Help, my new yellow hairy toadstool coral is all retracted.

jeromefong · 10/30/2006, 02:00 AM

I purchase a new Yellow Hairy Toadstool Coral on Thursday. When we brought it home, it was all shrunken in (looked just like a mushroom), all the hairs were retracted. After several hours, the coral seemed to be all right since it opened up and started looking like the hairy mushroom in the store. It was fine on Friday, but on Saturday afternoon, it retracted completely again. The water temperature was 82 F. When I lowered it back to 78 F, the coral looked better. The most of the hairs came back, but I noticed that there were 2 small patches where the hairs did not come out and the surface was no longer smooth. It looks a little like acne, a little more bumping then the other areas and instead of being a pale yellow, it was a brighter yellow. Now on Sunday, the hairs are all retracted and have not come back out, and the acne patches seems to be getting bigger. My tanksâ€™ parameters are:
Temp: 78 F
SG: a little below 1.025
PH: 8.2
Alkalinity: 180
Nitrates: 0
Nitrite: 0
The only thing that is different was, Friday night, I added my bi-weekly iodine supplement (Kent Marineâ€™s Tech-I, 1 teaspoon for my 55 gal tank).

What is happened? Is there something wrong with the tank parameters?

jeffb3t · 10/30/2006, 02:12 AM

Sounds like it is stressing out and bad with some of the flesh dissolving. Do a water change. Also bring your salinity up just a bit. I keep mine at 1.026 which is the same as the ocean where I live since most of my coral are from this region. Where is it placed in the tank? High up or on the bottom? What about you lighting? What type? What other coral are in the same area? How about flow? Is it in a area of high flow or low flow?

jeromefong · 10/30/2006, 02:40 AM

The coral is placed a little below the middle of the tank. I have a surger that is circulating water around it. When the hairs were extended, you could see the current moving the hairs a little bit. It was not moving it violently. It seems to fit the requirements for the coral. I have compact fluorescent, two 65W 10,000K and two 65W Actinic. The Actinic are on for 12 hours and the 10,000K are on for 10 hours. I havenâ€™t seen any of my fishes near the coral (clown fish, blue tang, Christmas Wrasse, Dwarf Blue Angel, Algae Blenny, 2 cleaner shrimps, peppermint shrimp and assorted snails). Any ideas what could be stressing it out?

10/30/2006, 02:00 AM	#1
jeromefong Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 11	Help, my new yellow hairy toadstool coral is all retracted. I purchase a new Yellow Hairy Toadstool Coral on Thursday. When we brought it home, it was all shrunken in (looked just like a mushroom), all the hairs were retracted. After several hours, the coral seemed to be all right since it opened up and started looking like the hairy mushroom in the store. It was fine on Friday, but on Saturday afternoon, it retracted completely again. The water temperature was 82 F. When I lowered it back to 78 F, the coral looked better. The most of the hairs came back, but I noticed that there were 2 small patches where the hairs did not come out and the surface was no longer smooth. It looks a little like acne, a little more bumping then the other areas and instead of being a pale yellow, it was a brighter yellow. Now on Sunday, the hairs are all retracted and have not come back out, and the acne patches seems to be getting bigger. My tanksâ€™ parameters are: Temp: 78 F SG: a little below 1.025 PH: 8.2 Alkalinity: 180 Nitrates: 0 Nitrite: 0 The only thing that is different was, Friday night, I added my bi-weekly iodine supplement (Kent Marineâ€™s Tech-I, 1 teaspoon for my 55 gal tank). What is happened? Is there something wrong with the tank parameters?

10/30/2006, 02:12 AM	#2
jeffb3t Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Okinawa, Japan Posts: 1,327	Sounds like it is stressing out and bad with some of the flesh dissolving. Do a water change. Also bring your salinity up just a bit. I keep mine at 1.026 which is the same as the ocean where I live since most of my coral are from this region. Where is it placed in the tank? High up or on the bottom? What about you lighting? What type? What other coral are in the same area? How about flow? Is it in a area of high flow or low flow?

10/30/2006, 02:40 AM	#3
jeromefong Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 11	The coral is placed a little below the middle of the tank. I have a surger that is circulating water around it. When the hairs were extended, you could see the current moving the hairs a little bit. It was not moving it violently. It seems to fit the requirements for the coral. I have compact fluorescent, two 65W 10,000K and two 65W Actinic. The Actinic are on for 12 hours and the 10,000K are on for 10 hours. I havenâ€™t seen any of my fishes near the coral (clown fish, blue tang, Christmas Wrasse, Dwarf Blue Angel, Algae Blenny, 2 cleaner shrimps, peppermint shrimp and assorted snails). Any ideas what could be stressing it out?