corals acting strange

Drewbaby · 04/02/2009, 07:35 PM

I have some yellow stone polyps, green star polyps, and a long tentacle anemone that are all acting odd. The gsps are completely closed and have been for around 3 days. I thought at first it might just have been from a hermit or my cleaner shrimp walking over them, but after it went on I started to worry then I noticed that my ysp arent fully opening and my anemone is only opened about 50%.

I have other corals that are doing great in the tank.
-orange rics.
-blue, violet, and green mushrooms
-trumpet corals
-very large patch of xenia
-a few small frags of ring of fire zoos

I dont understand why only a few corals would be unhappy. They are in different areas of the tank too.

Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Drewbaby · 04/02/2009, 09:14 PM

anyone have any advice?

Toddrtrex · 04/02/2009, 09:33 PM

What are your water parameters ? (( with numbers )).

redfishsc · 04/02/2009, 09:34 PM

Tell us about ANYTHING you have done to the tank recently. There are a LOT of things that can cause this.

New light tubes/bulbs?

Did you frag anything?

Large water change?

Dosing anything?

Temp?

Nitrate?

Phosphate?

pH?

.... anything else that was even slightly out of the ordinary.

Drewbaby · 04/02/2009, 10:11 PM

I dont have all of the specific params. I take my water to a fish store thats about 45mins away because I dont feel as if I can trust the local shops after seeing what they have sold friends of mine.

I have them test my water at a minimum of once a month, but I havent been able to purchase the tests myself yet. and i know they are a must have.

The only changes made were

- the addition of a large piece of xenia that I received from a friends tank.

- 2 weeks ago I dosed Prevent Ick made by kordon to cure a small break out on my powder blue tang

- a 20% water change following the dosing of the ick med.

- I havent dosed calcium in about 3 weeks, but wouldnt that effect all of my coral and not just some of them?

Other than that nothing new.

I did put a hang sock full of kent phosphate sponge in the resevoir on my HOB filter.

And my temp is steady at 78.5 to 79.2 and very very rarely leaves that range.

I am going to have my water tested tomorrow because im making a trip to the store to get some R/O water and some oceans blend 2 part calcium.

Toddrtrex · 04/02/2009, 10:27 PM

Without the parameters, the one thing that sticks out is the "Prevent ick" I personally don't trust any meds in the main tank, even if they claim to be reef safe.

Do you at least know the salinity?

As for the temps, I personally would give it a bigger swing, over time. All of my tanks go from 78-83 each day, and I am fairly certain that allowing the swing has saved me a few times when I screwed up and the temps climbed to 89*.

VacavilleFC3S · 04/03/2009, 03:53 AM

sounds like either your alk or ph is out of wack

redfishsc · 04/03/2009, 05:53 AM

+1 with what Toddtrex said. I personally wouldn't dose meds directly in the tank. If it has copper in it, I'd bet a frag that you have poisoned your coral (although they may recover if you remove the copper).

Adding the phosphate sponge *may* have removed so much phosphate all at once that it shocked the coral.

Since you aren't testing your water, it's very, very hard to tell what's going on. I'd recommend that you at LEAST get the cheap API kits (what I use). fwiw, $30-40 worth of test kits is about what you'd pay for a couple coral frags that die due to bad water chemistry

jnb · 04/03/2009, 11:48 AM

i doubt alk is going to be an issue - Ph could but if your water changes are ok then it should be within range - about the only reason it would be out of whack to the point of hurting the life would be if you are adding PH changing buffers too much, too fast.

how are you testing salinity when you make up water? are you postitive it is within range?

was the closed life doing ok before? your 36% water change if the salinity was not right could have taken your tank salt out of range - I agree the sponge may be an issue - usually xenia is more sensative then gsp and ysp

perhaps you should run some carbon and back down a little on large water changes

04/02/2009, 07:35 PM	#1
Drewbaby Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: FL Posts: 874	corals acting strange I have some yellow stone polyps, green star polyps, and a long tentacle anemone that are all acting odd. The gsps are completely closed and have been for around 3 days. I thought at first it might just have been from a hermit or my cleaner shrimp walking over them, but after it went on I started to worry then I noticed that my ysp arent fully opening and my anemone is only opened about 50%. I have other corals that are doing great in the tank. -orange rics. -blue, violet, and green mushrooms -trumpet corals -very large patch of xenia -a few small frags of ring of fire zoos I dont understand why only a few corals would be unhappy. They are in different areas of the tank too. Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

04/02/2009, 09:33 PM	#3
Toddrtrex Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Carol Stream, IL Posts: 23,162	What are your water parameters ? (( with numbers )). __________________ Click my name and then "visit toddrtrex's homepage" for tank pictures Current Tank Info: 210g reef and 65g reef

04/02/2009, 09:34 PM	#4
redfishsc Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Wake Forest, NC Posts: 3,696	Tell us about ANYTHING you have done to the tank recently. There are a LOT of things that can cause this. New light tubes/bulbs? Did you frag anything? Large water change? Dosing anything? Temp? Nitrate? Phosphate? pH? .... anything else that was even slightly out of the ordinary. __________________ "The measure of a life is not its duration but its donation." Corrie Ten Boom “The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins” -- Søren Kierkegaard Current Tank Info: ghetto grad school reef.....11g rimless tank, 36X9X9, lit by Cree and Rebels scobbled together. Stocked mostly with free stuff I got from panhandling my fellow reefers.

04/02/2009, 10:27 PM	#6
Toddrtrex Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Carol Stream, IL Posts: 23,162	Without the parameters, the one thing that sticks out is the "Prevent ick" I personally don't trust any meds in the main tank, even if they claim to be reef safe. Do you at least know the salinity? As for the temps, I personally would give it a bigger swing, over time. All of my tanks go from 78-83 each day, and I am fairly certain that allowing the swing has saved me a few times when I screwed up and the temps climbed to 89*. __________________ Click my name and then "visit toddrtrex's homepage" for tank pictures Current Tank Info: 210g reef and 65g reef

04/03/2009, 05:53 AM	#8
redfishsc Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Wake Forest, NC Posts: 3,696	+1 with what Toddtrex said. I personally wouldn't dose meds directly in the tank. If it has copper in it, I'd bet a frag that you have poisoned your coral (although they may recover if you remove the copper). Adding the phosphate sponge may have removed so much phosphate all at once that it shocked the coral. Since you aren't testing your water, it's very, very hard to tell what's going on. I'd recommend that you at LEAST get the cheap API kits (what I use). fwiw, $30-40 worth of test kits is about what you'd pay for a couple coral frags that die due to bad water chemistry __________________ "The measure of a life is not its duration but its donation." Corrie Ten Boom “The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins” -- Søren Kierkegaard Current Tank Info: ghetto grad school reef.....11g rimless tank, 36X9X9, lit by Cree and Rebels scobbled together. Stocked mostly with free stuff I got from panhandling my fellow reefers.

04/02/2009, 09:14 PM	#2
Drewbaby Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: FL Posts: 874	anyone have any advice?

04/02/2009, 10:11 PM	#5
Drewbaby Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: FL Posts: 874	I dont have all of the specific params. I take my water to a fish store thats about 45mins away because I dont feel as if I can trust the local shops after seeing what they have sold friends of mine. I have them test my water at a minimum of once a month, but I havent been able to purchase the tests myself yet. and i know they are a must have. The only changes made were - the addition of a large piece of xenia that I received from a friends tank. - 2 weeks ago I dosed Prevent Ick made by kordon to cure a small break out on my powder blue tang - a 20% water change following the dosing of the ick med. - I havent dosed calcium in about 3 weeks, but wouldnt that effect all of my coral and not just some of them? Other than that nothing new. I did put a hang sock full of kent phosphate sponge in the resevoir on my HOB filter. And my temp is steady at 78.5 to 79.2 and very very rarely leaves that range. I am going to have my water tested tomorrow because im making a trip to the store to get some R/O water and some oceans blend 2 part calcium.

04/03/2009, 03:53 AM	#7
VacavilleFC3S Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Vacaville California Posts: 2,613	sounds like either your alk or ph is out of wack

04/03/2009, 11:48 AM	#9
jnb Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: S.E. Florida Deerfield Beach Posts: 2,581	i doubt alk is going to be an issue - Ph could but if your water changes are ok then it should be within range - about the only reason it would be out of whack to the point of hurting the life would be if you are adding PH changing buffers too much, too fast. how are you testing salinity when you make up water? are you postitive it is within range? was the closed life doing ok before? your 36% water change if the salinity was not right could have taken your tank salt out of range - I agree the sponge may be an issue - usually xenia is more sensative then gsp and ysp perhaps you should run some carbon and back down a little on large water changes