Brain Problems. *More problem critters found....sigh*

[zum14]

So basically ive got a bit of a problem. The brain coral got picked on a lot worse then I thought it did when the shrimps and crabs were reaking havoc in my tank. (I had it shelved in the tank and they still found a way to get it somehow) Now that I have moved to the larger tank and got the shrimps and crabs out ( had to smash a piece of LR to get the last crab out) everything seems to be much happier, specially the acros. That is everything except the brain coral. I feel really bad about this, it was a beautiful piece that I got from whatcaneyedo. Does anyone know anything I can do to help this thing heal? Ill do whatever it takes. First pic is where it is in my tank. Second is Aug 30 after the move. Last is today. Everything was right in spec a few days ago but I will grab all the hard numbers tomorrow after work. Wondering if its too much flow? Too much light? Not enough light? ( Was thinking of lowering the halides from 14" to 12" this weekend) Do I need to worry about the exposed skeleton? Will it heal over? I try to spot feed but no feeder tentacles come out to grab anything. Thanks for any help.

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[nlreefguy]

Looks like it's in the process of bleaching. Try putting it in less light, maybe. If conditions are conducive to its recovery there is no reason why it should not regrow over that exposed area, theoretically.

[whatcaneyedo]

I've kept it around 2' directly underneath my MH so it has recieved a lot of light in the past. However if you had it in a dimmer area for a while and then moved it back to a high light area that could do it. For now I'l put it in a dimmer area regardless. Too high of temperature will also do it. Did you tank over heat at all lately? Solid organic carbon dosing often does this to LPS and softies too. I had to quit my little experiment after a few of my coral started bleaching.

[zum14]

Going from T5 to 400w metal halide could be a bit much too quick. I guess it would be about 3' from the halides now. No tank overheats. Had the 46gal get to 84* a few times during the heat wave but action is taken when it gets there so it didnt get hotter. The new tank doesnt get above 79*. I noticed that I had to lower my duncan and candycane and they appear much happier as well. The acros seemed to take to the higher light quite quickly and is coloring up quite nicely. The green cap didnt do so well on the tank move but is finally starting to color back up. Ill try moving it to a lower light area this morning and Ill update after work. Thanks again.

[zum14]

So after a water change and I raised the metal halides up from 14" above the tank to 24" above the tank(did that tues night) things seem to be much happier. I think i was nuking it with all the light.(superman monti seems to be going blue finally, candycanes happier, other brain I got is happier) Ive got plans to build a new fixture that wont have reflectors in it to hopefully knock the intensity down on the lights instead of putting out more money for 250's but thats another thread. Anyways this was taken today. Seems to be inflating around better and starting to color back up. Also saw some feeder tentacles out this morning which I havent seen since all this started so heres hoping. Please forgive me for the hair algae, had a bit of an outbreak when i first set up the tank but seems to be dyeing off fast now.

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[reefwars]

Yup with 400w it's too much light , instead of raising your light try placing it somewhere it gets light but not diectly underneath:) also if it's feeding there's a good chance of recovery , get it in a place it likes and finds comfortable and don't pick at it It should come back in time:)

[zum14]

I tried moving it under a rock ledge but either my tiger tail pushed it out or it moved itself. Did some weird major inflation thing when it was under there. Blew up like a balloon. Will try it here for a bit. Im hoping its feeding. I saw the tentacles this morning but last night it didnt seem to take anything. We will see how it goes tonight. By the looks of it even the sps seem to find the lower light a bit better as the end polyps are coming out now and the one sps I have was only growing at the base like a bush so maybe itll start branching now. Thanks.

[reefwars]

Feeder tentacles and inflation are great signs and it looks like your on your way to a full recovery:) beautiful piece btw:):)

[ScubaSteve]

If there is skeleton showing, try to keep it clean so you don't get algae growth. It'll heal much faster. Also, if it is starting to bleach make sure you try to feed it once it starts putting the tentacles back out again. The zooxanthellae feed off of the corals metabolic wastes, so if it starts to starve because of low zooxanthellae levels, the zooxanthellae will start to die off bleaching the coral further, which cause the coral to starve more and... you get where I'm going with this. It's a vicious circle and why bleaching can be so hard to recover from. Supplemental feeding will help keep its metabolism up and it will recover faster. DON'T FORCE FEED IT THOUGH!

[zum14]

Feeder tentacles and inflation are great signs and it looks like your on your way to a full recovery:) beautiful piece btw:):)

Thanks, you should have seen it when I got it from whatcaneyedo. Super nice. I hope it gets there again.

If there is skeleton showing, try to keep it clean so you don't get algae growth. It'll heal much faster. Also, if it is starting to bleach make sure you try to feed it once it starts putting the tentacles back out again. The zooxanthellae feed off of the corals metabolic wastes, so if it starts to starve because of low zooxanthellae levels, the zooxanthellae will start to die off bleaching the coral further, which cause the coral to starve more and... you get where I'm going with this. It's a vicious circle and why bleaching can be so hard to recover from. Supplemental feeding will help keep its metabolism up and it will recover faster. DON'T FORCE FEED IT THOUGH!

I will do that. Thanks very much. How do you force feed it? I sort of just use a large opening turkey baster and let the food casually drop out of it and float across the coral?? Usually it snags it with a tenticle then.

[MrGoodbytes]

It looks like it would be a gorgeous piece when fully coloured up. I agree that lower light and more food would help. Good luck bringing it back and keep us updated :).

[ScubaSteve]

I will do that. Thanks very much. How do you force feed it? I sort of just use a large opening turkey baster and let the food casually drop out of it and float across the coral?? Usually it snags it with a tenticle then.

What I mean by force feeding it is overfeeding. Once it starts to grab food, only give it little bits at eat feeding until it gets healthy, then start giving it more. It takes energy for it to digest food; if you over feed it, it cannot properly digest it all and ends up spitting it out having now wasted energy and not eaten. That's a bad thing for an already weak coral.

[zum14]

What I mean by force feeding it is overfeeding. Once it starts to grab food, only give it little bits at eat feeding until it gets healthy, then start giving it more. It takes energy for it to digest food; if you over feed it, it cannot properly digest it all and ends up spitting it out having now wasted energy and not eaten. That's a bad thing for an already weak coral.



Ahhh. Ok well that makes sence. I will definitly watch out for that. Thanks again for the help.

[zum14]

So any particular food you can suggest that may be best for feeding it till it gets healthy again?

[ScubaSteve]

I typically feed chopped up mysis or other phosphate/nitrate free sea food (read: fresh!). I'm been wanting to try the new Fauna Marin LPS pellets as I have seen and heard good things (youtube it... corals flip out over it) but I haven't found anyone near by who has them yet.

[zum14]

Well a bit of an update. I have been spot feeding with only my top notch food and raised my lights up to 24" above the tank as it seems the other brain I got from the LFS (long story) isnt taking any food and doesnt seem all puffy and inflated either. So I kept thinking it was lighting (see "lighting question in DIY) , water quality (tested everything again tonight and only things that seemed a little off was my phosphates were at .20 approx and my calcium was a little low at 380 but i am due for my waterchange) , food quality. Something im doing wrong. So during spot feeding a bit of mysis I noticed something very interesting. The piece of LR its near has had the sand pushed out from it. I thought it was just my tigertail moving around a bit as ive seen it in the area. HA! Not with my luck. I just got the two xanthid crabs out. Yaaa. So im totally not sure exactly what it is... I saw these antennae about 4 or so of them 1/2" to 3/4" long flickering. Looked at it and *poof* gone. Instantly I froze, watched. I saw antennae again and a claw come out and grab a small piece of mysis. It seemed a purpleish red color. From what I saw it had a hard dome head. Unfortunatley I dont really have an idea of what the front of this thing looks like all together as I only caught glimpes of it in pieces. I searched eunicid worm and it has the same kind of antennae but no claws. Looked like a crab claw but what i saw from the front quick it was no crab. Anyone have any ideas? Im guessing its going to be a pull the rock he lives in and try for a removal or smash but Id like to make sure hes the problem before I rip into the reef. Sat for an hour watching this area with a camera after and nothing. Ill have it out for feeding time tomorrow and see if I can snatch a pic. *sigh*

[whatcaneyedo]

A few months ago one of my chalice frags suddenly began to recede while the other one continued to grow under the same conditions. It took me a while to discover a small gorilla crab living very close to it and to remove that crab. Once I did that the recession stopped and the chalice has been begun to slowly recover.

Some threads on here have recommended giving liverock a dip in club soda or something which will cause any hitch hikers to evacuate immediately. That would probably be a better way of doing things instead of smashing the rock.

[zum14]

A few months ago one of my chalice frags suddenly began to recede while the other one continued to grow under the same conditions. It took me a while to discover a small gorilla crab living very close to it and to remove that crab. Once I did that the recession stopped and the chalice has been begun to slowly recover.

Some threads on here have recommended giving liverock a dip in club soda or something which will cause any hitch hikers to evacuate immediately. That would probably be a better way of doing things instead of smashing the rock.

I might have to give that a try, im a little on the skimpy side for rock anyways.

[zum14]

So this is what scrambled out of the rock along with a good sized bristle worm. Antenna and a crab like claw. not sure why i didnt come up with shrimp. Has a good pincher on it though. At first google i came up with a type of pistol?? Anyone think otherwise or if it is a possible cause of the problem?


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[zum14]

Dang. So I was spot feeding the brain which is eating with quite an appetite now, doesnt seem to be coloring up much but it is eating so we will see how it goes. Anywho.... while watching him munch up some food I noticed some sand being blown out from under a rock behind it. Watched. Seen it again. Thought it was just my tiger tail which I have seen him do before. Then I saw some legs or claws or something not tiger tail. Dang again. Not sure how it made it through the club soda but it did. I think its another pistol as Im pretty sure I saw a claw come out, a small cloud of sand, and a click noise. Sooo anyone think that a pistol is causing the problem? Im only worried because it is a scavenger and the brain isnt in peak health and also because he seems to be setting up camp near the brain, not near the other brain or any other corals but near this one. Im not sure I will ever be able to spend money on live rock again having all the problems Ive had with this batch, that eco rock sure seems nice.

[nlreefguy]

well, that's not the problem, that's just a pistol shrimp. I don't know if I'd go so far as to call it "beneficial" (could be a minor scavenger but more like a minor predator on small crustacean life) but it's more like "harmless", in general.

[zum14]

So another update, the brain just doesnt seem to want to get better, some days it will grab and eat, some days it does nothing. Seems to be growing some new flesh around the exposed skelatal area but im not holding my breath, could be some localized inflation and some other corals are randomly showing some unhappyness for a day or two, particularly the other open brain. I set up a webcam and taped all night, watched in fast forward and did see some movement around the brain that looked liek a claw but couldnt be certain as it wasnt light enough to be able to see properly, need a better webcam. So after lights out tonight I thought id see if I could catch a good glimps of the pistol as im still hearing clicks as well. I let a bit of food go around the tank. Grabbed a flashlight. Seen a glimps of the pistol around the brain im still having trouble with, oh well. Then I fiigured Id just motor around the tank and take a peek and see if I can see some critters. Well I saw exactly what I didnt want to see. 2 more crabs. *Sigh* One looks like the other 2 crabs I got out of the tank. Dark purple bodies and black claws with reddish undersides. And the other looks either Xanthid or Gorilla. Darn. Thats 4 Crabs, and two pistols in this tanks life so far. I see reefer rock in my display in the future and a piece of live in the sump for a seed. It may take longer in the beginning but it beats tearing your tank apart 4 times to get all these things out that are picking on your corals.