Coral is closed up. Need advice!

[etoja]

I got this guy from lfs and they didn't provide me with the name... (First picture) It partially closed up few days ago, and I am not sure what the problem is. Water checked out OK ammonia/nitrites/nitrate = 0. The only things I have done to a tank is added more live rock and installed more powerful lights (marineland led coral capable).

I also noticed that there is something growing on one of the rocks (second&third pic) - it was already there when I brought the rock, but has gotten bigger in a week. Pictured are attached. Any ideas???

[Peter T]

Those pictures look like palythoas. The first thing that comes to mind on why they are closed up is they may be getting light shock since you recently upgraded to more powerful lighting. You can try to move them to the bottom of the tank (if you can move the rock) or use light diffuser (egg crate) for a week or two until the palythoas get use to the light.

You can stack up the light diffuser on top of each other or put a thin veil on top of the light diffuser to create more shade. Slowly remove each layer of diffuser/veiling every few days to give the corals time to adjust.

If you do move them to the bottom, give them a few days to fully expand before you do anything. Every few days move them a little higher until they are where you want them in the tank.

[etoja]

Great! Thank you for your advice, I was wondering if new lights could have caused this. I will try to move it down and to the shade. Should have thought of that... I hope I didn't kill the guy

[Peter T]

Not a problem. If everything else is stable in your tank, chances are they will open right back up and flourish. Palythoas and zoanthids are very hardy and tough corals and can live through many different conditions (all different flows, lighting, and water conditions) if given time to acclimate

[tangs_tank]

etoja,

Not sure how long your tank has been running but if you introduce more live rocks you are basically gonna start a bio cycle again. You will probably be seeing ammo, nitrite and nitrate spike . check daily and keep up with keeping those parameters in line. as with most corals lighting and flow is important. apart from that the coral may need time to get use to the environment.

[tangs_tank]

Oh sorry, but you need to have you calcium, magnesium, alk, ph, temp in line too.

[Pete H.]

if you introduce more live rocks you are basically gonna start a bio cycle again.

Is that really true? If the live rock is already cured when he added it, then the rock should not need to cycle too much. Right? The rock won't have much dieoff if it is quickly transferred and the tank should just benefit from the new biofiltration. Or am I missing something.

[Pete H.]

Also, the second and 3rd pics look like they are another type of polyps. Just a different variety of the ones you purchased.

[xCry0x]

Originally Posted by Pete H.

Is that really true? no

If the live rock is already cured when he added it, then the rock should not need to cycle too much. Right?If the rock is live and was kept alive and transported quickly there is no curing or cycling needed. There could be a tiny amount of die off in transport but nothing that could do much of anything to the tank.

The rock won't have much dieoff if it is quickly transferred and the tank should just benefit from the new biofiltration. Yup

Or am I missing something.nope

[Sk8r]

depends on the proportion: I create new rock all the time---if I drop a piece of old dead coral or piece of holey limestone into my 54 g tank, it'll come live in a few weeks, with no problem. Now, if there's a dead clam deeply buried in a piece of live rock---that's a problem. If I had more new iffy rock than live---that'd be a problem.

Suggest starting all new specimens on the sand and moving up a few inches every 3-4 days. Also watch your alkalinity like a hawk: I'm an lps reef and don't track nitrate/ammonia (it just isn't a problem) but the rest of my params would be good for you to maintain...esp the alk!