help--corals are unhappy

[lutkamom]

Hi, I'm very new to reef-keeping. I've successfully kept fish only saltwater tanks for many years. Thought I'd try creating a beautiful reef in my home. I have a 6o gal. tank with 2 65watt actinic blue bulbs and 2 65watt daylight bulbs. I bought three corals that I thought would be fairly easy: 1 open brain coral, 1 meat coral, and 1 tooth coral. The meat coral seems to be feeding and is swelling with water (opening up), the open brain hasn't changed shape in the week that I've owned it, and the tooth coral is very unhappy--it has shrunk up to where the white skeleton ("tooth" tructures) is showing. I've been reading about these corals but I'not sure if they are getting too much light, not enough light, or if they are placed optimally in the tank. All three corals looked very healthy and open when I bought them from the store.

Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks. 8O

 

[Anonymous]

Post some pics so we can see.

BTW, :welcome:

 

[Meloco14]

I am not familiar with the terms meat coral or tooth coral. If you could provide their scientific name it would be helpful. The best bet though would be to post some pictures as Crissy mentioned. This will help determine what the problem is. Is your lighting normal fluorescent or compact fluorescent? Where did you place these corals in the tank? What kind of lighting were they under in the store? While they are getting acclimated I would keep them under moderate light and light to moderate current.

 

[WRASSER]

Test your water. too :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

Meat coral usually means scolymia, and sometimes cynarina.

Tooth coral haveing problems? Oh no, it's the Cavity Creeps!

Pics would help.

Also, they are all LPS...are they in the sand on the bottom? That's where they should be.

Peace,

Chip

 

[WRASSER]

I am thinkng tooth coral would be something like a bubble coral, that when it retracts into its protective housing it expose teeth like, Im guessing :?

 

[Anonymous]

As others have said, water values, pictures of the coral and the species name would be very helpful here to try and figure out what's what. How old the tank is, what you have in it for livestock and what type of setup/equipment would also help.

By the way lutkamom

:welcome:

 

[jenniferjeter]

Also whats your salinity? Many people keep fowler tanks around 1.020. Corals need the salinity to be 1.025. I also have a green brain but it has brown jelly and and keeping a close eye on it.

 

[bjoiner]

I just purchased my first open brain coral last weekend. When I got it home it was showing some of it's skeleton. It was eating a little the 3rd day, but not doing a whole lot in terms of changing appearance.

Yesterday I come home from work to find it huge and opened up, looking much happier than it's been since I got it.

Hopefully yours is like mine and just takes some time to adjust to the new home.

 

[lutkamom]

Hi Everyone, thanks for the responses. Here are the numbers for water quality:
pH 8.2 and holding, SG 1.024, Ca 500-520, Temp 78F, ammonia ~0, nitrate <5.
Fish: 1 flame angel, 2 blue damsels, 1 dottyback, 1 bicolor blennie
inverts: motile--egyptian snails, sea urchin, red-legged hermit crabs
sessile---the corals already mentioned, hairy mushrooms, stripped mushrooms, green star polyps, 1 small leather coral, green button polyps, individual anenomes hanging out on the rocks and sand.

The tank is 48'' long and I forgot to check the depth--maybe 24" deep.
Protein skimmer and canister filter, and lots of live rock.

Tank has beenup for 2.5 months prior to introducing corals.

Pictures are attached. Is there another way to include pics?

 

[lutkamom]

I've rotated the pictures or easier viewing.

 

[jenniferjeter]

That meat coral looks like an open brain. The calcium is kinda high. Do you have an alk test? Sometimes if the calcium is too high it will cause the alk to drop to low. Alk should be between 7-10.

 

[lutkamom]

Hi,

I found the Latin names for the corals in my tank. The book I'm using is the Super Simple Guide to Corals by james W. Fatherree, published by t.f.h. Publications. I also have other more technical references but this was the only book that had photos that matched my corals.

I'm still wondering if my Cynarina lacrymalis (or Scolymia vitiensis) (picture included) (what I was calling a "tooth coral" before) will recover. Does anyone have any experinece with this coral? It's mouth does open so I'm assuming it's feeding. I am adding phyytoplankton to the water 2-3 times a week. My concern is that so much of it's skeleton is exposed.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

[lutkamom]

Thanks jenniferjeter for the reply,

yeah, the calcium is high in the tank--I'm planning on a 5-10% water change this weekend and that should help. I do have a calcium testing kit so I need to be more diligent in testing before adding supplements.

 

[Anonymous]

"Open brain" = Symphyllia sp.

"Meat coral" = Trachyphyllia sp.

"Tooth coral" = Scolymia sp.

Place them all at the bottom of the tank, and feed 2x/week until they puff out normally.

Also, make sure the flame angel is not picking at the flesh.

Peace,

Chip

 

[lutkamom]

Thanks for the info Chip, I'll give it a try.

 

[lutkamom]

Success!

The scolymia has expanded and its tentacles were extended this morning!
The trachyphyllia is also expanding. Both corals are feeding.

Sadly, the sypmhyllia didn't make it--it bleached out and is nothing but a skeleton now.

Thanks to everyone who responded to my pleas for help. I'm going to go much slower on stocking my tank now and do some heavy research on each animal I purhcase.

Lisa

 

[jenniferjeter]

I think something is going on with open brains right now. Mine and a few others that I have talked to have all died. For a coral that is normally very hardy they seem to be dieing alot. Glad the others are doing better.