HELP!! Fox coral losing tissue!!

[christyf5]

I just got a new fox coral last thursday and put it in the tank. It says in Eric Bornemans book that they like indirect lighting so I put it in a sort of shady spot (not too shady mind you). I looked at it today and some of the tissue is receding and it looks like part of it is rotting. Anyone have one of these? Advice? Is there anything I can do to stop this or is it a goner?

Fox coral :
http://www3.telus.net/seamonkey68/dyingfox1.jpg

Thanks
Christy :)

[Bob I]

If you would be so kind as to give us the Latin binomial, I could look in my corals book. :? :?

[christyf5]

Why yes sir, its a Nemenzophyllia turbida

[Bob I]

Why yes sir, its a Nemenzophyllia turbida

Thank you muchly. It is my Horticultural training coming out. :D :D

[MitchM]

Christy, it's hard to tell from the pic, but have you noticed any white or brown jelly-like goo growing on it? I'm thinking of that protozoan infection.

And, of course....have you checked all your water params lately?

Mitch

[EmilyB]

Hi Christy,

I got a fox coral a while back. It seems to just "exist" mostly now, although it is not as receded as yours is. (Yours looks Dead....or way close..)

My understanding is they like similar conditions to the elegance. I've passed off some frags to Alan and Jon, to see if the pieces do better under their conditions, maybe they'll update here.

I suspect I'll frag it and try it in each of the tanks now, to see if it might make a difference.

Did yours look like this when you bought it?

http://www.members.shaw.ca/bhadford1/Foxcoral.jpg

[Canadian Man]

Deb,
That frag you gave me did not do well in my tank. I believe it was too much light. It started receding and like you said just "existing" :)
So I passed it on to Alan to see if it does any better under his conditions.

Alan, How's it doing?

[EmilyB]

Interesting Jon, too bad you didn't try throwing it in the sump..

[Bob I]

Alan just left here, and he says it is not looking well at his place either. Interestingly my Sprung book shows placement on the bottom or partly under an overhang. The light requirement is 2to 7 on a scale of 1 to 10, and a hardiness of 7 on the same scale. That is all I could find for now. :o

[Canadian Man]

Interesting Jon, too bad you didn't try throwing it in the sump..

I did Deb. The sump has a 175w halide, so less light and it was there for a few weeks.
When it was in the main tank it was also under an overhanging rock :?

[EmilyB]

Well, may also be the nutrients then, like with elegance. I know you don't have any fish crap load.....I do, but I have to then skim it out with monster skimmer.

Hmmmmm.....I just chopped it up. (I'm having a hard time not mentioning the dremmel christmas present here guys....)

[Samw]

Well, may also be the nutrients then, like with elegance. I know you don't have any fish crap load.....I do, but I have to then skim it out with monster skimmer.

Hmmmmm.....I just chopped it up. (I'm having a hard time not mentioning the dremmel christmas present here guys....)


I haven't had much luck with Fox corals either. I know they come from turbid waters. My tank has tons of fish but doesn't seem to help.

[christyf5]

Hi guys,

Protozoan infection -- yes there is some sort of goo but not directly on the coral it is sort of cottony looking and it is on the skeleton part just under where the coral's tissue is. I thought it was a dead sponge. What do I do with it? I did check my water parameters but that was a couple of days ago I'll have to do it again.

What the coral looked like when I bought it -- I got it from seacare sight unseen, it arrived in 22 degree water I acclimated it to my temp (26C) and put it in the tank. It sort of extended itself but never fully and never the whole coral. My coral to my eyes never looked like the picture you posted Emily. I can only hope one day it will but who knows.

So now I've attempted to hide it under an overhang and where my tank brace is. I don't really have alot of hope for that section of the coral but one part of it is really trying to make a go of it. Once the death starts is there any possibility of saving part of the coral or does the whole thing just croak?

On a side note I also bought a orange nepthea (not dendronepthea or scleronepthea) its a tree coral (completely soft and, I was told, photosynthetic) and I don't see any sclerites or whatever those spiny things are called. When it arrived it was in hardly any water (bag leaked) and cold as well (I don't think I'll ever do the online livestock purchase thing again). It seemed moderately happy in my tank but has gone downhill. I think it has kicked the bucket as well as it looks like it had a battle with a bottle of wild turkey and lost. Its completely slumped over and just hanging there. Should I take it out and put it in the sump or something? I'm thinking maybe these corals are having some sort of light overload shock but I'm shading them as much as I can. Should I reduce my lighting and then try to ramp it back up??
Any suggestions helpful.

Thanks
Christy :)

[Aquattro]

Christy, I had a fox that didn't do well. I gave it to Bruce and it ended it's life there. That was under PC bulbs (Mehgan's tank). I haven't seen one do well long term.
It sounds like you had an unfortunate experience with shipping. I have got stuff shipped many times and will continue to do it.
If the corals were at Seacare for a while, they are exposed to a fair amount of light. They should be OK in your tank. If you think it's too uch light, maybe turn off one bulb for half days for a while. Also, the Fox doesn't like a lot of current. Not sure if that helps you :(

[christyf5]

Hi Brad,
Yeh I knew that the foxes didn't like a ton of current and I placed it accordingly but as for the light I dunno. I was thinking to leave the lights off tomorrow (for both the fox and the nepthea which looks a heck of alot happier with the lights off) and then try for a few hours maybe on wednesday and try ramping it up like that. I think part of the fox may be a goner but do you have any idea if these things can be fragged?? Would that just exacerbate the problem? Dang, why am I having such bad luck?? :roll:


As for the MO shipping, do you get it shipped by air or by bus? This was a overnight bus shipment so I'm thinking that if there is going to be a next time it will be via air which is much much faster.

Christy :)

[canadawest]

While I cant comment on the Fox coral, I can say leave the Tree coral alone, it's normal for it to be looking "hungover" like you said.

I've had a gorgeous Xmas Tree coral in my tank for about a year now. Every once in a while it darkens in colour, slumps over and looks like it's on it's deathbed for a day or two. I knew it wasn't water parameters as I also have a smaller frag of it sitting right next to it that would still look terrific.

So long story short, couple days later the larger piece is back to normal and lighter in colour and fully expanded.

Just something they do I think?

[One_Divided]

I'll share my expereince with fox corals:

I believe fox corals to be the most sensitive LPS.. Although I have never kept an eligance. Mine (now owned by steve) would be the first things to close if anything was every wrong with my water quality. I found it did best with low current/low light. I am pretty sure I have read that they don't ship well.. and it makes sence looking at their skelital structure.. From your pic it looks to me like it may have been damaged before you got it.. On the other hand, any nitrates in the water will **** it right off.. Sorry I can't read over the entire post!

[MitchM]

Hmm...it doesn't sound good. :( I've never had a fox coral, but it sounds like it should be put on the "leave-alone" catagory, right along with goniopora.
Christy, it doesn't sound like a bacterial infection, and if it has a white sponge on it, I doubt that that's the problem. It just sounds like a super-sensitive coral.
I would try to put it in an area of almost dead water movement and very little light - at least that will tell you if it has any expansion ability left.
Also, I have found that whenever I add Lugol's solution to my system that all my LPS are fully expanded the next day. I'm not sure of the relationship there.


Mitch

[Delphinus]

Can't add anything myself except to throw in my $0.02 about overnight shipping of corals on the bus .... having done it once from Vancouver to Calgary, I doubt I'd ever be tempted to try it again. 1) Greyhound arbitrarily decided to pull the box off the "overnight bus" and place it on the "next day truck" (despite promises to Darren that they wouldn't do that because the box contained live animals ... but when it comes down to it, they don't give a ..... what they do because it's their buses, and their trucks, and they're going to do whatever they please with them). 2) So, being in transit for nearly 24 hours (it was somewhere between 18-20 hours in transit), it ended up costing only about $10 cheaper than if we had just placed the box on the airplane in the first place.

[Samw]

Hmm...it doesn't sound good. :( I've never had a fox coral, but it sounds like it should be put on the "leave-alone" catagory, right along with goniopora.


Mitch


I've haven't heard people putting fox corals in that category, but interestingly fox corals are often found side by side with goniopora in the ocean.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com./issues/mar2002/feature3.htm

Fox corals I've seen in display tanks at a LFS seem to do the same thing. They expand beautifully in the first few weeks then just waste away over time.

[StirCrazy]

for what it is worth, when I bought Adam's fox off him it did the same thing for about a week, then it slowly started expanding over the next two weeks.. I kept mine under a overhang in the mouth of the cave so it only got indirect light.

Now direct.. now it is in the bottom tank and it recives direct light and is doing fine also.


Steve

[christyf5]

Well today I turned the lights off for most of the day until I got home when I just turned one MH bulb on, I tilted the fox over a bit so it is as far under an overhanging rock as I can get it. I noticed since turning the lights on (1.5 hrs) that two parts of the coral seem to be trying to expand. The part that was pictured at the beginning of this post has continued to deteriorate and I'm sure will be bare skeleton in no time. Hopefully it doesn't continue throughout the whole coral.

Christy :)