Losing my brain?

sueandherzoo

Active Member
I bought this brain two weeks ago and it has looked great up until 2 days ago. It started to fade and seemed to have a mucousy film on it and today it has no color left. Below are before and after pictures.
All the other corals, fish and inverts are fine, thriving actually, but this poor guy is fading, literally. Water parameters are all where they should be and where they've been since I got him - any hunches as to why I'm losing him or what I can do to reverse this?
Thanks in advance.
Sue

 

meowzer

Moderator
WOW...I am sorry to say I can not answer your question, BUT I would be very interested to know what's going on with it???
 

sueandherzoo

Active Member
Thanks for always being there, Meowzer. :)
I've done some Googling and it seems like this is a pretty common issue with brains but, of course, it could be one of many different causes. Figuring out which one caused this is the hard part - fixing it will probably be easier.
Sue
 

meowzer

Moderator
Originally Posted by SueAndHerZoo
http:///forum/post/3039553
Thanks for always being there, Meowzer. :)
I've done some Googling and it seems like this is a pretty common issue with brains but, of course, it could be one of many different causes. Figuring out which one caused this is the hard part - fixing it will probably be easier.
Sue
You're welcome, although I can't offer you any help...
i am fairly new to these corals too, and I am always reading so I can learn more about them...
GOOD LUCK, and I would be very inerested to know what causes this
 

loopy101

Member
couple of questions for ya
did you buy it over the internet or from a local store? just wondering if somthing could of happened in transit?
also what kind of lighting did it come from and what kind of lighting do you have?
i know the coral lives off of the (horrable with names) stuff that lives off the lights .photosynthesis? which creates food for the coral.
 

pezenfuego

Active Member
Originally Posted by loopy101
http:///forum/post/3039670
couple of questions for ya
did you buy it over the internet or from a local store? just wondering if somthing could of happened in transit?
also what kind of lighting did it come from and what kind of lighting do you have?
i know the coral lives off of the (horrable with names) stuff that lives off the lights .photosynthesis? which creates food for the coral.
The symbiotic photosynthetic protist (or algae) that lives on most corals is known as zooxanthallae.
It does look bleached indicating that there is no zooxanthallae on it and it also has some sort of film as she mentioned. For this to happen suddenly after looking good is beyond me
Any changes occur? Any other corals looking bad? I'm sorry Sue, that coral used to be incredibly beautiful. I hope we can figure this out.
 

sueandherzoo

Active Member
Thanks for jumping in, guys. I bought the brain at a saltwater conference/frag swap so the coral not only traveled and transitioned into my tank but it also traveled and transitioned from it's original home to the setup at the frag swap. Maybe too much stress for it? I acclimated it slowly as I did with all my purchases and it seemed fine for two weeks.
The only thing that's changed in the past few days is that I added a fire shrimp to the tank. I haven't seen the shrimp go anywhere near the brain so I doubt there's any connection but it's the only thing that changed.
I have no idea what type of lighting it came from but it's now in my 14 gallon biocube with the standard biocube lighting. Think that's insufficient?
Sue
 

pezenfuego

Active Member
I'm not positive as to what exactly the biocube lighting is...exactly. So don't take my advice as gospel here, but since brains aren't really all that demanding of light in the first place and since the stock light is, from what I've read, not too bad, I would think the lighting would be fine...
By the by, the thread title is hilarious.
 

sueandherzoo

Active Member
I'm with you Pez...... I heard and read that the lighting of my biocube would be OK for this brain - otherwise I would have never attempted it.
If I were to really grasp at straws I would say it's looking a TINY bit better today... it doesn't look as mushy and slimy as yesterday - there's a bit of definition to the edges again and I saw a trace of color in it. Again, really grasping at straws here because it truly does NOT look healthy by any means.
And regarding the title of this thread? Other options were: "My Brain is fried" or "Brain Dead".

Sue
 

meowzer

Moderator
Originally Posted by SueAndHerZoo
http:///forum/post/3039912
I'm with you Pez...... I heard and read that the lighting of my biocube would be OK for this brain - otherwise I would have never attempted it.
If I were to really grasp at straws I would say it's looking a TINY bit better today... it doesn't look as mushy and slimy as yesterday - there's a bit of definition to the edges again and I saw a trace of color in it. Again, really grasping at straws here because it truly does NOT look healthy by any means.
And regarding the title of this thread? Other options were: "My Brain is fried" or "Brain Dead".

Sue

I like the fried brain one...LOL....
Good luck......have you tried feeding it at all?
 

sueandherzoo

Active Member
Haven't tried feeding it - it never seemed interested when I used to attempt to spot feed in the past and I really don't want to remove it from the tank to do an isolated feeding for fear that the stress of moving it would push it over the edge.
I might later, though. You KNOW we can't just leave things alone - we have to putz and try to the bitter end.
Sue
 

meowzer

Moderator
YUp.....but my glass goblet brain is easy to feed...I just set a tiny piece of shrimp or scallop on it....and it disappears...
 

florida joe

Well-Known Member
If your coal is bleached it is still alive. As apposed to one that is denuded of its tissue, which is dead.
As far as what causes bleaching the list goes on and on
Bacteria, chemicals, ciliates, darkness, fungi, heavy metals, stress, starvation EST.
 

sueandherzoo

Active Member
Tried placing a piece of clam on it..... it hung onto it but didn't appear to be eating it. When I checked 30 minutes later bristle worms had gotten it and were having a feast. Maybe I should risk moving the brain into a separate container and filling the container with all kinds of nutrients? I just hate to stress it but it's hard to just sit and watch it die.

Sue
 
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