Really need help. My trumpet is in bad shape.

[Bearchumjs]

Hey guys. I really need some help with this guy. He was fine up until about 3 days ago when he wouldn't inflate. Now he just looks terrible. My water levels all test fine (nitrate,trite, ammo). My salinity is 1.025. Temp is 78. I've had him since around September, and I feed him mysis every now and again. 10 gallon tank. 1 yellow tail damsel, a couple hermits, an emerald crab and a few snails are in the tank.

I recently added purigen and the only new additions to the tank were a green mushroom, frogspawn, yellow ricordia and zoas. All the new coral + all the old coral is doing well. Just this trumpet looks like it's splitting open or something all over itself. Please help, I don't know what to do.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/members/57623-albums10777-picture49948.html

And just a few days ago it looked like this:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/members/57623-albums10777-picture49949.html

 

[mr_X]

Do a water change. I don't know what's effecting the coral, but That's what I would do. Why did you add the purigen?

 

[Mrc8858]

Not quite sure what the problem would be but in my experience for some reason I just can't keep trumpets or candy canes in my tank. They will stay alive but won't grow. I actually know of quite a few different tanks that for some reason or another just can't keep certain corals.

 

[Bearchumjs]

Do a water change. I don't know what's effecting the coral, but That's what I would do. Why did you add the purigen?

I added it because I was having some hair algae growth. In the last few weeks I got the damsel and I was getting some hair algae growth since then. Probably due to extra nitrates from feeding him and his waste. Should I do a 50% pwc and take out the purigen?

 

[mr_X]

I don't use it. I read that it's inert though, and if that's the case, it shouldn't make a difference. This is a hobby though, and an unregulated one at that. Not much in the way of consequences for a mistake that kills someone's corals.
If you remove it and it bounces back, you know what's up.

A water change is never a bad thing

 

[Bearchumjs]

I don't use it. I read that it's inert though, and if that's the case, it shouldn't make a difference. This is a hobby though, and an unregulated one at that. Not much in the way of consequences for a mistake that kills someone's corals.
If you remove it and it bounces back, you know what's up.

A water change is never a bad thing

Very true. I guess all I can really do is the water change and hope he doesn't die.

 

[Bearchumjs]

Well, I did a 25% pwc. I noticed there is a "film" on top of the water. I didnt refill my tank as high as it was in case this has something to do with gas exchange. Maybe the filter overflows weren't creating enough surface agitation? Then I fed my fish and made sure I put in extra food for the hermits, just in case they were a little hungry and thought they'd see what trumpet coral tastes like. I really don't think that's the issue but I don't see what the harm would be by feeding them. They went straight for the food so I know it got eaten.

On my thread of my tank it was suggested to maybe do a coral dip. Do you think that would help or stress it out more?

 

[Sniperhank]

If there was a film on the water, then I'd get some more rippling on the surface.

I would say that the issue is stemming more from the "put in extra food for the hermits", they are a clean up crew and you shouldn't need to feed them. This can cause unwanted buildup and nitrate issues. You did point out you were having hair algae problems, so this might be the boat you are in, nitrates that you can't test for because the algae is consuming it.

Ironically, this is also a coral that I had trouble with for some time. Still do infact. I have a blue trumpet that was bleaching and dying for months until I moved it into the new tank and it decided that it was happy and began to thrive. Right next to it was a candy cane that bleachd out and died.

I look at the picture of what it is doing now and I see more of what mine does, for days tentacles out and inflated and then the next day no tentacles and withdrawn. It then comes back. I agree with Doug about the water change should help. Did you rinse your Purigen before putting it into your system btw? It is inert like Doug said, but it is in the instructions to rinse it before adding it to the system, making me think that there is something that could be on it from production that can be rinsed off.

 

[Bearchumjs]

If there was a film on the water, then I'd get some more rippling on the surface.

I would say that the issue is stemming more from the "put in extra food for the hermits", they are a clean up crew and you shouldn't need to feed them. This can cause unwanted buildup and nitrate issues. You did point out you were having hair algae problems, so this might be the boat you are in, nitrates that you can't test for because the algae is consuming it.

Ironically, this is also a coral that I had trouble with for some time. Still do infact. I have a blue trumpet that was bleaching and dying for months until I moved it into the new tank and it decided that it was happy and began to thrive. Right next to it was a candy cane that bleachd out and died.

I look at the picture of what it is doing now and I see more of what mine does, for days tentacles out and inflated and then the next day no tentacles and withdrawn. It then comes back. I agree with Doug about the water change should help. Did you rinse your Purigen before putting it into your system btw? It is inert like Doug said, but it is in the instructions to rinse it before adding it to the system, making me think that there is something that could be on it from production that can be rinsed off.

I did rinse it very well. It's taken care of then little bit of hair algae and also the random spot of cyano that would pop up.

About the feeding, the trumpet looks like something picked at or poked at the flesh, which made me think maybe the hermits? I know I was over feeding when I first got Blue because I was afraid he'd starve and die, but over the last week I've only fed him a few pellets or mysis once a day. Before I had a fish I'd drop in 2-3 pellets once a week to make sure the clean up crew wasn't starving to death. Anyway, now that I know or sure the hermits aren't hungry I don't have to wonder if it is them picking on the coral. I've been trying to research this problem but can't find anything that helps other than that trumpet coral are very resilient and usually recover from what is ailing them. Should I try to feed the trumpet after lights out if he extends his tentacles?

 

[mr_X]

That looked peculiar to me to. I doubt a hermit would eat a healthy coral though. I've never had trouble with these corals until I got LEDs. I noticed the neon green ones had a harder time than the white ones with the powerful lighting.
yes. Definitely feed if it accepts it.

 

[Bearchumjs]

That looked peculiar to me to. I doubt a hermit would eat a healthy coral though. I've never had trouble with these corals until I got LEDs. I noticed the neon green ones had a harder time than the white ones with the powerful lighting.
yes. Definitely feed if it accepts it.

Thank you Mr. X. I have a par38 LED bulb but I've had it on the tank since the day I brought the coral home. I keep it in indirect lighting because I thought full light would be too much for it. I've never had an issue with this coral until now. It's truly a mystery! Hopefully it will want to eat tonight.

 

[MahiMahi]

I did rinse it very well. It's taken care of then little bit of hair algae and also the random spot of cyano that would pop up.

About the feeding, the trumpet looks like something picked at or poked at the flesh, which made me think maybe the hermits? I know I was over feeding when I first got Blue because I was afraid he'd starve and die, but over the last week I've only fed him a few pellets or mysis once a day. Before I had a fish I'd drop in 2-3 pellets once a week to make sure the clean up crew wasn't starving to death. Anyway, now that I know or sure the hermits aren't hungry I don't have to wonder if it is them picking on the coral. I've been trying to research this problem but can't find anything that helps other than that trumpet coral are very resilient and usually recover from what is ailing them. Should I try to feed the trumpet after lights out if he extends his tentacles?

I have noticed my blue legged crab is always on my neon green trumpet picking at its stalk , just the stalk not the flesh . It has some holes in the skeleton leading up to the heads but it still seems happy.. Just my observations w hermits and this coral .

 

[SWAddict]

I noticed your trumpet is on a frag. I also had a similar issue after adding a soft coral. My trumpet reacted much the same way. It did not like being on the frag stuck in the sand, so I moved the frag up about 3 inches. It liked where it was at, but the crabs and snail kept climbing on it and knocking it over. I secured the frag and it was doing better. Then I added a soft cabbage coral that mucoused in the tank. It HATED that! So I moved it up higher into a better water flow area and as far away from the softie and again it recovered, but it wasn't growing, and the stem tissue appeared to start receding up. Mind you, no critters in the tank were bothering it. Finally, I moved it up into an even better flow area, far away from the soft coral, broke the stem off from the frag piece, and mounted it to a piece of live rock, Not only did it regularly inflate during the day, and extend it's tentacles at night for feeding, but the polyps began to cleave themselves and start growing new ones! (My research indicated that trumpets are VERY sensitive to the poisons exuded from soft corals in the water surrounding its living space.) Finally, I found a spot where this coral was thriving. I truly belive it was the removal off the frag and mounting the stem base (with Super Glue Gel) to the live rock that made it happier and want to grow, as well as good placement. The same thing happened with my cabbage coral. As soon as I let it attach its base to the live rock, it started growing and thriving like crazy! Bottom line - experiment every couple of days with placement until you see a coral is happy, then make your decision on whether or not to permently mount it there. Corals like to be "handled" as little as possible, so it's important to experiment with final placement and observation for a while on the front end. Hope my 2¢ and experience above are helpful to you.

 

[Bearchumjs]

So this morning my trumpet still looks awful and my grape monti had a slimy film on it and its completely lost its color. Wow. I did another 25% pwc this morning. Zoas and pagoda cup seem fine. Frogspawn is doing ok. Mushroom is fine. Fish is fine. Inverts are fine. I didnt feed the trumpet last night. I fell asleep while waiting for his feeder tentacles to come out.

 

[Sniperhank]

And there have been no recent changes?

 

[Bearchumjs]

And there have been no recent changes?

No changes other than adding the frogspawn, shroom and ric. I put purigen in the pump last Sunday. That's it.

 

[Mrc8858]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't there something on the bottle about rinsing it since the dust can be harmful to some inhabitants. Maybe there is something in it that your trumpet does not like.

 

[Bearchumjs]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't there something on the bottle about rinsing it since the dust can be harmful to some inhabitants. Maybe there is something in it that your trumpet does not like.

I rinsed it really really good though. I always rinse everything really well because I'm paranoid about it. *sigh*.

 

[mr_X]

I wish it was something simple, but I don't know what it could be.

 

[Bearchumjs]

I wish it was something simple, but I don't know what it could be.

For real. Well hopefully the water changes removed enough of whatever was bugging the corals. Thank you again for your advice. I guess one good thing (if you can call it good) is that I only had about $20 invested in the two corals that seem to be effected. I guess if I had spent $100 for them I'd be really upset. Still though, I'm sad that they are sick. They are living creatures and I don't want to see them die. Perhaps time will allow them to heal and come back from this weird situation. My mind=Boggled.