Northeastgareef Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 I started my first corals in my tank about 2 weeks ago. I got two frags that I was told would be good starter coral. They are either palys or Zoas and they also had a few catchers mit corals on the same frags. One frag looks ok. The other everything has got smaller and they don't open all the way anymore. Now this one was in mid level at the center where most of the bright lights are co centrated, the other on the sand bed. I thought mabey too much light , so I moved it next to the other one and they seem to have gotten worse. But the confusing thing is I had some palys hitchhike in a piece of live rock and apeared, almost right new the top of the water level in the bright light and have grown a TON. Btw, my tank is about a month and a half old. It's a 20 gallon long with about 15 pounds of live rock. Only other animals in tank are a mixed cleanup crew of about 10 animals. Hermits and snails. All levels are good. 0 ammonia, nitrates and nitrites. Cal is 450 and oh is 8.0 SG is always in check with top off held around 1.024-1.025 Temp is 76-78 degrees I light the tank for 10-11 hrs with a 1 hr dusk/ morning blue lights. They rest is black out. I feed verysmall amounts of phytoplankton 2-3 times a week. Mabey it's just a sick coral, but looking for pointers to revive this frag is posiable. I've did a lot of research and found conflicting care instructions. Some say high light and flow and other say put them in a shady section with low flow. Link to comment
pgrVII Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Pics would help some if possible Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 If the tank parameters are good, there must be some sort of pest living in the frag. You should definitely do a CoralRX dip to make sure there's no pests Link to comment
Northeastgareef Posted July 22, 2015 Author Share Posted July 22, 2015 Here is a pic. The ones toward the front are the ones that don't open a lot and seem to have got smaller and losing color. Link to comment
kirbaay Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Here is a pic. The ones toward the front are the ones that don't open a lot and seem to have got smaller and losing color. You forgot to attach the picture haha. Sometimes I have had zoas take a while to open up. Espcially because you have a fairly new tank they could just be taking a while to acclimate. Some zoas and payls like clean water while other like dirty water. Link to comment
Northeastgareef Posted July 22, 2015 Author Share Posted July 22, 2015 Yeah I caught that, I just put on again. Should show up above this post now. I thought about mabey being that the tank is not old. But everything else is doing great. Had lots of feather dusters poping up, and I've been told they are very picky about water quality. Just want to know if hall agree with my care. Any comments of light, flow, and placement? Link to comment
Hig789 Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 What kind of lights? Did you a climate them to your lights if they are a lot more intense than the tank they came from? But my guess is it's that xienia growing all over them has a lot to do with it. Those ones in the front of the pic are melted and very unlikely to come back. Link to comment
Northeastgareef Posted July 22, 2015 Author Share Posted July 22, 2015 I run a 36 watt led 10000k daylight with 420nm antic. So it's not super intense nor was it where they came from. I thought about the other corals growing on top of them. Is there a way to remove them off and not damage them? I'm a beginner so I am afraid to try and do this without guidance. Link to comment
Northeastgareef Posted July 22, 2015 Author Share Posted July 22, 2015 And also what causes them to melt? Link to comment
Hig789 Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Not really sure if you can remove the xienia without hurting that big one. If they are on the mat between then you should be able to. Be sure to wear gloves though and don't touch your mouth or eyes, they can release palytoxin. Do a search and read up on it before hand. Severe stress or injury will cause them to melt. Or some just do it out of no where with no known cause. Link to comment
Nanofreak79 Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 As said first always wear eye and hand protection, keep your mouth closed or shielded. Try and remove the different corals using a scalpel, which these fragging supplies can be purchased online most any where. There is a lot of great videos on YouTube as well. I would do a dip of he Zoa frag in 50/50 peroxide and tank water. 1-3 minutes is what I do. If there sickly cut away that portion, as the melting or sick polyps will just keep killing off the others. Place the frags in a fairly high flow area to help keep algae from covering the closed polyps, this also seems to help zoas bounce back. Melting can occur for various reasons. Lighting, either too strong or not enough, speaking of individual or different specimens require different amounts of flow and light. Disease can cause melting. Read up on furan 2 medication for zoas and palys. Sometimes they melt for no good reason and nothing you do can stop it. This is part of the Zoa game. These are a few things i can think of. I try dips , different flow and check for disease/pests, cut away dead portions or polyps. Be careful when cutting and fraging anything.. Link to comment
Northeastgareef Posted July 22, 2015 Author Share Posted July 22, 2015 Thanks all for the good info. I think I will try and separate the waving hands from the palys or Zoas. Little nervous doing this, but I think I can scrap it off the frag plug easily . If you can see in the picture , there is a large waving hand kinda growing over top of one of the large Zoas. Do you think I can scrap off the mat it's on off the Zoas "trunk" without doing. Damage to one or the other or is it too risky. I've done some research and I'm thinking mabey they waving hands are either irritating the Zoas or putting too much shade over them. As I'm mentioned I got a piece of live rock that I thought had no life on it, and within days I say these little tubes growing up out of the rock and then boom they came open and have done good. They are there the top of the tank. Link to comment
Hig789 Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 I would just cut that big stalk as close as you can to the polyp without hitting it. It might still grow back after you cut it off though. Link to comment
Northeastgareef Posted July 22, 2015 Author Share Posted July 22, 2015 Ok, I'll try that. I know I'm going off topic, but how can I reattach those waving hands stalks once I do this.? I want to try and see them, just put them on a piece of rubble. I just don't want to kill it by cutting the stalk off. The waving hand coral that is Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Ok, I'll try that. I know I'm going off topic, but how can I reattach those waving hands stalks once I do this.? I want to try and see them, just put them on a piece of rubble. I just don't want to kill it by cutting the stalk off. The waving hand coral that is Super glue or rubber band. Link to comment
Northeastgareef Posted July 24, 2015 Author Share Posted July 24, 2015 Do I need to try and get under the mat, or can I just cut the stalks off? Link to comment
Hig789 Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 If you want to keep it get under the mat Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.