Coral looks like it isn't doing too well.

[ToiletDuck]

I put a piece of this coral http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=753 and I put it down on the rock. now when i got it from the store it was looking very good in their tank. Now I haven't seen it even try to filter for food. It keeps moving it's parts around a little(up and down) but looks like a slight film of skin is coming off it and like I said I haven't seen it feed any. What could i add to the water or what do i need to do to make it healthy?
Duck

 

[Salttanker]

Hey Duck - Welcome to AA! We will need some more info from you to help troubleshoot here:

How long has the tank been setup?
What type of coral is it?
What type of lighting do you have?
Substrate?
Water parameters - pH, Nitrate, Nitrite, Calcium, and Ammonia, SG, temp.
How did you acclimate it?

Mike

 

[Brad]

His link shows the coral as a leather.

 

[Salttanker]

Over sight.

Mike

 

[ToiletDuck]

Thank you very much for welcoming me to the forum. I do not have all of the information that you are looking for but here is what I have to offer as of right now.

The lighting is very good. The tank is a small 5 gal tank with one fish and 6lbs of liverock. Looks great and the lighting is beautiful. As far as lighting and water clarity goes it looks just like the stores where I got it. I did a google on substrate and found out what you were asking lol. It is sitting on a rock atm. Does this affect it? I figured that it didn't matter so much because it is a filter feeder. The temp of it is around 74 degrees fahrenheit. I keep constat watch on that temp. My fishy seem to love it. He's beautiful. As far as pH and all of that goes I do not have your information required. I will be going to the store to get the items needed to test this then I will report back. I guess I just figured there was something I could add to the water to make it start filtering.

I do change about half a gallon of water out on a regular basis with the stores water though. So it stays nice and clean.

 

[phases99]

A 5g tank is very small for a Toadstool as they get huge. I would also bump the temp up a few degrees. You should pick yourself up some basic test kits and monitor closely. It is going to be difficult to maintain stability in a tank that size. Make sure it is getting some water flow as you should see the tenticles swaying.

 

[ToiletDuck]

yes it has good water flow with where the pump is located. This exact setup has been running int he store for some 8 months that i've seen it now with no problems. He says because of the liverock it takes care of itself so long as i change part of the water on a regular basis. The only thing that changes is the temp of the water. which i do my best to keep constant. I now have it at some 78 degrees F. I was planning on holding it here. I am going to the store now i will bbl.

 

[ToiletDuck]

Ok i went and ran a test and here is what i got...

Nitrate: 40ppm
Hardness: does this matter?
Alkalinity: got a blue so i'm guessing 300 or more ppm
pH:looks around 7.4

 

[stusclan]

Nitrates need to be under 20
Ph needs to be between 8.2 - 8.4
Temp should stay stable - stability is more important than actual temp, although 74 is way too low.
I would slowly increase the temp. Slowly being key - you don't want a quick rise, it will stress everything in the tank
Get a buffer for the ph and do a water change for the nitrates.
I don't know about your hardness and alkalinity as I don't have corals yet.
HTH

 

[phases99]

Nitrate is way too high, 10-20 ppm max even for hardy corals. Alk is whats important in SW and 300 ppm sounds way too high (usually measured in dkh or meg/l). PH is way too low. You need to slowly bring that up to 8.2. At these levels your Toadstool will not survive very long. All changes in parameters need to be done very slowly, but a 25% water change will help correct this.

 

[ToiletDuck]

i did just change out some of the water. This setup has not been running very long. What can bring the nitrate down? This might sound silly but tomorrow I was wanting to put a mexican turbo snail in to clean the algae that has been growing on the side of the tank. What do you think? What is a buffer btw. i'm reading on that now.

 

[lando]

Hey Duck...Welcome to AquariumAdvice.com!
Sounds like you have a number of problems going on. As mentioned, nitrates are too high, Ph and temp are too low. What are your other parameters? Ammonia, nitrite, SG? How old is the tank and what do you have in it for livestock? High nitrates come from either over-stocking or over-feeding. Some more LR may help boost the biological filtrartion to handle the nitrate. Water changes using RO/DI water will also help. A "buffer" just helps maintain a consistant ph and maks the ph less resistant to change. Most prepared salt contains good ph buffers. Water changes will help with this as well (using RO/DI water). How is the leather doing to day?

 

[ToiletDuck]

um his state hasn't changed much. It looks liek there is a slight slime/skin coming off him. Also there is a slight shiny look on it as well. Like the light is kinda gleaming. I went to the store and they gave me some Liquid Calcium where he said that a few drops a day in my tank will slowly bring the PH up and keep it there. As for salt water I use their water. You could be correct on my feeding habits. I think I might be feeding too much. Also could the new algae eating conch crab (whatever they are called) that i just picked up while there take care of this as well? What's the lifespan on a piece of coral in this situation. Is it possible to get him going again?
Duck

 

[lando]

Do you have a new pic? toadstools do shed their mucus layer from time to time. That may be what is going on.

 

[ToiletDuck]

not atm. When my roomate gets home i'll borrow his camera and then take a shot.

 

[ToiletDuck]

http://www.imagedump.com/index.cgi?pick=get&tp=199404

 

[lando]

Still hard to tell. I am leaning towards the water parameters as a culpret. It does not really look like it is loosing it's musos layer. Your best corse of action at this point is to do a large water change, about 30-40%, put in aged SW that is the same temp and SG of the tank. Good luck. We can on the rest of the issues when the water change is done. Keep us posted...Lando

 

[ToiletDuck]

yep I'm gonna do that today!

 

[ToiletDuck]

well let me ask this. Does coral that is sick move a bunch? This one seem to be moving around quite a bit. While staying in the same place that is. The film seems to be almost finished coming off and i now see a more textured and colored surface underneath.

 

[ToiletDuck]

One other thing. My fish looks like 3 small bubbles of puss on his body. Which seems kinda odd. I thought maybe because he stays in the rocks a lot but then again that sounds silly. He's a Firefish. I'm kinda worried and the pet store was closed today to tomorrow I will be replacing 30-40% of the water.