Noob coral questions

[taillonjohn]

Hi, bought these 2 frags from LFS, not sure what they are. They purple one seems to be turning white, or has white stuff forming on it, I cant tell. The other coral which I thought was a leather seems to be shedding some green stuff, and also a couple of white patches forming.

HOW to post a Picture? The selections for attchments is disabled for me?

the tank finished cylcling last week, I added crabs and a shrimp, all are very healthy and happy, just the corals. I tried moving them around a couple of times to find a sweet spot, but this morning they are looking worse.

Also, how do i get corals off of the frag plugs?

Thanks in advance

[Oldreeferman]

Only corals that can handle a non mature new cycled tank would be able to stay healthy like maybe green star polyps etc. very hardy and they are like a canary in a mine, if they refuse to extend then its obvious the immature tank isn't ready for coral just fish. Also a reef tank of corals requires a few fish to inject the necessary ammonia & nitrates necessary for the bacterias to grow for de-nitrification for bacterial growth.
Yea, pics here are tricky it requires resizing to min jpeg sizes etc.
The white may be the coral receding into itself showing its hard calcium body.
My advice is no corals for a few months as the DT stabilizes and i understand you will will never get that advice from a local fish store since they are there to make money not give sage beginner advice & loose cash. The members here that have had vast exp will tell you this is a true statement, altho i realize the patience of it is hard. Fish are fun to watch and care for tho during this period. Pics do help figure out whats up but i think its too soon TBH as the corals are not happy. All your water parameters and what lighting you are using would be of great help if you can not post pics at this time yet.

[taillonjohn]

thanks oldreefer. my tank is 32 gallons, ammonia zero nitrite zero, nitrate .20 water temp is 76, the salinity is .24, the LFS is .26 but i took 2 hours to acclimate. Lighting is 150 watts of MH

I am a silly noob, yesterday i got a new wavemaker which I've had trouble to find the right spot, so there is specs of sand being blown around, on closer look the sand has landed on the algae it was shedding (which I thought was due to travel stress), I held them in front of the wavemaker and it all blew away. It looks better now, I really wish I could post a pic to get some feedback if they look healthy of not.

I will take your advice though , I will hold off on more corals until after Christmas. I cycled my tank for almost 3 months so I can be patient. I ordered 2 mocha picasso clowns, they are supposed to arrive this week I can't wait. that should help mature my tank. Thanks again

[Oldreeferman]

Don't waste the effort acclimating corals as reef tanks at fish shops are saltier then the fish holding tanks so its close enough but do test the bag water salinity just to be sure. Fish mainly only need acclimation & you want to do them faster, say 1/2 hr. tops so adding DT water to the bag often is the best way, drip method can be deadly takes too long. The stickys at the top of the forum page explain these issues well i suggest reading them all while waiting out the cycle. Information is your best ally in this hobby.
Also, be sure to dip any corals in a solution to rid them of parasites or else your DT will be infested count on that one. Frags are one of the main ways to infect a DT as well as live rock additions down the rd. Best to QT anything going in. And look at ea. coral with a magnifying glass closely many parasites can be seen on them & caught before placing them in as the dip does not kill everything.
Don't get discouraged as the tank goes thu ugly stages it is normal & has to happen as the tank matures & stabilizes, any questions on any of these issues can be found doing a search. The information here is huge and almost any question you have has an answer & usually pics along with it, enjoy the forum & the hobby.