I don't want my bubble coral to die!!

pohtr

pohtr

Member
Does this bubble coral look diseased, sick, or suffering from bad water? He's been this way for weeks!!!!! please help.
90g
nitrate, nitrite, ammonia all 0
calc 405
alk 2.25
salinity 1.024
temp 81
pH 8.3 I think
other colt coral looks fine, but the striped mushroom also looks bad.
All the fish are fine: Clarki clown,flame angel, bluegreen chromi, LM Blenny
 
beth

beth

Administrator
Staff member
I'm going to move your topic over to the Coral forum. And yes, it does look like its in trouble. Post up some info on your lighting and water readings, as well as your history with this coral.
 
pohtr

pohtr

Member
My lighting is 4x65 pc.
History: I've had Bubbs for over a year. He was owned by a friend who had him over 10 years and gave him to me. She & I had him on 2x40 for all that time until earlier this year when I upgraded. He used to be beautiful. I did reduce the lights on time (and lowered him for a while) over a couple of weeks for light acclimation. He did very well with the old lights and even grew to add another mouth. He's been sick off and on for months now. I had been feeding him little pieces of formula 1 every few days and adding the liquid elements, calc, magn, strontium & molybdenum rarely. In addition I was using instant ocean. Finally, after following advice on this forum I have tested for alk & calc and have been raising them. Unfortunately I used baking soda as recommended in the Acq Corals book by Borneman and have since been told that was a bad idea.
what other parameters do you need? I'll have the phosphate reading shortly (just found a test)
 
pohtr

pohtr

Member
updated water testing:
temp 81.2
Spgrv 1.035
nitrate 0
nitrite 0
ammonia 0
calc 330 (why did it drop again?)
alk 3.5 (why did it go up?)
pH 8.2 (outside light, vial touching white part of chart)
phosphate 0
One new thing - after the 25% water change I did this morning, I disconnected the big barrel that the typhIII drains into and took it outside to clean it. It had a brown slime in it. Significant?
 
vinnyl

vinnyl

Member
Originally Posted by ifirefight
Heres your problem.
High Salinity
I have to second that!!!
I had the same problem due to water evaporation (S.Fla =
). My bubble and mushrooms took a big hit.
What I did: I've replaced 5 gl per/day with RO water until my reading got to 1.025. It took about 3 days.... my bubble is in much better condition.
So I'd say...... there is still HOPE!!
 
pohtr

pohtr

Member
Oh no, I screwed up, what I meant to write was 1.0235. As in half way between 1.023 and 1.024.
I SO wish the answer would be something like that that I can fix.
Sorry about that.
please don't give up on us though. He's looking so bad now that I'm seriously considering the iodine dip.
 
smoothie

smoothie

Member
Try spot feeding it to keep it from going further down hill. Baby brine, oyster eggs, cyclop-eeze. Have to get rid of the hair algae. Less light time, fish food, water changes. Keep testing and don't give up.
 
pohtr

pohtr

Member
I was thinking of taking him out for about 30-45 seconds and gently brushing that algae off of him. I am also considering an iodine dip. Does anyone know how to do one? He is so bad now that I don't think I can make him any worse. He is, however, still alive!
Phosphates are at 0 as of yesterday.
What do you think about that brown slime in the rodi water barrel? Also, although the water in the tank looks very clear when it was drained into a white bucket (during the last water change) it had a yellow cast to it. is that normal?
I'm going to cut the lighting abck to 8 hrs, would that be better?
 
miamireefr

miamireefr

Member
Curious....what did you test your salinity with? a refractometer or the plastic hydrometer?
Also like mentioned before cut back on lighting( I say to 6 hours) and feeding (I feed every other day..but thats me and because of my bioload of tankmates and corals). What are you're usual feeding habits... I have had a blue bubble coral for about 1 year that is truly a beauty.
These are hardy corals so hopefully if you can fix the current scenario whatever it might be, it should pull through this condition.. Also if it's low in the 90 try to bring it up higher. These are fairly demanding considering it's an LPS, and it's only receiving half the light source at most of the pc's you have over the tank which would only be about 130w and depending on how low the bubble is placed there see even less because of depth and penetration of the pc's
Imo it's insufficient for a bubble coral, but I only give this opinion based on my current experience and the tanks of people I have seen them in also. Only last thought I can offer is do you have any leather coral in your tank? If you do could be a little chemical battle. You may also want to consider running some carbon in case you have some impurity running in the tank and it's good regardless to practice. If you don't have a reactor use the mesh bag and place it where water flows through it with a low gph rate. Find a sweet spot whether it be a sump or wet/dry you use.
This troubleshooting of course won't yield instant results but let's hope you can see some improvement.
Good luck,
______
Nick
 
pohtr

pohtr

Member
Seems like a contradiction to reduce the lighting time while increasing the lighting, doesn't it? I have him about about 8" down, although wilted he's further down. I rechecked and had lights on 12 hours. I've reduced to 10. Should I reduce the rest all at once?
I use a plastic hydrometer.
I've tried feeding little formula 1 pieces since he's been shriveled but he's not grabbing them. Should I try mushing some and squirting it at him?
I don't have leathers, just the colt coral and the striped mush.
yesterday I put a bag of charcoal in the best spot I could find.
.
I'm ready to try the dips, but haven't been able to find instructions yet (another thread). Everyone says something different (so what else is new?). He is getting worse every day and if I don't do something drastic soon I am sure he will die.
Thank you, thank you, thank you......I wish there were a coral vet around.
 
smoothie

smoothie

Member
I have rescued a few bubbles from one local lfs. I brought them all back but constantly testing ALL and EVERYTHING with the water. Keep foods to change up and feed them. Phytoplex, cyclops, baby brine etc. Keep the lights at about 5 hours to help with the algae. That will be enough to sustain him and not feed the algae as much. Hope this helps.
 
miamireefr

miamireefr

Member
pOHTR...Not a contradiction...lentgh of time and the corals required lighting power to survive are different... lighting increase is to provide him the sufficient light it requires to thrive along with the time which in most tanksa 6-8 hours is typical.... Lighting time is all preferrence..Everyone usually have different time frames, types of lighting going off etc...
I would suggest you see if someone has a refractometer you can use or have them swing by and test.. Hydrometer are not accurate at all.. It may read the reading you posted but a refractometer will give you a solid 100% result. Also make sure no current is blasting that poor guy directly on.
I really wish I could tell you more but I am at my wits end with what I can offer from my experience and knowledge. Worse case scenario is to fidn someone who has a stable tank with the coral thriving and see if he will come back to life and narrow down the issue in your tank.
Nick
 
smoothie

smoothie

Member
Take the water to you lfs. They will test it for free. (and of course tell you what you need to buy from them)
 
pohtr

pohtr

Member
I believe he has died. I killed him. I am very depressed. I wish I knew what I did wrong.
Thanks for your help anyway.
 
smoothie

smoothie

Member
Did it turn to jelly and start to come off it's rock base?
If not all the way their is still hope.
Either way keep reading and keep testing to find out what may have happened.
 
pohtr

pohtr

Member
It wasn't jellyish I don't think, it mostly just came apart when it hit the dip and I moved him around in it. He had no dead smell. I have him reseated and am watching carefully for any sign of a little surviving bubble, but I seriously doubt it. What's left is mostly that sharp skeletan with a little "stuff" inbetween. I've cut the lights back (for the algae) so I don't suppose I would see any life anyway til then.
 
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