corals not lookin to hot please help

[shinobi9119]

Well this is the first time this has happened. ONly a couple of my zoas have opened today. My ricordea mushroom also looks pretty deflated. I recently got a leather coral, looks like a cabbage but im not sure. THose are the only 2 corals I have. And today the leather really isnt looking good(had it for about 4 days)
params are
pH 8.3
amm 0
N02 0
N03 0
sg 1.026
temp is a little high at 82.4
could it be the leather coral dying and polluting the tank? Ill try and post pics of it. Any other guesses, I have no idea what it could be

 

[t316]

The new leather could just be adjusting to it's new environment, but when was the last time you did a water change?

 

[gatorwpb]

params look ok, temp is not so bad, but it coul dcome down a few degrees.
what is your alk at? that could be a problem. did you acclimate the leather properly?
It takes a lot to kill zoos.

 

[coraljunky]

How is the salinity being measured? Refractometer?

 

[shinobi9119]

Originally Posted by T316
http:///forum/post/2728920
The new leather could just be adjusting to it's new environment, but when was the last time you did a water change?
I do a 20% water change every 2 weeks, I have my RO unit on right now and am almost ready to start mixing the salt.
Originally Posted by GatorWPB
http:///forum/post/2728922
params look ok, temp is not so bad, but it coul dcome down a few degrees.
what is your alk at? that could be a problem. did you acclimate the leather properly?
It takes a lot to kill zoos.
YEa it was very hot in my cellar, I opened the window and I just opened the canopy top, but i can only do that as long as I am in the room because I once had a limpet snail that snuck out and cooked it self on the top of the canopy and i didnt notice.
I will test my alk now, umm what is the proper way to acclimate one?
Originally Posted by coraljunky
http:///forum/post/2728932
How is the salinity being measured? Refractometer?
yes refractometer

 

[shinobi9119]

I have a couple pics I took of the leather.
I weeded my zoas, but that have attached themselves to a large rock that I cant get out so I only got some algae off it and a few opened up.
My ricordea doesnt look as deflated now, that one is a mystery to me.

 

[shinobi9119]

Ok in this first pic the larger part of the leather seems to be better. Since leather is a soft coral it should feel soft? That is what the bigger part feels like, the smaller part feels rather hard. Im not sure if that means anything.
In red I have circled what I think could be the skeleton? Well what ever it is it flakes off closer to the small part and the closer I get to the big part the less flakey it is.
In the second picture, the back of the leather has a look like it was shreded around the edges. I circled it in green but I will try and get a clearer pic.
thrid pic is a clearer pic of the second pic. And I circled the "shredding" on pic number one too. Im not sure if its supposed to be like that, or its dying. Since I dont know exactly what kind of leather coral it is, i wouldnt know if those things r supposedd to be there or not.
It had quite a few hitchhikers when it came in so I had to give it a fw dip, could that be the cause?

 

[shinobi9119]

Originally Posted by GatorWPB
http:///forum/post/2728922
params look ok, temp is not so bad, but it coul dcome down a few degrees.
what is your alk at? that could be a problem.
My Alk is pretty low, it is around 1.9-1.6 I cant really tell.

 

[wattsupdoc]

The FW dip was a bad move. Where did you get info or who told you to do this? Soft corals expand and contract by absorbing/expelling water. FW causes osmotic shock. Whoever advised you to FW dip this coral IMO should be shot. Errrr, well at least not listened too. Likewise you should not be suggesting to others to do this. I believe you did in Fatcat's thread. I might be wrong though, could have been somebody else. If so, I apalogize. People should be very careful about passing along info they have been given as if they have had the experience themselves.
Run some carbon for 5 days, then run some more. Do a water change
It is not uncommon for corals to deflate and inflate or open and close. Sometimes it is a sign of something irritating it, sometimes not. Whenever you see this, ask yourself, what have I done recently? Then test if you feel you need to. Or if even unsure. If you have recently done something to the tank, then that may likely be the cause.

 

[shinobi9119]

Originally Posted by wattsupdoc
http:///forum/post/2729116
The FW dip was a bad move. Where did you get info or who told you to do this? Soft corals expand and contract by absorbing/expelling water. FW causes osmotic shock. Whoever advised you to FW dip this coral IMO should be shot. Errrr, well at least not listened too. Likewise you should not be suggesting to others to do this. I believe you did in Fatcat's thread. I might be wrong though, could have been somebody else. If so, I apalogize. People should be very careful about passing along info they have been given as if they have had the experience themselves.
Run some carbon for 5 days, then run some more. Do a water change
It is not uncommon for corals to deflate and inflate or open and close. Sometimes it is a sign of something irritating it, sometimes not. Whenever you see this, ask yourself, what have I done recently? Then test if you feel you need to. Or if even unsure. If you have recently done something to the tank, then that may likely be the cause.

I believe it was lioncraz and snakeblitz. I dont believe that was me, I checked my posts and didnt find anything abuot it, but I may have missed it idk. I had only dipped it for about 4 minutes, do you think that killed it? and thank you I will be adding the little bit of carbon I have left and buying more tommorow.

 

[t316]

Agreed...The one thing that jumped out at me from all of the latest pics and updates, was the FW dip. I don't think that 4 min. would have killed it, but I do think that's your culprit. Give it time and see if it heals.
As far as the carbon, what good is that going to do in this situation? You are not leaking some "bad" chemical into your tank that needs cleaning up. If the leather is dieing, then yes this might help clear out some debris, but I don't think the leather is dead. Just keep the skimmer cup cleaned daily, do water changes maybe once a week, and see it comes back to life...

 

[t316]

And after looking at the pics a second time, the FW dip did not kill the leather. I think what you have killed is all the hitch hikers and millions of other things that were inside the rock. That's what is leaching out. Yes, the leather is pissed off at you (but I think will recover), but every little micro-organism that was inside that piece of rock is now dead and starting to float out into the water column. So maybe one run of carbon will indeed help filter some of this out, but I still believe in the old saying...."the solution to polution is dilution" (water changes).

 

[shinobi9119]

I got some carbon in my tank now, in my sump. The ricordea is looking like its not affected by this, the zoas still didnt open like usual, but today they are opening a little along the whole colony and not just at the top. The leather doesnt do anything so I am not sure how it is doing.
As far as water changes go. I have sw mixing now, its not up to the right sg yet, but it will be today. should I let it mix overnight like usual or should I just do the wc as soon as I see the right sg?

 

[shinobi9119]

day 3 and my zoas still havent fully opened. I can see tht some are slightly open.
THe leather has gotten worse I think. The pictures of the shredding, the outer skin there came off. I was siphoning off some brown gunk from the coral and it pulled some off of it.
Does that mean it is dead? That part was rather limp. But some of it is still slimy. should I take it out of the tank and put it in some spare sw I have left over from my water change??
I will post pics too

 

[shinobi9119]

more pics. Advice anyone? I dont want this thing to just sit and poison my tank. Should I take it out and let it sit in a container of sw? Or frag off dead parts? Once I determine whats dead?

 

[mr_x]

i've never had anything happen to a coral that i freshwater dipped. i've only dipped them for about 30 seconds tops, but it had absolutely no visible side effects at all. i've dipped softies, lps and sps.
i doubt this was from the dip.
what kind of lighting did it come from, and what lighting do you have it under now?

 

[wattsupdoc]

I might have gotten a little carried away with my post. But the logic still says to me NOT TO FW DIP AN INVERT YOU LIKE. Period. I stand by the statement that I wouldn't do it ever. Lugol's yes. And have done so with many. I still have not ever heard anyone suggest FW dipping a coral. I have heard the general "dip it" statement, but I never once believed that they meant FW dip. Why do we acclimate corals if not to avoid shock? corals are inverts and inverts in general are more susceptible to osmotic shock than are vertebrates. I wouldn't do it and furthermore believe this is a result of the dip and NOT LIGHTING shock. Unfortunately I don't know what to tell you to do with it, fragging may do the trick, but I don't believe so as the coral is frayed all around the edges and the outer layer is dissolving. If your tank has a large water volume and you keep the carbon fresh and unsaturated your tank will likely survive the demise of the leather. If this is in a small system, like 50 gal or less you might need to be concerned. Myself, in my tank I'd ride it out and see. If it gets looking really, really bad, then toss it.
And I apologize for the comment on fatcats thread.

I just recently have seen many posts where people have heard something then passed it on as if it were their experience or they had experience in it. Which is how people get led stray and costs lives.

 

[mr_x]

i temperature acclimate corals. i don't drip them. there's no need to drip them. they are never shocked from coming from a lower LFS salinity, to mine.

 

[fau8]

I really think the problem with the zoos is the temp. Its either that or high nitrates.

 

[wattsupdoc]

My point is why wouldn't you take every step possible to prevent shock? At least within reason. And IMO, it is within reason to properly acclimate. Also, why would you use such a aggressive treatment on a coral? Especially when there are many who would be outraged when using this method on a fish.

I personally have never FW dipped a coral, but have skipped the acclimating, only temp and light acclimating them. However, I have also had mysterious losses, some even weeks after adding them. After all just because something doesn't quickly die when added doesn't mean we haven't done something that is going to(or at least could) kill it. Because I can not find any other reason for their demise, then I have to conclude it at least MAY be because of not properly acclimating them. The best survival rate as a matter of fact that I have with corals, is when acquiring them directly from someone who's mother colony has been thriving. Then drip acclimating and light acclimating them to my system. I have to wonder if it isn't because the LFS's and/or their vendors, are not properly acclimating.

The only one thing the OP did that we can put our fingers on is the dip. As well as possibly not properly acclimating.