Ph is 8.2
Alk is 3.5
Nitrate is low, under 10
Phosphate is none
Salinity is a little low, 1.022
Calcium is 400

a powerhead is pointed towards it but the current is not that strong. Today is water change day so hopefully that will help like Len mentioned. I do weekly 10% changes. My tank is young though. I added this coral at the 7-8 week, and it's 12th week now. It was doing well this whole time until now.

 

[Anonymous]

I use Salifert kit tests. I check 2-3 times a week since I do weekly water changes. I get my water checked once a week at the store and it's always been good. Except last week. My PH did get down to 7.8 It's at 8.2 now

 

[stubbsz]

What do people consider low nitrate... I thought 10 was high. Could that be a problem here. There appears to be algae growing on the coral.



-Adrian

 

[dnorton1978]

The alk seems low, and the trate seems high to me too. Also the salinity seems low to for a reef tank. For me personally I kept my salinity around 1.026 ish...

How do you other corals look?

I hope for a recovery, the green bubbles are one of my personal fav's.

How many fish do you have? Trying to find out if you have a high bio load.

 

[Anonymous]

The alk is low? I thought 3.2 is towards the minimum side? As far as the salinity, I've just noticed that reefers keep a higher salinity. I was going to start raising it to 26. The nitrate is under 10. Probably under 5. I do have pretty good bioload. Maroon clown (small), coral beauty (med) and a snowflake eel (small). I get a lot of waste in the bottom but from tests my nitrate levels are fine. I don't know if waste accumulation and nitrate level are related. I mean, if there's a lot of waste accumulated but nitrate tests says it's low I should be fine, right? This is a 50 gallon BTW.

My other corals are doing fine. I think it's from the bubble aglae I had. I tried siphoning the bubbles from the coral and I accidentally cut one of the bubble. This was a week ago. 8O