New Coral and HELP

[ryshark]

I have been wanting a pink birds nest for awhile. I saw this one yesterday and it was SOO pink I couldn't pass it up. However, it has a piece of algae stuck in it. I thought I would just be able to pull it out in one piece. I was way wrong about that. The area where the algea is attached, the coral is lighter in color. I don't know if I should wait to see if my low nutrient and high flow system will take care of the algae or if I need to actually cut the branches of the coral so it doesn't try to take over my colony. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[pat8you]

No expert here but if it were me i would at least start by taking a pair of scissors or something and cutting out as much of the algae that isn't attached to the coral and then maybe your good water quality and such will take care of what is left. Or maybe a pair of tweezers to try and pull some of it off the coral.

 

[ccCapt]

I agree with Pat. Try to get as much of it as you can off the coral.

 

[melosu58]

Can you try to get a turkey baster and try to get close and blow it off.

 

[ryshark]

I tried tweezers, those didnt work very good. Small scissors and a turkey baster are good ideas. Would you leave the coral under water when messing around with the scissors or take it out? Thanks!

 

[pat8you]

It won't hurt the coral to have it out for 15-20 min while your are trying to get it off. Unfortunately when ever i take mine out to clean them the algae kinda deflates since its not floating in the water any more and it would make it hard to cut off. I would try taking it out and see what you can do and then go from there. If you think the coral under the algae is already dead spots you may be able to scrub some of it off with a child size toothbrush.

 

[Innovator]

Is this an aquacultured coral or directly from the ocean? Yes, this does make all the difference.

 

[ryshark]

I think it is from the ocean. I know much more chance of turning brown etc.

 

[Innovator]

Then do as the others said and try to manually remove the algae. Try playing with alternate flow patterns or place a snail within the branches and see if they can help hack away at it. I would not remove the coral from the water and no offense to Pat, but I wouldn't put a toothbrush to it either. Ocean-caught birdsnests are not remotely as hardy as aquacultured...

Do you dose the tank with ca or alk? what are your params?

 

[ryshark]

Thanks. I just checked my parameters last night after I acclimated the coral. My alk was 8 and my calcium was 400. I do dose for alk and calcium separately, but not very often.
I kept the birds nest in the water and blew it with the baster about an hour ago. This got rid of about 1/2 of that algae you see in the picture.
I also tested for Nitrate last night which was 0.
My salinity is 1.025
PH 8.0-8.3
Temp 79.8 - 81.6

 

[melosu58]

I would periodically repeat the turkey baster and see about the rest.

 

[Innovator]

I agree that you should keep up with the turkey baster to remove settling detritus and try to eliminate excess algae growth. Your alk is a bit low, but since the coral is a new addition I would not attempt to alter for a couple weeks and see how it does. I've noticed best growth when alk is above 3.0meq/l (3.5-4.meq/l) and ca above 400ppm (425+/-)...just something to think about

 

[marchmaxima]

Algae aside, that is one beautiful coral. I love that pink.

My hair was that colour not too long ago....

 

[ryshark]

Thanks! Here is an updated picture. Most of the algae is gone from using the turkey baster, but there is still some there and I don't think the coral appreciates it being there. I am having a hard time getting the remaining algae off. The coral is still kind of whitish around the algae. I have not noticed any tissue loss because of the algae. Should I still continue the basting and good water quality of course, or think about cutting that part of the colony off? I wish I could get a better closeup but I can't.

 

[Innovator]

The coral does not look to be suffering by any means, but the pictures may not be showing what you see in person; although, I do see some "whiting" from irritation where the algae is. If you cut the coral you are opening it up to infection, something Seriatopora has difficulty in bouncing back from. I would not frag at this point in time. If the turkey baster is working then give it more time and if it does enjoy vigorous flow you can adjust a powerhead towards it and use rigid airline tubing as a vacuum to pinpoint algae-suckage <--yes, that is scientific terminology XD

 

[ryshark]

Thanks Innovator, good point about opening it up for infection if I were to cut the coral. I will leave it be and continue the baster. As you can see from the first picture compared to the most recent one, there is much less algae. I don't completley understand the creating a vacuum with the airline tubing. Basically do you mean to suck one end of an airline tubing to create a siphon of water out into a bucket and then use the end of the airline tubing that is in the tank to do some algae-suckaging off the coral?

 

[Innovator]

Yes, that would be the less harsh way of removing surface algae. Another idea is to use a small shop vac and reducers to fit a rigid airline tube; hence, the shop vac will firmly pull rather than a gradual gravity feed. I'd start with the gravity fed rigid airline first