Question about cup coral

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fishlovr

Guest
My daughter's cup coral has been doing well in her tank for about 3 years. Yesterday she noticed that the little polyps that are usually fully out are completely retracted. All her water params are fine.....0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 2 nitrate. Ph is 8.1 What could be causing this? It has a frogspawn about 4 inches away from it and a porites about 3 inches away. The water flow has not changed and she just did her normal water change......any ideas? TIA
fishlovr
 
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fishlovr

Guest
It does have a few 2 inch sweepers that are out during the day. Do you think they are getting longer at night and thus hitting the cup? If they were wouldn't it just affect the part of the cup being hit and not the whole thing? I just read that frogspawn can send out a toxins into the water to kill off other corals.....is this true? TIA
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
I'm not aware of any toxin from Frogspawn. If a learned individual told you that then I'd believe it though. I've seen my Frogspawn sendt out 8" sweepers but you're right, the damage should be localized.
Are the bulbs getting old? Have her try running GAC for a day & see if that helps.
 
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fishlovr

Guest
I read the following on this site under their description of "frogspawn."
"Corals can use two different types of defense mechanisms. One of which is a sweeper tentacle wherein the coral reaches its tentacles out to try to damage another coral with nematocysts. The other is when the coral releases a minute amount of toxin into the water to poison another coral within certain proximity. Most "Hard Corals" should not be placed within reach of another coral."
Good idea about running the carbon.......I'll tell her to do that:)
She has new bulbs coming this week.....her PC bulbs were 9 months old.....
Thanks,
fishlovr
 
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fishlovr

Guest
It's not shedding.......just retracted all it's little polyps in. I talked to her tonight and she said there are 2 or 3 polyps that have "feelers" out testing the water.....not completely out but a few "petals" visible. She has moved the coral a little further away from the frogspawn......hopefully it will show some improvement soon. How long can they stay closed up without suffering adverse effects?
fishlovr
 
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fishlovr

Guest
Beautiful coral:) I hope hers comes around soon......I'll update this post when/if it does:)
 
ms. fish

ms. fish

Member
Kipass4130, beautiful cup! Out of curiousity, how many watts per gallon of light do you need for something like that?
 
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