Trumpets looking bad

[hunterdaddy]

I posted the other day about my coarline staring to turn pink and white. This is only on the glass not on the rocks. However my one trumpet is starting to look bad. It is not as open as it usually gets and the fleshy parts just kinda look like they aren't opening all the way like they always have in the past. They kinda look crushed (but they aren't being physically crushed). I will be taking my water to be tested on Tuesday but untill then there is nothing I can do. Anyone have any ideas??

 

[adrian]

Sounds like your corallines bleaching. Give us a run down of the tank, equipment, water chemistry, ect., and have you done anything to it lately, new lights?

 

[hunterdaddy]

55 gal reef
1 gold banded maroon
1 LM blenny
1 sunrise dottyback
1 6 line wrasse
whisper filter bakpak skimmer
PC lighting 3.8 watts per gallon replaced bulbs about 2 months ago
have not tested water till tuesday but am 99.9% sure it is fine. It never changes.

 

[hunterdaddy]

bump

 

[nm reef]

Possibly result of stress caused by water chemistry problems....or any changes in filtration....lighting changes....circulation....maybe even all the above.The more info yopu can provide about your system the easier it may be to help evaluate conditions.
I'd be interested in knowing current results for nitrate/ammonia/alkalinity/PH/temp/specific gravity.....you should be able to properly identify those paramiters as needed. What are your current levels?
Chages in filtration/lighting/circulation etc. can contribute to problems also so have there been recent changes/alterations?
I always loose some coraline growth in my refugiums when I remove water for a water change.....about 2"-3" of coraline growth gets exposed when the water line goes down....this area is bleached/dead coraline. Eventually it'll re-grow. If the conditions are kept balanced.

 

[jarvis]

Mine will deflate from time to time but they will inflate back up. they are expelling waste because I feed them. However I noticed that that is the only coral in your tank. I suspect calcium and or alkalinity defficency. I know pet stores dont mind to test your BASIC water parameters. I find it hard to belive that a pet store would run a full battery of tests. I highly recomend that you invest in your own set of test kits. Testing your own water really does give you a full understanding of how things are effect your system and the health of corals. As you learn a better understanding of how your system is working you can weed out using some of the test kit, but still have them around just incase you notice something weird going on. I know it seems like a lot to invest, but I recomend getting test kits for amonia, nitrite, nitrate, PH, phospate, alkalinity, and calcium.

 

[hunterdaddy]

I have a test kit but no time to test today. My LFS guy is GREAT and will test my toilet water if I ask him too. He tests for calcium as well as nitrate nitrite ph amonia. He dosen't test for alk as he says he has never seen a real need for it and I would take his advice pretty much before anyone elses. JWtrojan and I use the same LFS and I talked to him about it before as well. Don't really remember his opinion on it though

 

[javatech]

Originally posted by hunterdaddy
He dosen't test for alk as he says he has never seen a real need for it and I would take his advice pretty much before anyone elses.
Then why are you asking

 

[adrian]

You should definitely test for alk, it goes hand in hand with Ca, pH, Mg, ect. Low alkalinity will result in poor coral health, and pH swings. It could be the cause of your coralline bleaching and trumpet not opening. HTH

 

[hunterdaddy]

I should reiterate that statment. He said in new tanks "less than a year old" there is no need for it. From the quality of his tanks I tend to beleive what he tells me. He dosen't test for it and his tanks are always tops.

 

[overanalyzer]

For what its worth - I had a candy cane that started to have the same issues .... moved it to a location with more water flow but further from the flow source - so it was getting more water flow over hte area but it was not getting the initial blast of water. It looks much better now. Oh I also moved it from right under a 13 watt PC light to under 150 watts of VHO light .... so it could be one or the other things that helped ...

 

[saltwaterdave]

Do you feed it?

 

[hunterdaddy]

No I don't feed the trumpet. Never have in a year. Never heard you had too and if they can go a year being fed directly???

 

[overanalyzer]

Originally posted by hunterdaddy
No I don't feed the trumpet. Never have in a year. Never heard you had too and if they can go a year being fed directly???
If you wait it will extend some feeder tenticles after lights out ... I usually take a turkey baster and once a month it gets bloodworms and brine and weekly it gets freeze dried plankton/shrimp mixture with some flake food mixed in for good measure ....
the tenticles close over the food and it eats - at first I went with what a lot of people said - which was - it will feed off the water column - but Bang Guy's "If it has a mouth - feed it." Saying got me thinking so I played around with food types and it seems much fuller and heathier now ...

 

[hunterdaddy]

I will have to try that. Never heard if it has a mouth feed it. Good advice. No only if i didn't have a mouth maybe I could lose about 10 lbs.