bubble coral

[68shelby]

My bubble coral has gone into withdrawl the last week or so. it use to be about 8" across and now barely comes out of its skeleton. All other corals are doing fine, the only thing Ive noticed different in any other corals is I have a plate coral that had been extremely light (almost bleached looking since I put in 14k phoenix bulb 4 months ago) has gained backed his darker color over the same period my bubble coral has withdrawn. Could my lights have changed enough to cause a bubble coral to withdraw like that? He is about 20-24 inches deep and off to the side of my metal halide 150w. The plate coral is about 6" above him. Water parameters test good. temp has not been fluctuating. he is pictured in the bottom right. this is when he was full.

[MikeP]

I'm not sure if the lights are having that effect on the bubble coral. At this point the bulb isn't 'new' to the tank anymore. Everything in the tank should have gotten used to it by now. I have a doughnut coral (going on two years) and twice since I've had it it has closed up completely for a couple months at a time. First time round I thought it was dead but kept it in the tank cause there was still tissue on the skeleton. When it did open up again it was bigger and better than before. Take a look after lights out and see if it has its feeding tentacles out. I think all you can do is keep a close eye on it. Hopefully it's like my doughnut coral and will come back for ya.

Not sure if this helps but it's my 2 cents :)

[edikpok]

check the temperature. I have 3 bubbles and non of them like the current hot temperature. The tank heats up to 84 after 4h of lighting and my bubbles completely retract when it happens.

PS - I actually aasked a similar q about 3-4 days ago and noone replied...

[Snaz]

How consistent is your salinity? The reason I ask is since I installed my ATO 4 weeks ago my Frogspawn and Dendro have never looked better. I have concluded because these are both corals that use water for support they really like a salinity that does not fluctuate.

[68shelby]

check the temperature. I have 3 bubbles and non of them like the current hot temperature. The tank heats up to 84 after 4h of lighting and my bubbles completely retract when it happens.

PS - I actually aasked a similar q about 3-4 days ago and noone replied...

Hi Thanks my tank has managed to fluctuate by only 1 degree over the past 2 weeks it will go to 81 during the afternoon but is back to 80 with the heater kicking in at times in the morning. So I dont think that is it

[Myka]

Bubble corals can be finicky, and they really don't like nitrate and phosphate in the water. If the flow is too high they will retract as well, but it sounds like the coral has been in this position for some time now. If the powerheads blow sand onto the coral it can settle in the center, and start to kill the coral. Using a turkey baster to blow the sand out daily will help it come back if this is the issue. I would be willing to bet it is less than ideal water conditions though. To help bring it back start feeding it daily with 6 or 8 Mysis shrimp. It should come back fairly quickly with aggressive direct feeding of larger meaty foods.

[68shelby]

did my water test today.
ph 8.3
nitrate 1 ppm elos kit
calcium 420ppm salifert kit
nitrite 0
ammonia 0
temp 80 does not fluctuate past 81 or below 80
kh 80
specific gravity 1.024
no algae in my tank so I seldom test for phosphates.
I do on a regular basis stir up the sand, so he could have gotten sand on him, I did lightly blow it off of all the rock work and corals, last night however. And I never directly feed him.

[Navarchus]

I do on a regular basis stir up the sand
Why?

what about alk and mg?

keep an eye on your blue tang.....