brain coral

cubs

cubs

Member
I was wondering if anyone knows what happens to a brain coral when dieing..I had one for about 5 months now. today I look at him and look like it was coming off the shell bottom. PLus little smushy looking but still look like a brain coral.
light is coral life 265watt pc with true blue3 10k
55gal tank
60 lb of live rock
60-70 lb of live sand
Ph is around 8.2-8.3
am is 0
nitrite and nitrate is 0
calcuim is at about 400
have about 5 other coral all doing good
 
duke13

duke13

Member
When brains are dying, usually their flesh starts to recede from the skeleton.
What are you feeding it? Open brains in general need to be fed meaty foods, not phytoplankton (ie DT, marine snow). Open brains don't have big feeler tentacles like closed/favia brains do. I feed my lobo a piece of krill once or twice a week.
 
cubs

cubs

Member
I think that is what is happening to him.. I try to feed it krill shrimp but never holds onto it. So once or twice a week try to feed it brime shrimp or squid but can not tell if eating it or not. Plus I feed my tank phytoplankton once or so a week.. How do you know if it is eating? Is it easy to bring back the coral if feeding was the problem if try to hold food to it every day until healthy?
 
duke13

duke13

Member
Make sure no one is pestering him, don't let hermits or shrimp walk on him. When you feed a brain, just place the food right on one of his mouths. Within 5 minutes, it should be slowly opening its mouth and eating. Be patient, it does take a while. I have a pair of Skunk Cleaners that constantly hijack my brain's food. What I do is take a clear tall dixie cup with holes cut in it and place it over the brain so he can eat in peace.
If your brain is refusing to eat even with no one pestering him, it may be the end for him.
Here's a tip for Krill: pre-soak the piece Krill in water so that it thaws out. When you pick it up, be sure to give it a good squeeze so you can get the juices out. Now your piece of Krill will less likely want to float away. Also, try a smaller piece of Krill to start out with.
 
cubs

cubs

Member
I will try to get a pic...Was wonder if blue mushrooms in the tank or zoos will hurt the brain. Heard the chemicals they give off might hurt brain corals. Also will brains give off any bad stuff if diing? Should I take him out of main tank?
 
cubs

cubs

Member
the brain coral I have is like the brain: green closed on this site, but is a lime green.
Brain now looks like it triing to come off the white disc.
 
duke13

duke13

Member
Yeah, that's definitely tissue recession. Try to isolate the brain now, put him another tank or a fuge. It's hard to say why he's receding, most common reason is stress.
Blue shrooms shouldn't be a problem. However, some leathers can give a toxin that's deadly to LPS.
The best thing you can do now is to isolate it and try to feed it. If it accepts food, feed it again a day later.
 
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