What is happening to my Colt Coral??

[crazyzeus1]

Pleeease help me! My aquarium service man is coming tomorrow to look at our poor (NEW) Colt Coral & Yellow Leather...but maybe someone here can help.
7 days ago, our local store came & put in 5 types of corals (spaghetti leather, colt coral, yellow leather, 3 mushroom varieties). Our tank is 100 gal & water levels all OK & fine (they said when they tested). We have 3 shrimp, 20 hermit crabs, 2 Sally Lightfoots, & 1 Emarld Green crab (who I found dead this morning), plus 10 snails. Just added one True Black Percula this morning...and he's doing great so far.
The Colt started to get one little tip that was white & had a filmy skin hanging off of it the day they brought it to our house. Over the past 6 days, it has spread, & now half of the coral is white with this "skin film" that just sloughs off constantly. I'm sure it's dying, which is why they're coming back tomorrow.
The Yellow Leather has NEVER fully bloomed or stood upright on it's stalk since they brought it. It's slumped over & has deflated even more, and now only the top half of the leather blooms at all.
NOW...here's OUR neglect...thanks to the stupid fish store (and my SUPER Newbie status of reef tank owner, which is why we pay a CRAZY amount of money for the fish store guys to come check our tank in the first place!).
I asked what the corals were supposed to be fed, and the service guy told me "Nothing, they feed off light." OK. So I called the store because that didn't sound totally right. They told me the same thing...no need to feed them anything.
The "Head Service Lady" at the store (when I called today) said "What are you feeding them?" She was shocked that two people from her store both told me not to feed anything. SO...they're starving...lovely.
The other thing I asked was "Do I need to add/adjust my suppliments?" I'm so clueless, I really depend on my service guys to help me! They said "No, it's fine" The "Head Service Lady" today was shocked that I wasn't adding Calcium, Tech-M. & ProBuffer. UGH!!!!! So I've added that today & she is baffled why their guys dropped the ball so badly.
Can my corals recover??? The store will replace anything that died becasuse they SUCK at service...but I hate the fact that I've let something living DIE! Anyone have experience with these two corals & what I've described above?
Thanks so much in advance. I have learned SO much from reading this msg board. I now know I need to figure it out myself & not rely on the service guy to have a CLUE!

 

[shnabbles]

How long has the tank been established before adding the corals?
Id ask any questions on this board before you ask anyone your paying to handle your tank..
Thank about it... if your $$ coral dies... it benifits them cause then you have to by another.
A LFS by me had a "BLOW OUT SALE" on hippo tangs.. they were all like the size of a quarter... i was like thats messed up they know they are all going to die.... 2 days later went back... all the living hippos were gone.... 5 dead hippos on the gravel...
nice sale

 

[crazyzeus1]

Originally Posted by Shnabbles
How long has the tank been established before adding the corals?
Id ask any questions on this board before you ask anyone your paying to handle your tank..
Thank about it... if your $$ coral dies... it benifits them cause then you have to by another.
A LFS by me had a "BLOW OUT SALE" on hippo tangs.. they were all like the size of a quarter... i was like thats messed up they know they are all going to die.... 2 days later went back... all the living hippos were gone.... 5 dead hippos on the gravel...
nice sale
Our tank was filled with cycled, live rock & live sand on June 21st. We added our crabs, hermits, & snails three weeks ago & the corals were added last week. Our water numbers have been "perfect" & cycled for a while now...or so our Service Guy told me!
As far as them coming back out to service it...they're replacing the dying/dead corals for free because I called often to ask these questions.
FWIW, they killed one of our cleaner shrimp when they came & did a water change (15 gal. replaced out of our 100 gal tank). They weren't going to water test, but I requested that they do...and wouldn't you know, the salinity was WAY high. It was FINE before they put their water in. I called to complain about that too & they agreed to replace our shrimp that died the next morning after their service.
I feel sort of stuck because the Service Dept. of this VERY reputable, large fish store in our area is the only place that does home service visits that I know of. I am SO afraid of doing something wrong & killing things in our tank that we feel it's worth it to pay someone who knows what they heck they're doing. But...as it appears...they DON"T!
Tonight, our poor Colt looks just horrible. I had our water tested at the "other" local store & all levels are perfect, so no worries about ammonia from decay yet. And our True Black Percula that I put in this morning (our first fish!) is doing just dandy...as far as I can tell.
I just want a happy tank

 

[celacanthr]

well im definantly glad you arent listening to your lfs store anymore and checking here first. Also always always get the readings in numbers from these people please it helps us out alot! I really hope it turns out well. If you know could you tell us the lighting you have, please. Also if you dont mind me asking how much are you paying 'em? And when in doubt just think of who doesnt care bout your money and who does care bout getting your money. I am so glad you decided to come here.

 

[crazyzeus1]

Oh...thank you all so much for your help!
I didn't get the exact numbers from the store when they did the water test. I will be sure to get that tomorrow (when they come to service the tank & check out what the problem is with the Colt & the Leather). I'll post that once I know...
As far as the lights, this is what the invoice says:
36” Actinic White Fluorescent Light Bulb
36” Actinic Blue Fluorescent Light Bulb
And then we find this at the VERY bottom of the quote from when they bid out our tank:
•Substitute a CL Aqualite HQI Metal Halide Light Fixture 2 x 150 watts (adds 290.00)
But nobody EVER said a word about it & still hasn't. The FISH STORE set up our aquarium & chose our inverts. for us. We had no idea where to begin, so this seemed OK with us, then we could choose fish & a few more inverts. of our choice. So...if the Halide light was needed for the Colt or the Leather, I would have ASSUMED they would have told me we needed it! Do we???
Our lights run for 9 hours right now.
And they charge $159 per month to come every other week. Total ripoff for the service we've received so far! But I don't know what else to do...plus they do the water changes, clean the sand, etc. which I don't have the tools or confidence to do yet.
Again, thanks for the advice! I want to do this RIGHT & I want our tank to be a happy tank!

 

[crazyzeus1]

So frustrating. The fish service guy came today & said our Colt Coral probably is dying because of too much air being bubbled into the water. Said they react poorly to pollutants in the air & it can "choke them out". Well...the darn thing was set up the way THEY set it up...air bubbles & all. They didn't bother to mention this then!
He did cut away the dead part & took it back to the LFS for a refund of our money. He WAS nice enough to leave the little remaining live part & banded it to a rock to see if it would live.
Our poor Yellow Leather is also dead, IMO. He moved it further to the top of the tank with better water current to see if it would come back. He said sometimes they go dormant. I think ours is WAY dormant, like, never-wake-up dormant. But we will get a refund if he doesn't come back to life.
Just honks me off that things are dying

 

[celacanthr]

i feel your pain!

you should really get them to tell you exactly what you have(as in watts and k) (or better yet you find out since we know that they made you pay for something you arent getting) and did you get the level numbers?
im sorry to keep bugging you.

 

[jessecnc]

Well, from what I understand, the leathers and colt do NOT need to be fed...they feed on light. This is the case with most "soft" corals. I have one of each myself that are doing great. No food, just good light. If you only have (2) 36" standard flourecents, you do NOT have NEARLY enough light in your tank. This is most likely why the corals are dying or dead.
Right now, if they are VHO bulbs, which I suspect they are, you have less than 200W on your tank. I would upgrade your lighting immediately, or plan on a fish-only tank for now. I have as much lighting as you have now on a 29Gal. tank!
You do not necessarily have to go with the MH, but that is the best. Power Compacts also work well IMO.
Hope this helps!

 

[crazyzeus1]

I'm going to call the LFS today & find out exactly what kind of lighting they set up for us. BUT...we do have a spaghetti leather, yellow polyps, & three types of mushrooms that are doing GREAT. If we had a lighting issue, wouldn't it show up with these too?
The LFS who set up our whole system picked out the lighting we needed. So I would sure hope it was sufficient for the corals they ALSO picked out for our tank.

 

[celacanthr]

i believe those corals are low light corals. I hope it works out for ya!

 

[crazyzeus1]

Originally Posted by CELACANTHr
i believe those corals are low light corals. I hope it works out for ya!

That would explain why they are thriving, while the Colt Coral & the Yellow Leather died! I'll call them right now & ask! I'll follow up once I get ahold of them...

 

[crazyzeus1]

I read that Colt Coral was a low-med. light coral, but that the Yellow Leather is a High light coral & it should be placed in heavy current when first introduced to tank.
Would I be correct in assuming that placing the Yellow Leather closer to the top of the rock structure (& therefore closer to the lights at the top) would give it a higher light? The LFS service guy asked ME where I wanted the things placed...and I assumed he would know the requirements of each coral they were putting in, but obviously not!

 

[celacanthr]

yep closer to the top the better for those 2.

 

[the reef]

150 watt metal halides in a 100 gallon I belive this is part of the problem I would say as far as the metal halides goes bump that up to 4-6 watts per gallon just for the metal halides and another 3-6 watts per gallon with the power compacts or what ever the lighting is that you have vho?

 

[aelene]

crazyzeus1, what city are you in.. is it Dallas by chance?

 

[crazyzeus1]

Yes, I am in Dallas (Flower Mound). We don't have Halides...our invoice from the store says "Actinic". Our LFS service guy is coming Monday to do our bi-weekly service & I am going to ask him to write down the specifics of our lights because I have no idea what they put in. I really admire those of you who built yours from scratch or those of you who know every little detail about your systems. I have NO clue about ours...am slowly learning...the LFS set the whole thing up & picked everything out (except the chiller, which they never mentioned even needing one & my hubby put it in himself!).

 

[celacanthr]

well i would suggest getting all of the specifications from em like all equipment names, amount of live rock, etc.... and then telling them thank you and not to come back again i have faith that if you thought enough to come here that you have enough responsibility to do this. :cheer:

 

[crazyzeus1]

Originally Posted by CELACANTHr
well i would suggest getting all of the specifications from em like all equipment names, amount of live rock, etc.... and then telling them thank you and not to come back again i have faith that if you thought enough to come here that you have enough responsibility to do this. :cheer:

I'm beginning to think the same thing!

 

[celacanthr]

well if you do decide to do this yourself i would first make sure that they give you the lighting that YOU payed for!

 

[crazyzeus1]

No kidding! There is one other local LFS service company that can help us...and they are TRYING so hard to get our business...every time we go in, they ask us if we want a quote for service. I haven't done anything yet...it's just all so overwhelming to take over myself!