Kenya Tree shrink

[caco]

I've notice my Kenyatree shrunk and the botton part is getting a dark collor...I have my kenyatree on the botton of my tank with aragonite.
Any idea what's going on? Am I going to loose my Kenyatree?

Thanks

[fijiwigi]

Have you checked your water paramaters? Please post results and some general tank info

[caco]

Ok my readings...

Temp 73.5
Gravity 32 / 1.024
PH 8.4
Amonia 0
NItrite 0
Nitrate 20 (always 20)

I have a RedSeaMax 34 gallons 20 pounds live rock, I did a PWC 5 galons last thursday night. My nitrate on wednesday was over 40.
I have another corals and they look fine so far.

thanks

[melosu58]

If that temp is right it`s too cold. Need to set your heater up. Temp should be around 78-82. Keep it stable wherever you set it. I dont know if that`s the reason for the shrinking but it could be. Moving this thread to the sick fish and coral thread.

[caco]

Ok I set up my heater for 78 and turned on. My temp is around 75 - 77 normaly. My nitrate is not 20 as a said it is over 40. I'll perform a 50% water change tomorrow too.

[Justin_Toronto]

I notice my Kenya tree changed size when i moved it closer to my Koralia, I assume they like water movement. of course it also shrinks when the lights are off, and grows when the lights are back on too.

[caco]

Ok but on my case...it shrinks on the botton..from the small Liverock with is attached. And it's getting a dark collor arround. I moved from the aragonite and set up up in a big LiveRock with a lot of water movement. But it doesn't look good so far. It's look like I'm going to lose it.

[Justin_Toronto]

I was at my LFS yesterday, the guys there are very knowlegable. They have around 1000 Kenya trees split into a number of their frag aquariums throughout the warehouse, so I asked them about care for them. They said there are a few things that a Kenya tree will thrive on.

One is, they don't like the salinity as high as most fish... more in the .21 to .24 range. They do like lots of water movement, preferably with the powerhead aimed at the tree. They don't like to be too close to other soft corals. And they need the tiny phytoplankton to survive, they recommended a product like Marine Snow (or equivelant). They said also to beware of some snails and such that might feed on the Kenya tree at night, slowly stressing the coral over time.

Not sure if this helps you or not, but figured it was worth a try.

[caco]

Thanks a lot..I'll try those tips, and check the salinity tomorrow. I have the 2 kinds of snails on my tank..I don't know what to to about it...