Coral wilting!!!

[djnevstar20002004]

Hello,
I'm really worried about my coral i have recently purchased, This is my first Marine Aquarium, It finished its Ammonia Cycle a week ago when i added 2 Clownfish and a Leather Coral to the Aquarium, I took my water to my pet shop who ran the tests for me and advised everything was fine, I will be doing my own tests soon when my hydrometer and testing kits arrive.
So on adding the coral to the aquarium i noticed the live rock underneath was broken in two pieces. But it was rooted into both of them so i was extra carefull when moving as i didn't want to damge the root of the Coral.
The coral has been fine, Two days in it shed its skin, But 7 days after arriving it has started wilting, It looked as if its root into the live rock is weak and it can't support itself, or maybe its weak itself,
I have researched coral behaviour (When its shed its skin as well) as i didn't want to waste anybodies time on here incase it was normal behaviour but i can't find any information on this.
The coral was Mid Level with a really good light source. Its fully open with its Polyps out, But as it wilted it was about to fall of the rock i had placed it on so i have gently moved it to the bottom of the aquarium, Still with good lighting, The polyps are still out and the coral is leaning on the gravel of the aquarium,
The clownfish have been doing really really well, No problems, The coral is the only thing thats worrying me as i was hoping to add more soon,
Thats all the information i have at the moment.
1. Type & how long you have had it: Soft Leather coral, 7 Days in the aquarium.
2. Current lighting & Bulb Age:a month old, 15watt sunglo bulb,
3. Nitrate: Can't tell until my testing kit comes, as mentioned above the water was tested at the pet shop.
4. Calcium:^
5. Phosphate:^
6. Alkalinity:^
7. pH:^
8. Salinity:^
9. Temperature:26 degree's
10. Liquid or strip test kits:^
11. Location in tank:Mid level, Close the bulb
12. Current amount of flow:Very good quality Pump, Can't specify the specific Flow, But i know its more than enough.
13. Current tank dosing regimen: I'm not too sure what this means.
14. Nearby coral:1st Coral i have purchased, Only one in the Aquarium
15. Explanation of problem:See above.

[carey]

Do you have a picture of the coral?

[djnevstar20002004]

I have uploaded three pictures,
This first picture is a couple of days ago when the coral was doing well and just shedding its skin
http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/362/photo0060g.jpg

This second Picture is of the Coral today a couple of minutes ago, Its the coral leaning onto the gravel, If i left it on the above rock it would have fallen to the tank floor. It didn't look safe.
http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/2879/photo0065q.jpg


This Third Picture is of the Coral root which looks weak, Its the best shot i could get of the coral.
http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/6470/photo0066g.jpg

Thank you

[djnevstar20002004]

I have attached some photo's, Just waiting for a moderator to approve before it gets posted
Thank you

[carey]

I had a similar issue with my leather toadstool, the base was attached to a rock that broke, but in my case the one piece came off actually so it was only half attached to a piece of rock. It's taken about 2 months or more for it to take over the one single piece of rock. I did what you did, I propped it up against some rock.

Is there another place in the tank you can wedge that rock so that the coral stands up better?

[djnevstar20002004]

Yeah Is that a better idea?
I'll move it a little higher and wedge the rock in somewhere, Will it slowly attach to the surrounding rock? The two piece's of rock are really fragile and i'm just worried i might damage the root
Thank you for your help

[carey]

Can you re attach the two pieces of rock together, maybe some crazy glue gel? It should spread around the rock its attached to making it more stable as time goes by I would think. I'd try to find it a a stable spot in your tank and see what happens. The coral doesn't look bad or anything so I think you're ok.

How big is this tank? I wonder if a 15w bulb will be enough light for this guy... Do you intend on getting more corals cause a light upgrade might be necessary

[djnevstar20002004]

I Will be investing in better lighting in a week or two, I was looking at some LED's spot lights or something similar,
For the main light I will get a brighter Bulb, The one i have, was supplied with the tank which i thought wouldn't be exactly what i needed.
What wattage/spec would you recommend for me? I would like to add a few more corals to the tank, including another leather.

I have moved the leather coral back to a Mid-level spot, I have wedged the attached rock in between two piece's of live rock, There's a nice flow around it which i hope will help and not blow it over. He's slowly closing up which i guess is a reaction to me moving it. It seems like its a better spot for it.

Thanks again

[carey]

How big is your tank? Like how long? I can link a fixture or two for you if you want.

And you're welcome.

[djnevstar20002004]

My main Light bulb is 18inches. The tank's dimensions are 60cm's x 30cm's x 35cm's.
That would be a great help I'm not really sure what i should be getting to best fit my tank & fish.

[carey]

OOO I'm gonna have to find a converter, here in the states we didnt switch over to the metric system.

[carey]

I think you have a 24 inch tank. Something like this would be a great fixture. Not sure if they ship overseas though. If you could find something like that on ebay for instance you could get almost any corals you wanted. If you wanted to go with a 2 bulb fixture you would probably be ok for leathers, zooas and mushrooms.

2Ft/4Bulbs fixture

[djnevstar20002004]

That Lighting looks really good, I will check dimensions etc,
I would really like the hanging feature too.
I will check ebay and amazon, They normally are good places to go.

[slitherbomb]

I don't think that you should've put in a piece of coral without knowing your exact parameters and right after you may have finished cycling. The store will probably tell you that everything is fine, but they don't really care about your tank, because if the coral or fish dies, it just means you'll have to purchase from them again. Before buying lights, I recommend getting a refractometer, and saltwater API master test kit so you can be exact with your parameters. Just the other day, my lfs told me everything was fine with my water, so when I asked about my nitrates, he told me they were at 0, and that is almost impossible lol