Brain coral not doing so great

[carey]

1. Type & how long you have had it: Brain Coral, about a month
2. Current lighting & Bulb Age: 30" qaud t5 2x10k 2x aetnic, Bout 2 months
3. Nitrate:2.5
4. Calcium:450
5. Phosphate:1.0
6. Alkalinity:unknown right this second, can test if needed
7. pH:8.3
8. Salinity:1.025
9. Temperature:79
10. Liquid or strip test kits:liquid
11. Location in tank:sandbed dead center
12. Current amount of flow:medium
13. Current tank dosing regimen:none
14. Nearby coral:none
15. Explanation of problem: The coral doesnt seem as brightly colored as it was and it seems to be receding which i believe is a bad sign.

Any help would be appreciated. I keep my lights on for about 9 hours total with blues coming on an hour before whites and the same when its lights out.

Thanks guys!!

[Kurt_Nelson]

Ack... I remember the photo of that right after you bought it. Sure has changed quick. Bleached out, definitely. Usual suspect is too much light, or improper light acclimation, but in your case with your lighting I wouldn't think that would be an issue.

Phosphates are really high (you really want something less than .03), but I wouldn't think that's the issue.

It looks like all the tissue is still healthy, and it's still expanding, so that's good news. Part of me thinks maybe it wants to be sheltered from the light a bit, but the other part of me would be worried about messing with it and stressing it even more. If it was mine, I'd probably just let it be for a week or so and see if it gets better or worse, and then reevaluate.

Does it extend it's tentacles at night?

[carey]

I have never seen any tentacles. It does have those little black tubes that sprout what looks like a satellite dish along his edges here and there..

Thanks for the quick reply! I started him on the sandbed also, was only on a rock once so i could take a picture. My other corals are doing fabulous at least.

[Wael El-Dasher]

I've normally found my brain coral happiest after I've performed my weekly Mg dosing. What are your Mg levels?

[carey]

I do not currently test for that. I also haven't dosed any chemicals at all.

[Wael El-Dasher]

This is a great article. Do-It-Yourself Magnesium Supplements for the Reef Aquarium by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

I am not sure you'd want to follow the DIY part of the article, but the background info is good to know.

cheers

W.

[melosu58]

You should not have to dose for MG. PWC`s will give you all you need. That goes for most trace elements except maybe calcium and your reading looks OK on that. Keep him on the sandbed. Maybe move him back a little in the cleft of the rock.

[carey]

OK, I'll move him under the overhang a bit see if he perks up.

Thanks very much

[Wael El-Dasher]

I perform 10-15% PWC every weekend and often while cleaning up the sand bed in the middle of the week I'd do another 10% PWC and still I find Mg levels in the 700-900 range if I am lucky.

I am not saying it's the issue in your case, I am just saying if you don't measure it then you don't know.

[Kurt_Nelson]

Originally Posted by Wael El-Dasher

I perform 10-15% PWC every weekend and often while cleaning up the sand bed in the middle of the week I'd do another 10% PWC and still I find Mg levels in the 700-900 range if I am lucky.

Mg consumption should go hand in hand with calcium consumption... more or less. If your Mg levels are that low, then either your Ca levels are also low, or your salt mix is really imbalanced. Seems like most folks using a good brand salt will naturally end up with Mg levels about 3x their Calcium levels - i.e. 400ppm Ca and 1200ppm Mg is a good balance.

[carey]

Well I moved the brain as much as I could under the only rock I could find. Its still half out pretty much but I guess we'll see. Any ideas of how long it takes for them to get their color back after bleaching?

Thank you!

[Kurt_Nelson]

Originally Posted by carey

I have never seen any tentacles. It does have those little black tubes that sprout what looks like a satellite dish along his edges here and there...

Little black tube that sprout satellite dishes along the edges? Are we talking about along the skeleton? If so, those are probably just mini-feather dusters that are growing on the dead skeleton. If you're saying these things are coming out of the living tissue, then a picture would be interesting... doesn't sound like something normal.

As far as tentacles, when they show themselves, it will be along the border between the outer "striped" tissue and the smoother "inner" tissue. They'll usually come out if it senses a lot of food in the water, or when the lights are out. Mine doesn't do it every night, but normally at least every other night.

As far as it coloring back up, it could take months to regain its color again.

A question for the group... has anyone encountered an artificially dyed Open Brain? With how blue that was to start with, I wonder if that could be a possibility? I know it's done with cup corals and some soft corals, but I don't think I've heard about it being done to Trachyphillia. Just thinking out loud... DyedCorals

[carey]

People actually dye corals? Wow thats a new one for me. I hope that wasnt done to my coral lol.

Yep I guess the little tubes are feather dusters, thanks.
I'm gonna go follow that link on dyed corals now.

[carey]

Looking closer at the coral I see this thing poking out. Late at night it has that satellite dish thing out and the black tube can retract back underneath the coral. Is this a feather duster too?

[carey]

I checked on him just now and it seems that the half that is somewhat under an overhang is receding. I can see the exoskeleton a bit. Should i move him back under the light all the way? He is so bleached out now I'm not sure what to do.

[Kurt_Nelson]

Feather dusters have hard outer tubes that can't retract. So if that dark tube is retracting, it's not a feather duster. Might be some type of worm that is living in the brain coral's skeleton.

[carey]

LOL Yeah I didnt think that black one was a duster. It will retract backwards against the flesh of the coral usually and it used to only come out at night. I'm at my wits end with this one. i think I did everything right.

[Jnam]

bleaching can be too much or too little light. and a ton of other issues can cause some corals just dont like our tanks. I for instance cannot absolutely cannot keep GSP alive and everyone around here says its like a weed and will overtake the tank well my tank always kills the stuf. Not that any of that helps. Give it some time. Brains can sometimes seem to die out only to respring back to life just smaller than before.

[carey]

OK so I moved the coral back to his original spot. The half that was under some shade is def receded I can see alot of his underside. Also the fleshy part on top is higher and fluffier on the side that didnt get as much light.

I still havent seen any tentacles, how do I know when it's too late? Will it continually recede back into itself? Is there anything i can do or give him to have a better chance at saving him? This is my fave coral and my most expensive! LOL

[Jnam]

Try moving it higher in the tank closer to the light. and check you temps make sure the are constant temp swings kick sps and lps but.