Sick coral?

[Jessilyn86]

I have had this coral for 2-3 weeks. 60g tank. We use a 4 bulb lighting system ( 2 sets of T5 and 1 set of LED ). When we first got the coral, it was doing awesome and thriving up until a few days ago. Now it barely opens and has some strange coloring on it and looks like something is wrong at the base of the coral. Everything else in the tank is doing beautifully . Not sure why all of a sudden this coral went downhill.

We use a liquid test kit. Everything is perfect, temp is 78 degrees. Tank consists of:
1 kleins butterfly fish
1 falco hawk fish
1 arrow crab
Cleaner crew snails and hermits
Small red choc chip star fish
Mini brittle stars that came with the LR
Emerald green crab
Some of those asterina stars
Green star polyp
Kenya tree coral
Blue mushroom
Not sure what else, but I'm sure I'm missing one or two things.

Also, looks like my kleins butterfly had a tiny bit of white spots on him ( ich? ). He still eats really really well, very active swimmer . Not new to the tank.

 

[Jessilyn86]

Another pic of coral. It won't let me post more than 1 pic at a time.

 

[Jessilyn86]

Sick coral ?

Another pic.

 

[Jessilyn86]

Another...

 

[Jessilyn86]

One last pic.

 

[mr_X]

It may just be because it's close to that kenya tree. I have seen them kill what they touch. The CC star is not reef safe and will eat corals....you know that right? I'm not saying it's the problem, but just a FYI.

 

[Jessilyn86]

Hmm that's weird. We bought that piece of LR with all three corals attached to it and it was doing great at the LFS where we purchased it from. Did great at our house for the past 2 weeks as well, up until now. The CCS was in a reef tank at the LFS as well and the guy said that it would be fine in our tank and wouldn't harm anything. He said if we did happen to see it interested in the corals to remove it. I haven't seen it take any interest in the corals at all. Wonder if it got ahold of it at night?.... I didn't know the Kenya trees could kill other corals and it's weird they were in the tank together. How can I move it to another spot without harming it? Or is that even possible? I attached another picture of the corals.. Sometimes during the day and some times at night, it starts to open up again but you can tell it's not doing great...

 

[Jessilyn86]

Pic of all 3 corals together...

 

[mr_X]

It doesn't look bad to me. You can take a pair of scissors and cut that kenya tree off of the rock and toss it in the trash. It's a very invasive, volatile coral IMO.
The cc star did not bother the leather, or you would see definite bite marks, but they do eat coral.
A store that keeps one in a reef tank isn't the store I would want to trust to know what's best for my reef.

here's what live aquaria says:
The Chocolate Chip Sea Star is not considered reef compatible since adults will eat soft corals, sponges, tubeworms, clams, and other starfish.

 

[Jessilyn86]

I wasn't sure the name of this coral so I looked it up and it seems like it's a toadstool leather coral? Does that look like that's what it is? Also, i read that they can go into a state of rest where they begin to shed? Is it possible that's what it's doing? I just noticed the stem is dark brown...

Sorry for all the questions, I'm new to this whole reef tank thing.

 

[carey]

My toadstool does this every once in awhile. it will look like total crap and not open but within a week or two it starts to look good again. It may even slough off the top layer of itself. All normal.

 

[Jessilyn86]

Well that makes me feel a little better lol. I moved the kenya tree coral away from the toadstools just in case it was causing any harm. How big do these toadstools usually get and how fast do they grow?

 

[carey]

Mine started at about 5 inches and say, three years later is now about a foot across. Also, they will attach their "stem" or base to any rock its leaning on, so be prepared for a fight if you want to move it at a later date.

 

[mr_X]

I have seen toadstool leathers about basketball sized. I don't know if they get bigger than that.