Ricordea trouble...

[11lovemygixxer]

So I have had a FOLR tank but recently ventured in prepping my tank for coral.
I upped my salinity to 1.025, got a 4 bulb T-5 lighting fixture and a power head. My nitrites were high to so I did a complete gravel vac, cleaned my fluval 205 ( I realize this could be the reason for my high nitrites) and tested the water. There was a significant decrease in the nitrites so I went and bought a $10 piece of joker Paly and a $10 piece of Ricordea florida. It has been 5 days and the ricordea has been shriviling up. Any ideas? The joker Paly seems to be ok but there are alot of closed polys. Any advice Here is a few before and after pics.

First day in tank:

after 5 days:

it is a 29 gallon. Thanks all.

 

[HN1]

Any nitrite indicates it's uncycled or mini-cycling at the least. How long has the tank been up?

 

[11lovemygixxer]

The tank has been up for almost 2 years.

 

[HN1]

Whoa... I'm truly lost now, but even more curious. What sort of media are you running in the Fluval? What is your reading for NO3?

 

[11lovemygixxer]

I have sponge media, charcoal bag, supposed nitrite remover bag, and two trays of the biological media. I don't know the exact levels but I am going to my LFS tomorrow to get check the levels again. I will post them tomorrow for sure. Could the nitrite levels be the reason for the corals shrinking?

 

[HN1]

Yes. Nitrite, ammonia, or even possibly high nitrate can affect them.

 

[thincat]

Are you sure it nitrite,,,could you mean nitrate? Is the bio media a wet/dry filter. If so that has to go if you are to keep corals. Do it slowly though.
TC

 

[melosu58]

Moved to the sick fish or coral forum.

 

[11lovemygixxer]

Update:

Got my water checked and everything is perfect according to the LFS. So I am confused, the guy suggested moving the coral. any other suggestions?

 

[pat8you]

Something is not quite right here. If you have any nitrite it is a sign that something is wrong. Did your LFS give you any numbers to what your nitrite or nitrate was at? Ricordia is one of the more difficult mushrooms to keep some people just don't have much luck with them (including myself) but it is hard to say with out some numbers.

How long have the corals been in the tank? If you just put them in it takes a couple of days for them to settle in.

Do you change the bio media on the filter at all or recently? Also what kind of maintenance do you do on the sponges in the fluval?

If you are going to start investing in coral i would suggest two things for you. 1. Buy your self a good liquid test kit for nitrates. The dip strips just are not very accurate. 2. Start thinking about getting rid of that gravel in exchange for a sand bed.

Gravel collects all sorts of thing that decay or break down and can significantly contribute to nitrate issues if not frequently (once a week) vacuumed. If it were me i would slowly start removing the gravel a little at a time. Maybe a scoop or two a week. Until you have taken out as much of it as you can. Then buy an bag of dry sand and put that in to the desired depth. I would see if you can find a piece of PVC tube that you can use to pour the sand down into the water through. This helps a bit to reduce the sand storm of adding new sand.

The sand bed will help to provide biological filtration as area for the bacteria to grow. A good white sand bed will also actually reflect a significant portion of light back up which has shown to help corals. Doesn't collect as much garbage is gravel or crushed coral.

 

[MichaelsLilGray]

what kind of lights did you put into the t5 lightbar? if they arnt the right spectrum... or if they are not able to penetrate the water as it needs to.. the coral wont get the light required either.

 

[jcmelski]

I had the same problem with my Ricordea and some zoo's. My ricordea just shriveled up and died. my zoo's wouldn't open no matter where I placed them. I have a ricordea now in my BC29 and it's doing great. In fact, it was one the first corals that I got. The one that died was a blue and purple. Freaking pricey but pretty though. It's a shame my QT tank wasn't up yet. I've read some ricordea are harder to keep than others. Do you have a qt tank set-up? take it back to the LFS where you bought it and have them hold it for sometime to see if it recovers. Maybe it's your lighting, maybe one of your fish is nipping at it, or water flow.