Echinophyllia shrinkage?

techreef · 04/24/2008, 03:00 PM

I have a "Hot Tamale" Echinophyllia sp. coral in my tank. It's been in there for about a year, growing slowly, which is normal for them per my research. But three days ago, i came home to see it all shrunken up, with white points from its skeleton poking through its flesh. I did a large water change to the tank, and am hoping that this might just be something that echinophyllia does every now and then? (have had other corals look pretty gross for a day or two, only to recover fine)

Can anybody tell me if I should be doing anything else to help my little tamale back into perfect health?

TheMcs · 04/24/2008, 03:35 PM

I haven't seen that on a healthy chalice. Although it's cliche, how's your water testing?

kizkiz · 04/25/2008, 05:46 AM

White showing is the skeleton, which means something is seriously wrong.
Have just had that happen to one of mine. Turns out there were some mushrooms that have just appeared at the back of the live rock where i could not see them. They had grown under the echno and were stinging it.
The rate of die off was astounding, even once i'd moved the coral, and i ended up fragging it.
Unfortunately, the frags are now begining to die off too

I would suggest that you check all your params.
The other causes could be too much flow, a fish nipping, or something stinging it

techreef · 04/25/2008, 07:08 AM

I'll cop to not checking my water params in a while. There is also a colony of green striped shrooms on a pillar about 9 inches away from the tamale, but the water flow in that corner of my tank flows from the shrooms past the tamale. I'll look closer and check for a shroom touching the tamale, but do shrooms release chemicals into the water column in an effort to fight competing corals?

Thanks for your help!

techreef · 04/28/2008, 07:51 AM

well, i caught my tomini tang pecking at the echino this weekend, so that may be my problem. shoot. luckily the tang doesn't bother (in my sight, at least) my other LPS/SPS corals.

04/24/2008, 03:00 PM	#1
techreef Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Montclair, NJ Posts: 1,046	Echinophyllia shrinkage? I have a "Hot Tamale" Echinophyllia sp. coral in my tank. It's been in there for about a year, growing slowly, which is normal for them per my research. But three days ago, i came home to see it all shrunken up, with white points from its skeleton poking through its flesh. I did a large water change to the tank, and am hoping that this might just be something that echinophyllia does every now and then? (have had other corals look pretty gross for a day or two, only to recover fine) Can anybody tell me if I should be doing anything else to help my little tamale back into perfect health?

04/24/2008, 03:35 PM	#2
TheMcs Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Broken Arrow, OK Posts: 2,272	I haven't seen that on a healthy chalice. Although it's cliche, how's your water testing? __________________ Evaporation and top off don't count as water changes... Current Tank Info: 185g Deep Sea display, 2x 40g frag tanks, 90g fuge, 60g sump (400+ gal system)

04/25/2008, 05:46 AM	#3
kizkiz Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: london england Posts: 91	White showing is the skeleton, which means something is seriously wrong. Have just had that happen to one of mine. Turns out there were some mushrooms that have just appeared at the back of the live rock where i could not see them. They had grown under the echno and were stinging it. The rate of die off was astounding, even once i'd moved the coral, and i ended up fragging it. Unfortunately, the frags are now begining to die off too I would suggest that you check all your params. The other causes could be too much flow, a fish nipping, or something stinging it

04/25/2008, 07:08 AM	#4
techreef Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Montclair, NJ Posts: 1,046	I'll cop to not checking my water params in a while. There is also a colony of green striped shrooms on a pillar about 9 inches away from the tamale, but the water flow in that corner of my tank flows from the shrooms past the tamale. I'll look closer and check for a shroom touching the tamale, but do shrooms release chemicals into the water column in an effort to fight competing corals? Thanks for your help!

04/28/2008, 07:51 AM	#5
techreef Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Montclair, NJ Posts: 1,046	well, i caught my tomini tang pecking at the echino this weekend, so that may be my problem. shoot. luckily the tang doesn't bother (in my sight, at least) my other LPS/SPS corals.