flower pot decay

[ekclark]

I have a flowerpot coral that i purchased from my former lfs and it is now, after guess what--6 months, going into decline. I guess this is really common and I would never buy one of these again, they fooled me when I was new to corals. Anyway--what should I do? Will its slow death poison my water? Should I euthanize it? Any advice would be great...this is not a situation I am thrilled with.

 

[finland]

I also have a flowerpot that was going into a slow decline. I have had it for about 6 mos. or so. It lost about 1/2 of it's tissue and the tentacles were only extending about a 1/2 in. I left it, and lately it is looking alot better. It's tentacles extend out 3 inches and is getting its color back. It was really pale looking, but now it is a dark pink. It may be just wishful thinking on my part, but maybe it is making a comeback. I would leave it in my tank if I were you and see what happens.

 

[chainsaw5vent]

my flowerpot and hammer corals did the same last year. what i found out was i wasn't doing the hand feeding and had poor lighting . i may have had poor chemical balance also
currently i'm working on upgrading the lighting in the next couple of weeks.

 

[spsfreak100]

ekclark,
Have you done anything different to your aquarium? I am asking as to what would have made this coral go downhill. Many do not survive in home aquariums, and will need very specific food sources. Surviving for 6 months and then declining is showing that it was first thriving for some reason, and then slowely gone down as something slowely changed (different filtration, not as many feedings, different feeds, different current rates, etc., there's thousands of reasons). I am interested in knowing your setup when you got this coral, as well as regular feedings, as opposed to what you do now.
Graham

 

[ekclark]

I really haven't changed much...two months ago I added a refugium and disconnected my skimmer as I read this was better for the corals I own. I have cut down on how much I feed because I was so heavy handed and used to fw.
I guess I will leave it in and hope for the best. Thanks.

 

[sammystingray]

Quote........"Many do not survive in home aquariums"
To the best of my knowledge....0 % survive long term in typical home aquariums. Two years will win a trophy, and 8 months is about the average. My thoughts are they like dirty nutrient high water that has perfect levels.....VERY hard, if not impossible, to achieve in a home tank. The evironment they like will actually not be friendly to any other corals, so they just won't do well in reef tanks. Some of the longer lasting I have seen are kept in reef tanks doing very poorly for other corals and in fish only tanks with elevated nutrient levels. Those are the only ones I have even seen beat the year and half mark.

 

[timsedwards]

Yup 6 months for mine, in my experience they dont poison the water.....i maybe wrong on this but i never saw any detrimental effects on my tank at least.
All the best,
Tim.