Quote:
Originally Posted by
juliansreef2 http:///forum/thread/383578/dying-corals-please-help#post_3356596
this post is about my acans. to start off, my parameters are fine. secondly my friend here aiding in all this chaos. he thought it would be cool to frag it so we took the skeleton off the plug and i admit i did pop it off with a screwdriver, but it gave it a clean cut nto leaving anything on the plug. my friend also soaked the razor in calcium before we used it. it was also him who decided to put the calcium on each polyp. i was very displeased with the lfs employee for giving me this false information. after explaining the situation of how it was developing mucus, which started a day before i fragged it, the man told me to put raw salt on the bottom of the coral and to also put it on the polyps themselves. i didnt know if this was right, but after going to this store and seeing all their beautiful corals and all their success with acans and other soft corals i trusted them. and going back to the acans needing bright lights, the man who sold them to me clearly explained acans do not need bright lights. i would say i have medium lighting for my tank size. if anyone has anymore suggestions for corals in the future please let me know thank you.
Taking the acan off the plug is not what killed it...the raw salt and calcium put on it did. Taking it off the plug was just not necessary. Taking a coral off the plug is not fragging it. Fragging means to fragment a large coral making it into many small sections of coral. Cutting it off the plug or rock is just stressing it.
Good advice is this:
Do research on what coral you are looking to get and make sure it can live in the fish tank you have. Make sure you have the right ..Lighting,PH, Calcium, Alkalinity, Phosphates, and whatever else levels the coral needs to survive.
Handle the coral by the rock or plug avoid touching the actual coral.
Check your new coral for hitchhikers, you don’t want any bad things introduced into the tank. Like aiptasia, , coral eating worms or nudies or flat worms. Some (NOT ALL) corals can be dipped in Lugol’s.
Lugol's Solution (by Kent Marine) $19 for 1 oz at LFS (I've seen it as low as $11 + shipping online, but in this economy I say support your LFS). Ingredients are deionized water, potassium iodide, and iodine. As a coral dip, use 40 drops Lugol's Solution to 1 gallon aquarium water and immerse coral for 10-15 minutes. And what critters (flatworm, red bugs, bacteria, parasitic snails, etc) are killed by this and
what coral types should it be used on (zoas, sps, lps, mushrooms).
If the coral is damaged don’t buy it, you are not rescuing a coral you are bringing bad things into your tank to damage your other healthy corals. Don’t buy bleached corals, or ones showing the skeleton. If they have dark areas at the base..Leave them at the store, I wouldn’t buy corals with hair algae dangling off them.
After making sure your coral is free of bad critters..acclimate and put it in the tank. MOST IMPORTANT>.LEAVE IT ALONE! It’s stressed, it won’t want to open..it thinks it is under attack. Leathers will slime up, others will withdraw into tight balls. Give it a few days to open. If you notice the coral opens but not fully after a few days…move to better or lower lighting or to an area with more current or less current to see how it will do in that area. If the coral opens and is happy..Glue it place using crazy glue GEL..Really glob it on the rock or plug, then put it in place and hold for 30 seconds. DO NOT GLUE THE CORAL, only put glue on the rock or plug.
Last...it is okay to buy coral from your LFS...however do your own research and do not hang on what workers tell you. With the web there is no reason to rely on some fellow trying to sell you a fish or coral.
