Open Brain faded ~help!~

[ScubaGirl]

We have a beautiful little purple, red and green open brain coral. Recently it has started to fade to a more flesh toned color where the purple and red were. The green is still vibrant though. It looks like it's going to start dividing too. It feeds well. I've even done direct feeding about 30 minutes after turning out the tank lights and it takes it easily (mysis and blood worms), just to be sure it's getting food.

Water parameters are all great. No nitrates showing. I even took my water in to the LFS to confirm it. We are changing the water about 20% every 4 weeks.

I tried Googling it too and didn't find much that I'm not already doing.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I would really appreciate your help. I really want to save this coral if I can.

Thank you!

[reefwars]

with coral problems and colors best bet is to post your parameters as you took them and all the info about your tank you can like flow and light lighting ,reactors etc.

without theres not a whole lot to go off even if everyone says the tests are fine theres other things to consider like what you do to make these parameters all fine.cheers:)

[bauder1986]

actually post what light you are running and how close the brain is to them

[ScubaGirl]

Brain is sitting on the sand, somewhat sheltered from the light. Flow is one of the quieter areas in the tank.

No reactors. Water changes 20% every 4 weeks.

Lights:
2 white - T5, Super Actinic, 54/85w
2 blue - T5, 54w

Water:
pH - 8.1
Nitrates - 0
Nitrites - 0
Ammonia - 0.1
SG - 1.022

[bauder1986]

Brain is sitting on the sand, somewhat sheltered from the light. Flow is one of the quieter areas in the tank.

No reactors. Water changes 20% every 4 weeks.

Lights:
2 white - T5, Super Actinic, 54/85w
2 blue - T5, 54w

Water:
pH - 8.1
Nitrates - 0
Nitrites - 0
Ammonia - 0.1
SG - 1.022


Hmm seems more than fine there, do you have before and after pics of the brain??

[reefwars]

Brain is sitting on the sand, somewhat sheltered from the light. Flow is one of the quieter areas in the tank.

No reactors. Water changes 20% every 4 weeks.

Lights:
2 white - T5, Super Actinic, 54/85w
2 blue - T5, 54w

Water:
pH - 8.1
Nitrates - 0
Nitrites - 0
Ammonia - 0.1
SG - 1.022



so judging from what you have posted your brain needs some more light, so id say move it out to more direct lighting or higher in the tank. the feedings your giving it are keeping it alive barely but it still needs light.

shouldnt be any amonia and your salinity should be bumped up a little bit both easy fixes.

i would get a test kit for alk,phosphates,calicum if you plan on keeping corals they reveal alot as well.:)cheers

[ScubaGirl]

Before:
http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac177/LMS3088/IMG_5741_web.jpg

After:
http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac177/LMS3088/IMG_6027.jpg

[ScubaGirl]

The color balance is a bit off in the second one. It is not quite as bright a green but it is still green, not yellow like it looks here.

[reefwars]

Before:
http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac177/LMS3088/IMG_5741_web.jpg

After:
http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac177/LMS3088/IMG_6027.jpg


hate to say it but that badboy is dying i can see some bleaching and skeleton?? how old is your tank??? are you running any reactors or sump/refuge??

[ScubaGirl]

No reactors, no sump, no refuge.

Tank is well established. It was set up at our neighbors for 4 months then they moved it 4 doors down to our house. Been set up and doing really well for 13 months at our house.

Any hope for this little guy you think?

[reefwars]

No reactors, no sump, no refuge.

Tank is well established. It was set up at our neighbors for 4 months then they moved it 4 doors down to our house. Been set up and doing really well for 13 months at our house.

Any hope for this little guy you think?



if its showing feeders then yes ive had brains come back from that state and worse, ive seen brains lose color like that alot as well....try moving it in to more direct light.how often do you feed it???

def invest in a test kit for alk and calcium ,with lps these two are very important.

[ottoman]

what are you using to test salinity? even with refractometer, make sure it is calibrate correctly. I learn that SG may be quite lower than what you read. So yours may be even lower than 1.022. Try slowly bring it up to 1.025-1.026.

i saw a similar one in tang daddy's tank. it is sitting in the sand bed but lot of direct light. i am not sure if his lights are 250W or not.

[Aquattro]

Hard to tell with the pics being different, but it looks thinner in the second, and perhaps more zooxanthalae making it appear browner. Have you checked PO4? Are you using anything to remove phosphate? Any other corals browning out, or impeded growth? Maybe slow down on the feeding and make sure it gets as much light as you can give it.

As an FYI, I feed my LPS maybe twice a year, if I remember. I'm not sure what regular feeding might do to internal algae content..perhaps others might confirm/deny my thoughts on that.

[ScubaGirl]

Yes, feeders are out. It takes to food very well. I usually get a turkey baster or a pair of long tweezers (depending on how pesky the other fish are) to feed it. Baster is less accurate I find.

http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac177/LMS3088/IMG_6038.jpg

[Aquattro]

As mentioned, ammonia should be undetectable. If you're using a hagen test kit, they can show 0.1 when it's really 0. I'd also slowly raise salinity to 1.26, this gives you proper Ca and Alk values (plus asst other ions)

[ScubaGirl]

Haven't tested for phosphates at all unless the LFS does when I take water in. I want to buy whatever kits I need so a list would be handy if one of you would be so kind.

I'm feeding it maybe once a week along with my hammer and trumpet. Hammer was really pale and washed out too but on the advice of my LFS guru, I moved it and it is growing very well. I had 2 heads and now have 6. Still not quite as vibrant as it was when I bought it but it seems happy just the same. It sends sweeping feeders out often. Pretty neat to watch.

Trumpet is doing really well too. I had to move it to give it more space. It's about 5x the size it was when I bought it.

I keep pulling Anthelia and Xenia out and putting it in the trash, it grows like weeds! GRRRR!

We've only had corals since last April. That's when I bought the current bulbs too. Our light cycle is usually about 7 am to 10 pm.

[Aquattro]

With a reef, you should have at least Ca and Alk test kits. Maybe Magnesium. A properly functioning tank hardly ever needs to be tested for NH3/NO2/NO3, so I usually just take samples to the LFS if I'm curious. Get good kits, Salifert or Elos. A quality refractometer is important to keep your salinity at correct levels (which should be higher than what you currently run).
What lights were your corals under when you bought them? It may be that your's are significantly different, giving you these results. Also, most loss of vibrance in color is due to excess nutrients. A good skimmer and/or frequent water changes can help in that. Rinse frozen foods to remove any juices, which will be high in PO4. Make sure the corals get decent but indirect flow.

[ScubaGirl]

Our water level is a bit low. We were going to top it up tomorrow so we can boost the SG a little bit right away. I'll move the brain up closer to the light while I'm in there too.

Food wise, the frozen we soak in vitamins in little shot glasses. We do 3-4 up in advance. We then rinse it well before putting it in the tank. We give pellets sometimes and nori almost daily (sometimes we forget in the evenings).

Yes, my ammonia test kit is a Hagen one.

[reefwars]

With a reef, you should have at least Ca and Alk test kits. Maybe Magnesium. A properly functioning tank hardly ever needs to be tested for NH3/NO2/NO3, so I usually just take samples to the LFS if I'm curious. Get good kits, Salifert or Elos. A quality refractometer is important to keep your salinity at correct levels (which should be higher than what you currently run).
What lights were your corals under when you bought them? It may be that your's are significantly different, giving you these results. Also, most loss of vibrance in color is due to excess nutrients. A good skimmer and/or frequent water changes can help in that. Rinse frozen foods to remove any juices, which will be high in PO4. Make sure the corals get decent but indirect flow.



that is a whole wack load of good advice right there, and same here with me i know alot of people feed their brains but i never did only stray food it might have gotten from other things and my last brain outgrew my tank literally maybe tripled in size in less than a year.

[reefwars]

Our water level is a bit low. We were going to top it up tomorrow so we can boost the SG a little bit right away. I'll move it up closer to the light while I'm in there too.

Food wise, the frozen we soak in vitamins in little shot glasses. We do 3-4 up in advance. We then rinse it well before putting it in the tank. We give pellets sometimes and nori almost daily (sometimes we forget in the evenings).

Yes, my ammonia test kit is a Hagen one.



boost your salinity very slowly you can drop it alot faster than you can raise it just boost ot slowly over a few days.

[ScubaGirl]

I'm not sure the lights that this coral was under in the store. Everything else I bought from that store (turbo snails and 2 silver dollars) have all died too. Coincidence? We'll never know....

[ScubaGirl]

Thank you! Will do ReefWars. :)

Ok, I'm off to bed. I have to be up in 5 hours. Thank you all for looking at this and for your great advice. Hopefully I can save it. Fingers crossed!

[ScubaGirl]

I moved the coral up closer to the lights. It's already starting to perk up a little bit after 2 days. :biggrin:

Keeping my fingers crossed!

Thank you again for your advice.

[ScubaGirl]

Just posting a picture to get your opinions. Is it on the mend?

http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac177/LMS3088/IMG_6075_600x400.jpg

[Bloodasp]

Still looks faded but at least not as brown as before as it seems to be getting a bit more color. I think it's recovering

[ScubaGirl]

Just a little update. My brain has survived and is doing very well. It's not 100% full color yet but it has GROWN!!! :biggrin:

This story has a happy ending. Just wanted to say thank you all again for the great advice.

http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac177/LMS3088/IMG_7459_web.jpg

[reefwars]

Just a little update. My brain has survived and is doing very well. It's not 100% full color yet but it has GROWN!!! :biggrin:

This story has a happy ending. Just wanted to say thank you all again for the great advice.

http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac177/LMS3088/IMG_7459_web.jpg


wow looking great and nice pic:) your quite welcome its what were here for:):) cheers and keep up the good work:)