Open Brain faded ~help!~

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by 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

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:


After:

[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]

Originally Posted by ScubaGirl

Before:


After:

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]

Originally Posted by 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?

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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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)