brain coral question

tonyzick

Member
I bought this coral about 2 weeks ago and the petshop told me it would do fine under 440 watts of vho in my 75 gallon tank. All the outer edges that are brown are now turning white. Any suggestion ?


 

brainrush

Member
Are you feeding it?
I have one under much less intense lighting that that (about 192watts) and it is doing great. I do feed it every other night, though.
Like yours, mine was beginning to receed on the edges. After I started feeding it, though, it has regrown in the receeded spots and continues to add new growth.
I feed it "Boyds Vita Diet" pellets at night when its little feder tenticles are out.
 

brainrush

Member
They are really small and just extend out a little: less than 1/4 inch. I use a flashlight to see them about 1 hour after the lights go out.
 

rberhow

Active Member
We have the same kind and it is a pig, when it comes to feeding time. Like brainrush said, just lay some small food on it when it is looking all fuzzy which sometimes can take a few hours after lights out for ours. I usually give ours mysis or bloodworms but anything meaty and small will work fine. It can take awhile for it to eat them and it works best if you can shut off your powerheads so they don't blow the food off. As for the turning white though, I would check your calcium and alkalinity levels as well since these are LPS and need the calcium to be stable in the tank. Also, what kind of flow is hitting it? They like a moderate amount of flow but nothing too drastic. Also, I see that it is at the bottom of your tank. They tend to be light hogs as almost all LPS are, so moving it up may help as well. Posting all your water parameters would help a lot though, the actual values, not just good.
 

sfe

Member
Originally Posted by rberhow
We have the same kind and it is a pig, when it comes to feeding time. Like brainrush said, just lay some small food on it when it is looking all fuzzy which sometimes can take a few hours after lights out for ours. I usually give ours mysis or bloodworms but anything meaty and small will work fine. It can take awhile for it to eat them and it works best if you can shut off your powerheads so they don't blow the food off. As for the turning white though, I would check your calcium and alkalinity levels as well since these are LPS and need the calcium to be stable in the tank. Also, what kind of flow is hitting it? They like a moderate amount of flow but nothing too drastic. And how far up in the tank is it? Posting all your water parameters would help.
I am sure his calcium levels are fine. Look at all of his coraline algae growth.
 

tonyzick

Member
my calcium is 425-450
my alk 8.2-8.6
ph 8.2
amm. 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 10-20
temp 76
it is in moderate flow, i will try moving it up higher. look at the picture i sent now maybe ill put it in the space above the anemone. What do you think ?
 

rberhow

Active Member
It looks like everything else is doing very well in your tank and your levels are looking good as well. Yeah, as long as its not in danger of being stung by anything, I would try moving it up. Keep us posted as to how it goes.
 

sfe

Member
Originally Posted by tonyzick
there won't be any problems next to the mushrooms or will there be
I don't think so but I would keep an eye on them.
 

rberhow

Active Member
Like SFE said, I would keep a close eye. Brains actually do possess a long stinger tentacle if agitated, so they can reach corals next to them as well. So I would watch both of them closely. Good luck
 
T

tizzo

Guest
They absolutely do have stinging sweepers. You can see the feeder tenticles, the small half inch ones, then also one sweeper. Every time it touches the brown digitata next to it, the polyps that have been touched die.
 

dburr

Active Member
Nitrate 10-20? 20 is on the high side if you think it's their. That may be the trouble. IMO.
 

mrdc

Active Member
My books say best results on feeding them is at night. Is that true? I guess the feeder tentacles come out at night.
 

sfe

Member
Originally Posted by mrdc
My books say best results on feeding them is at night. Is that true? I guess the feeder tentacles come out at night.
Yes it's best to feed them at night.
 
T

tizzo

Guest
The feeders come out on their own at night, but if you put food on it, it will quickly show you it's feeders no matter what time it is...
I feed mine mysid and cyclop eeze.
Thanks rberhow.
 
Top