Brain question

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fireman26m

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Apr 28, 2004
Messages
256
Location
Vine Grove, Ky
I have a brain (Wellsophyllia I think) that is just beautiful. It usually inflates to a modest size (see pic - usual size) but yesterday it REALLY inflated! I haven't resized the pic yet of the extra inflation. Is this normal? I have 4x65w PC lights and the bulbs are just at 9mos old. I was planning on replacing them this month. Could the lights be causing this? It's odd because I'm starting to get some coral recession on some species while others are growing like mad.

Fireman
 
They can inflate quite heavily for no reason on occasion. Not usually something to be overly concerned about unless it is one of the corals showing receded areas. I would definately look into the cause with those corals.

I don't see a pic though :?: Unless it's the Jan 15 in your gallery section?

In regards to lighting, it will inflate a little more if it's not getting proper intensity. PC's will usually need changing around the 9-11 month mark depending on hours/day in use. I also finf they will inflate a bit more if alkalinity is off (low usually).

AFAIK, Wellsophyllia is not a true genus, it's properly refered to as Trachyphyllia radiata. Without a better pic, I'd say yours is a geoffroyi. What does the base look like?

Cheers
Steve
 
Here is the pic of it normal sized. I don't know why it didn't post before.

I put a pic of it swelled in my gallery. I cannot just reduce the image size on this computer (work), I can only make it smaller by cropping the edges. So it's a severly cropped pic. Sorry.

Fireman
 

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Steve,

In regards to the coral recession, the main coral is a colt coral. I just read this thread that you gave advice in and I believe you explained why it's recessing. I added a green clown goby about 2 months ago and the goby lives in it. It was fine up until a week ago. Now it's showing the same signs as in the other thread.

Here's the thread
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=40538
 
fireman26m said:
Here is the pic of it normal sized. I don't know why it didn't post before.

I put a pic of it swelled in my gallery.
This kind of behavior is not all that odd. They will do it from time to time and is usually no means for concern unless it remains like that for long periods (days). A few hours thoughout the day is not unusual. It does not look irritated and I see no "warning" signs so to speak. Could also be a prelude to a feeding response.

In regards to the coral recession, the main coral is a colt coral. I just read this thread that you gave advice in and I believe you explained why it's recessing. I added a green clown goby about 2 months ago and the goby lives in it. It was fine up until a week ago. Now it's showing the same signs as in the other thread.

Here's the thread
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=40538
That would not be a recession so much as it would be withdrawn from an irritation. Also be sure yours is the same species. Poisson's is not your typical "leather" variety of colt (Alcyonium Linnaeus) and does not slough as a rule. Yours could simpley be shedding or as you said bothered by the Goby.
Do you know the species of colt?

Cheers
Steve
 
I believe it is Cladiella sp but I'm not sure. It looks very close to the one sold by Liveaquaria.com but the base/trunk is much thicker. The polyps rarely extend out any more and does not have the "bushy" appearance it once had. There is no sliming. Occasionally, there are branches that look like they over-inflated and have a blistered look at the end of the branch but it's never lasted more than an hour or so.

3 months ago I had to frag the coral to save it as one side began to die off.

Fireman
 
Cladiella's will slough and go dormant although not as often as most leathers. Any chance it's close to another coral?

Are you running carbon?

Cheers
Steve
 
Run carbon all the time changing every 2 weeks. Closest other coral is a frogspawn about 9" away besides some mushrooms and GSP.
 
Without a pic then all I can guess is sloughing. The nearest coral being 9" away would not normally be an issue. The GSP's if much closer would be. They are increadibley aggressive. How far off is the anemone from the leather?

Cheers
Steve
 
Nothing really stands out except the clown goby. My only suggestion would be getting a small dead branching coral skelaton in hopes it adopts that instead. Wouldn't hurt to do a few water changes over the next week as well with well aged/aerated SW. Sometimes it's simplest solutions that work best.

Cheers
Steve
 
I did a water change on Saturday and was planning another on Weds. More bad news.....I hadn't seen my orange linkia for a few days. I saw it today and here is what I saw. Not good. One arm is almost gone and another is looking bad as you can see. The other 3 look OK for now. So....should I go ahead and remove him or leave him and hope for the best?

Fireman
 

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fireman26m said:
So....should I go ahead and remove him or leave him and hope for the best?
Your tank is large enough to withstand the loss if it takes a turn for the worse. Personally I'd still wait on it. I won't lie to you though, when that kind of condition sets in it's usually not going to recover but you should give it every chance.

Cheers
Steve
 
Sorry Fireman. That was a beautiful star. I lost one awhile back and it is hard to watch them slowly dissolve.
 
I don't know if I will get another. My wife wants one again. I'm going to try and talk her into waiting for a while if I can.
 
I got a nice red tile star fish from Greentree after my first one died. They have been carrying these lately.
 
Not familiar with it.....reef safe? Sandy's in L'ville had a red-knob star...not reef safe. They also had a Clown Mantis!!! If I had another tank setup I would've got him....he was gorgeous.
 
See here:http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=580

Mine is a maroon color. Greentree had one about the size of a dollar coin last week. Mine is about twice that size. He is foraging my LR in the back so I don't see him much but he is cool when I do.

There is supposed to be a new LFS that has SW in Louisville. I plan to check it out this week. If you have not been to Aquatica lately, you should. He had some excellent stuff. I got a orange monti frag and a blue tip acro. Both were <$30 total.
 
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