brain behavior??

[rainfishy]

I have had this brain coral for five months and it acts very strange (i think). It only swells up at night, during the day it looks like a skeleton with color. At night sometimes the outer edge swells up and sometimes just the middle swells up. I try to feed it meaty foods at night, with a cup covering it to avoid stealing by other critters, but im not sure it ever really eats.
Was hoping you guys could tell me about your brains behavior and what is "normal"
Attached is a pic from right after the lights came on, outer edge is swollen, inside is not

 

[rainfishy]

 

[jvalason]

Um...Mine eats at night...try bigger foods like a shrimp or fish. Mine is about the size of a soft ball though. It takes him about 30 min. to eat a little piece of shrimp. The cleaner shrimp just watch him eat it.

 

[andretti]

Mine too, that's what they do. They swell up and tiny "fingers" come out and look for food. It's totally normal...there's nothing wrong.

 

[stanlalee]

mine stays swelled most of the time as far as I can tell. during feeding or at night the tenticles come out. I dont feed mine anything but zooplankton so I cant say how it would do with sizable meaty food.

 

[promisetbg]

Where is it placed in the tank ? How much flow is directed at it? How much lighting do you have? How old are the bulbs? What are ALL of your water parameters including PO4, ALk,PH,CA..etc?

 

[rainfishy]

It is in the sand bed with low to medium flow. Under 4.5 watts of PC lighting, bulbs are about 6 months old (planned on replacing in April) and the brain has been in the tank for four or five months.
Water readings
ammonia-0
nitrite-0
nitrate-10
ph-8.1-8.2
Dkh-7.7
Cal-560
SG-1.025
Temp-80
Tank is a year old, these readings have been stable for many months.
Thanks for the help everyone

 

[promisetbg]

Alk should be in the 10.-11. range...Ca should be no higher than 450. What is your PH? I suspect it could be low. Have you tried feeding it meaty foods? Open brains can starve.Yes I see now that you did..hmm. I have'nt had much luck with them myself to be honest. In my case it has been molesting from tankmates..ripping their flesh,bacteria and algae moves in etc. I seem to be able to keep just about any coral except open brains and blastos..*sigh*

 

[rainfishy]

I do realize that my alk is low and calc high, as from my previous post ph range 8.1-8.2. I battled with this for the first 6 months of this tanks experience. And it just seemed to want to be low alk, high calc. I have tried dripping baking soda, which will bring the alk up for a couple days, but then it drop down and stays at between 7-8 dkh. I figured that stability was more important and normal sea water runs at this DKH 7.4=2.63 alk I think.
If you have any suggestions on how to bring my alk up I would love to know. I think the real problem is that my salt mixes up at a high calc level, which means water changes are bringing my alk down. I've tried switching brands but with the same issue (not very many brand are available here)
Anyways suggestions welcome, thanks

 

[promisetbg]

In a closed system we shoot for a higher alk..not nsw. I use tropic marin pro..which has higher alk and ca and I still dose every day. My ca is at 450,and alk is at 11.2. I dose with Ocean's Blend daily. I have read that B-Ionic is a good product too. What test kits do you use and how old are they?

 

[rainfishy]

My alk test is salifert and my calc test is aquarium pharm
Both are just a couple months old. How ofter do you buy new kits??
I have been afraid to dose with something like bionic or kalk due to this increasing my calcium levels. How ever I have read that bionic is two parts, does that mean one is alk and one is clac and that I could just dose with the alk part?? But how is that different than just using baking soda to raise my alk???
So in your opinion it is worth it to constantly use an additive to keep your alk higher (dkh 10-11)???
Thanks for your help

 

[promisetbg]

Originally Posted by Rainfishy
How ofter do you buy new kits??
I have been afraid to dose with something like bionic or kalk due to this increasing my calcium levels. How ever I have read that bionic is two parts, does that mean one is alk and one is clac and that I could just dose with the alk part?? But how is that different than just using baking soda to raise my alk???
So in your opinion it is worth it to constantly use an additive to keep your alk higher (dkh 10-11)???
Thanks for your help

I buy new saliferts once a year. I know some people do use baking soda for alk..I like to depend on my Ocean's Blend..it's a great product that has never let me down. The person who makes it is local..and I know he uses quality chemicals.
A good solid alkalinity will help ward off problems with algae..and increase overall color and health of corals. Will all of this help your brain? That I don't know...but it can't hurt.

 

[rainfishy]

Wow thanks for all the info!! I am going to try and bring it up slowly and see if by dosing regularly I can't keep it higher. We'll see if it helps my brain.

 

[m_arce]

There was a thread with a similar topic a few weeks back and i posted some info about my weird green open brain and its feeding behavior, might help out:
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/198043/any-hope-for-my-brain

 

[rainfishy]

Hey m_arce- When you feed your brain is it swollen? Mine doesn't seem to have feeder tenticles either and I set pieces of food on it, but it never seems to "eat" them. How long does it take your brain from when you put the food on him till you can no longer see the food? Thanks for your help, I really want to get my brain healthy.

 

[rainfishy]

Im so excited. I kinda force feed my brain today. It wasn't swollen, but i turned off the powerheads and skimmer and put a little piece if krill on the brain and sat and watched it, keeping its food safe from the fire shrimp, and after about 3-4 minutes I actually saw him eat it.
In the past I have always squirted him food with the syringe and but the cover over him, but never actually saw him eat.
So cool!!!!! Thanks for all your help everyone!!! :jumping: