Smokin-Reefer Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 I jsut picked up a small frag of colt coral from my lfs. I brought it home and promptly acclimated it. I put it into a plastic cup and floated it in the tank and exchanged the water back and forth for about 30 minutes before placing it in the front portion of my tank were i beleive the flow to be of a medium pace. When i first introduced it, it opened up and I stared at it for awhile and then left the house, only to come back several hours later to an unhappy colt. This has not changed a day later. It also looks a little shrunken. The coral is still erect, but it is not showing its polyps. I beleive the coral has some small "blisterlike" areas on the stalk, but very small, maybe it's sloughing? This is my first REAL soft coral. It's in a 5 gal flat back hex that has a load of caluerpa in it, along with yellow colony polyps and some encrusting gorgonion.I have a 2x55w retro kit on top of it for the time being, as I am waiting for my pump on my 20. Sorry about the pic, my webcam blows. any ideas? Link to comment
caja Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 I'm a little confused about your acclimation procedure. You say you exchanged water back and forth? Could you elaborate on that. My colt did the same thing, actually expanding and shrinking quite a bit on and off throughout the day. You may try moving it to another location to see if it would be happy in another area of the tank. Link to comment
Smokin-Reefer Posted January 3, 2004 Author Share Posted January 3, 2004 Sorry that I was not too clear in explaining it. I filled a cup with the water that was in the bag with the colt. I used my turkey baster to remove some of the water in the cup, with water in my tank. I then would take some out into another bucket (from the cup) and added more of my tank water so that eventually the colt was in nothing but my tank water. Today, it was smaller than ever before. The polyps are not coming out, and i beleive i see several small gashes on the stalk, I can't really tell. I went and purchased some new test kits today. My ph is at 8.2 and the nitrates were either 5 ppm or 10 ppm as I had been using a foam block for awhile. I removed part of the foam block and then did a 1 gallon water change. I also added new carbon. I think I'll try to get some lugols solution to see if that will help it come out, and also to take care of any other problem that may arise if they were INDEED gashes on it. I know the picture is TERRIBLE, but It's the best that I can do right now. I'm also wondering if it's experiencing light shock. At the LFS it was under mh/vho combo that lit several tanks, and it was at the bottom. In my tank, it's getting what light gets into the tank from my 110w of pc lighting sitting on the tank frame. I've since added a small peice of board to cover up part of the light so maybe it will reduce the stress some. this is my first "real" coral asside from my yellow polyps and gorgonian, both of which have done fine. I've been researching corals for over a year and never thought I'd be having this many problems. It is especially upsetting to me as I'm a really poor college kid and i used a gift certificate to get it. I hope I didn't just throw my money down the drain (litterally)! Somebody please give me some insight. Thank you! Daniel Link to comment
tinyreef Posted January 3, 2004 Share Posted January 3, 2004 looks like a capnella to me actually (even thru the blurriness). not much of a difference in care other than a greater need for ca/alk and slightly higher flow (medium should be fine). if it is a colt/alcyon then low/med flow is good. make sure you don't have crabs that may take a bite from it or just park their butts on it. (reef mystery for me) a true colt is very slimey and soft. :x the carbon change is a good idea. if you don't have a protein skimmer i would get one. coral mucus/slime on these softies are considerable. time is also a key ingredient. give it a couple of days. some pics of those 'gashes' would be good. if they are gashes then it's dying. a tad too quick tho ime for a healthy coral. hth Link to comment
Smokin-Reefer Posted January 4, 2004 Author Share Posted January 4, 2004 well, i haven't been able to check out for the gashes as my lights are off, but if it is indeed dying, how will i know when its dead? is there anything i can do at this point? Link to comment
Smokin-Reefer Posted January 4, 2004 Author Share Posted January 4, 2004 Well, unfortunatly you were right tiny. I woke up this morning to find a peice of rubble with no colt to be found. I searched and found part of the "branches" under a peice of rock, it was all mangled and i could hardly recognize it as the same coral i placed it in my tank. I still wonder what possibly could have been so bad in my tank that it just up and died? I have one blue leg and a larger scarlet reef hermit, and tons of bristles. I wonder if they had anything to do with it. This is really for a lack of a better word... ######TY! I'm just about to start my 20g drilled w/ sump and now I'm pretty discouraged....I can't even keep a colt alive! worst reefkeeper....EVER! Link to comment
tinyreef Posted January 4, 2004 Share Posted January 4, 2004 don't feel bad, smoke. colts are touchy little softies. sometimes an infection or parasite works too fast for you to react. also a small closed system can show the effects of coral sliming (very probiotic) very quickly. so everyone makes mistakes. try and learn from them is the key. for instance: i'm nursing a colt in my nano back to health after an accidental deep-freeze. X) (doubled my heaters from that lesson, e.g. 2x100W vs. 1x150W) i've been avoiding colts in my display tank ever since an infection of some sort. a dumbass mistake on my part and i infected the mother colony (previously unaffected). within a month a 20" tall x 16" wide coral was reduced to slag, literally. :x (re-learned to pay attention to water flows more after that) better luck next time. Link to comment
Smokin-Reefer Posted January 5, 2004 Author Share Posted January 5, 2004 Thanks for you're encouraging words! I realize it may have been on its way out when i bought it. Do you have any suggestions on another softie that I should check out for the next time around? I was really under the impression that the colt was a goood choice. Again, thanks alot! Daniel Link to comment
tinyreef Posted January 5, 2004 Share Posted January 5, 2004 green star polyps have always been a fav of mine. fast grower and very hardy. capnella are pretty hardy too. i pers pref the arborescent type. (coral dynamics has a nice strain imo) some look too 'trunky' or thick. mushrooms are colorful and even more hardy. sarcophytons are my fav tho. easy to frag and fast growing. i like the bright yellows the most (s. elegans) but those particular sarcos require/prefer a significant amount of light. hth Link to comment
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