Green Button Polyps...Sick?

[bluefyre88]

Hello, I have had these green button polyps for almost 8 monthes now. They were INCREDIBLY healthy the entire eight months until about a month ago. I noticed some of them were beginning to lose their green in the center. BPP1 is a picture of a drastic case...one of the first. Is this a virus, bacteria, other problem? Within the past week or so it has become a particular problem for me. All of my levels are good, with the exception of calcium which is around 350ppm. I am adding some calcium supplements to increase this to about 450ppm. . . what could be the problem? BPP3 is the entire colony of green button polyps. I also have an elegance, which is beginning to close up for the night, but i noticed a few hours ago a bunch of white. BPP2 is the best picture i oculd get of it...Any idea what that is...im more concerned with the polyps though, because the mouth of the elegance is white rimmed and thats probably what i saw just bunched up...It seems as if some of the polyps are dieing...Also, if you look in BPP3, you can see how some of the polyps actually fold around themselves, outwards, instead of inwards like they're supposed to. WHen the light goes out after about 5 minutes, some of them are still exposed because they are in a way inverted...what causes this. My final question is with most of the button polyps i see, they are all very uniform and neatly organized. They are all extended the same amount, why are mine all of different lengths and not neatly organized? Thank you
-blue

 

[tthemadd1]

what type of lighting are you using? Has anything changed since this started happening? Added anything? Temp changes? I had a die off after my temp spiked in the upper 80's

 

[bluefyre88]

my temp is 78..constant for a while....nothing major has happened to the tank, i've maintained my schedule ... water change every 2 weeks... 10 percent....additives: strontium and molybdenum, calcium, iodine, trace, magnesium, some buffer to maintain ph, no new additions as far as fish go...lighting is some sort of flourescent...2 tubes per bulb, 1 blue 1 white....10000k spectrum....a total of four tubes for my 55 gallon tank.....
thanks
blue

 

[tizzo]

Assuming you have VHO's, how long since you changed the bulbs?? They should be changed every 6 months...

 

[tthemadd1]

Sounds like my tank...I got a frag of polyps from a recent tank purchase and I noticed that they are also very sporatic, not uniform or uniform. Although, the other frags I have are very neat and organized. It could be because of breeding. I know they dont really breed but I was reading about how some zoos are just more appealing than others. Hence the difference in the price. It might be beneficial to look at your lighting, how old are the bulbs. It could be that they are losing some of their spectrum. I replace mine once or twice a year. It could be the cause for them opening up so much. Do you feed phytoplankton>? I just started feeding everything in my tank with a dropper. Turning off the filters and making sure everything eats. It has had a slight effect on the corals but not sure whether they will do better than in the past.
Hope that helps.
themaddhatter

 

[tthemadd1]

Tizzo you beat me to it. The lighting that is....lol

 

[bluefyre88]

i dont think they're vhos...im just got the box they are power compact....65 watts each...their are 2 bulbs....10000k spectra, the bulbs are about 5 monthes old, but i believe they are still doing excellently...is there a test i can perform? I was told the bulbs i have only need to be replaced every year....o and often they eat some of they mysis i feed my clown

 

[tizzo]

If the manufacturer doesn't specify then6 months is a good time to change them. Your bulbs are white because of "phosphers" when the phosphers wear thin you can't see it but your bulb will emit more of the red side of the color spectrum and corals need more of the blue side (your front lawn uses the reds and oranges ) so it's like themadd said, your color spectrum shifts... But another thing is you are adding a million things to your tank.
additives: strontium and molybdenum, calcium, iodine, trace, magnesium, some buffer to maintain ph,
Any one of these could be overdosing... Unless your testing for all of them. But Iodine, magnesium and alkalinity comes in your salt mix and you are adding still more so I wonder if you have to much of any of these things.

 

[fishieness]

my guess to lighting would def be PCs since there are 2 tubes per bulbs.

 

[jimfed1]

I have a colony of polyps just like the ones in your picture, and mine do the same thing. It seems normal for them, as they always come back out of it. Their color occasionally changes and they are also ununiform in size and stalk height. Mine are doing great (power compact lighting). I would not worry about it too much.

 

[bluefyre88]

so the verdict is?

 

[tthemadd1]

Keep an eye on them. If they stop opening then you have a problem. With the lighting, not sure how to test them. With the additives. I do the same once a week. I just follow the instructions on the bottle. I dont test for iodine or stronium. But I do for the rest. I might think about getting the tests but so far so good. I notice that my bubble coral shrinks up until I add some iodine, then it puffs right up. It's not a crap shoot I just keep an eye on my tank. It might be a good idea to have your LFS do the tests once a month. I know I am usually there looking at new stock at least that often. I will be diong the same to see how my testing is working. anyway, good luck to you and good fishing.
Themaddhatter

 

[bluefyre88]

thanks...ill do that:-D