Any idea what happened??

[TAZ]

Hi all,

Yesterday morning when I left for work my waving hand coral looked like this:

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/500/479Before.JPG

When I came home from work it looked like this:

http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/500/479After.JPG

I did a complete round of chemical tests as soon as I saw this:

NO3 = 0
ALK = 4.46
DKH = 12.5
Cal = 440
Ammo = 0
NO2 = 0
Phos = 0
PH = 8.0
Salt = 1.027

There is also a second piece of this same coral in the tank. In a different location, but doing totally fine. All the other corals in the tank are fine, just not this one.

The one thing with this coral is that I have had several Bumble bee snail residing in it for several weeks now. The coral had not shown any signs of stress before this. Could this have had anything to do with this?

Is there any chance that this coral can make a come back, or should I remove it from the tank? More importantly, does anyone have any ideas what could have caused something like this to have happened, and to have done so as fast as it did (basically in the 9 Hrs I was at work).

Thanks
Martin

[Delphinus]

I fixed the links for you. To imbed a picture you need to post the URL of the image itself (i.e., the JPG file). To find out what it is, you can right-click on the image itself on the photo webpage, select "Properties" and you should see a "http://somethingsomethingsomething.jpg" -- that's what you want. Ignore anything trailing past the .jpg extension -- you don't need or want that in the ... tags.

Now. As for the pictures. Wow, that's nasty. I wonder if it's got a bacterial infection or something. The only thing that I notice of your parameters is that your SG seems a little high. It should be closer to 1.025. I don't think that's behind what's happening to your anthellia though. What is the tank temperature, any idea of the daytime/nighttime swings? (Temp, pH, ... ?)

[TAZ]

The temp on my tank is actually very stable. It stays at 78.9, there may be a .1 or .2 change during the night but for the most part that is it. I do usually try and keep the salt water at 1.025, I am making some new water right now so this should bring it back in line. As for the PH, when I did the test last night the PH monitor showed 8.0, this morning the monitor showed 8.14

[Beverly]

TAZ,

I notice my two clumps of xenia go limp when I turn off my powerheads during water changes. Was there more water movement around your xenia when it looked healthy than there is now?

[TAZ]

Beverly,

As far as I can tell the water movement has not changed. I did angle one PH a little but the coral did seem to have type of movement that it did before


If this is some kind of infection, whould it be better to pull this out of the tank now? Or can I leave it in and see if it recovers?

[Beverly]

If this is some kind of infection, whould it be better to pull this out of the tank now? Or can I leave it in and see if it recovers?

Do you have an unocuppied tank to put it into to see if it can recover there?

[Chad]

I can't tell for sure but your looks like its decaying? Brown etc.. Mine shriveled up when I first got it but now it has exploded and its everywhere..

Seems to me it may recover. so long as it is not decaying..

[TAZ]

Beverly - I wish I did have another tank setup so that I could put this into, but I don't right now (will be buying one this weekend).

Chad - to me it kind of looks like it is decaying. But there are also a lot of new small buds that look like they might be ok. If it is decaying would it be a good idea to remove as much of the dead stuff as I can? I could angle a PH towards it to blow any dead stuff off. I am also doing a water change tonight so I could try and siphon the crud off?

Anyone have any other suggestions

[Old Guy]

I've had that stuff down to a minute little stub only to return in full force. I believe Shao(smokinreefer) has had the same experience.

[Chad]

I might remove stuff that is "decaying".. but that is it.. rotting flesh isn't too good in a closed system like our tanks.

Also, its a good idea to turkey baste these sort of corals, lots of detritus (sp) can build up in those huge mats and cause tons of problems.. ie: bacterial Infection

just my 2 cents..

[Chad]

I've had that stuff down to a minute little stub only to return in full force. I believe Shao(smokinreefer) has had the same experience.

Yup, I've had stubs of nothing come back to big colonies..

[TAZ]

thanks for all the feedback guys. I did turkey baste this guy a few times, but I probably did not do this enough. I really hope this comes back as it really looked great in the tank

[pocilipora]

did you turkey baste the coral in a seperate container... :rolleyes:

[TAZ]

Just wanted to update you guys. When I got home last night the coral was almost fully open again?? It is still not at 100% yet, but sure is looking a lot better than before :biggrin: I still want to try and figure out what happend, as I don't want to see this happening again

[BCOrchidGuy]

Taz, I didn't want to say anything because for the most part I haven't a clue what I'm talking about but it does look like it's somewhat similar to Xenia and Anthelia, both of which collapse from time to time for Who knows what reason. Glad to hear it's back.

Doug