favia brain

[ichi]

How can I tell if my favia is doing well? I have had him for a few weeks and I don't know what to look for. He is just kind of a dull reddish brown and hasn't colored up at all, I don't know that he will, but he was free on a piece of liverock I got when I bought my leather so I just want to know what to look for.

 

this is a pic for reference.

[ichi]

also this is my leather, any idea what the species might be? I haven't seen him fully extend any polyps yet, so this is the best pic i've got.

[Acoustic]

Both of those corals look like they are just about ready to go down the toilet. Sorry to tell ya but they are not doing good at all.

[tinyreef]

the favia looks like it's receding but if it was crashing it'd go quick. if you're barely noticing any changes then it may just be 'hanging on'. the coloration (i.e. browning) does looks like a low-light issue as it seems to be darkening to compensate.

 

how mature is your system? other than manually/target feeding the coral at night (when the tentacles come out), you'd have to rely on a mature system that can feed corals (from ambient plankton) to allow it to grow or stay healthy.

 

the leather's still sprouting polyps so it seems ok from that regard. the bubbles on it seem to point to extra coral slime/mucus production. this is usually in reaction to irritation (physical or chemical). it doesn't seem to be any parasites or obvious irritants so i would favor chemical. blast clean the toadie and add some carbon filtration to polish up the water. btw it could also be the cure for the stony for that matter.

 

otoh, you could simply just have a lot of bubbles being produced and the toadie is just irritated by that or the bubbles are just adhering to its normal mucus film. to me, the toadie looks ok for now (it could look better).

 

the favia could be ok or it could be rapidly deteriorating or the bleaching/recession could be from past trauma of some kind and so on. your own observations will be defining. hth

[ichi]

The seaclone that I am using has been releasing a lot of microbubbles into the tank. I think the leather is getting much better, as of today the entire thing is covered with extruding polyps.

As for the brain, I have no idea. It seems to be getting lighter in color, but it was the same dark red color when I got it from the LFS and there it was under VHOs.

I have 2 65watt PC 50/50 bulbs on my ten and the brain is about four inches away from them.

The tank itself is only about a month and a half old, but I was shocked to see how fast it cycled because I used the liverock from my old tank which was already used to a pretty heavy bioload.

I will have to try target feeding it at night when the tentacles come out and see how that works. What should I feed it with? I have been target feeding my 1 lonely little sun polyp with brine shrimp. Is brine too big to feed the brain?

I am pretty sure that my tank is maturing fairly rapidly, I have been seeing tons of copepods running around the tank which I didn't think I would see because I thought the clowns would eat them. Also Last night I noticed a tiny little brittle star in my aquarium. His body is about the size of a pinhead and his tentacles are maybe an inch long.

also I the filtration that I am running is a penguin mini w/biowheel, so I have carbon filtering. I replaced the filter cartridge yesterday so I will see if that helps anything. I also have a seaclone 100 protein skimmer. plus about fifteen lbs. of live rock

[tinyreef]

you might want to eventually take out the biowheel.

 

the effectiveness of the biowheel actually outperforms the LR in waste processing. while this is good in a fashion it is also bad as the biowheel does not further process the waste it itself generates (i.e. nitrates).

 

nitrates are most efficiently processed when they're close to the nitrate generators (so i've been told). in the case of LR/LS the process is optimal compared to a biowheel.

 

if you have a higher than norm nitrate reading that may also contribute to a stony's poor health whereas softies (ime) have been better able to handle such levels. just another possibility. hth

[ichi]

I plan on eventually removing the filter altogether. I am currently building a refugium for the tank and when it is done I will have nowhere to put the filter. My nitrates are as close to zero as I have ever seen them right now though. Of course like I said the leather seems to be doing much better now. I still can't tell about the brain though. Could it be that they are too close together. They are on the same piece of LR and I have heard that sometimes corals can wage chemical warfare on eachother. Also what effect will ammonia have on the brain? I have checked my ammonia levels and for the last few days I have been getting a .5 reading.

[tinyreef]

you shouldn't be getting any ammonia, which is highly toxic. you may want to double check your test kits with new ones or different brands.

 

while the toadie and the brain can get along in the wild (for example, they're living on the same chunk of LR) but in our closed systems chemical allelopathy does become a realistic concern imo. if you run more carbon that may counter the natural chemical combat (if there's any).

[ichi]

I haven't been able to figure out why my ammonia is that high. I don't know what to do about it. I have a seaclone skimmer on the tank and still it is that high. I do a 10% waterchange every week. I have no other problematic readings. PH 8.2 Nitrate 0ppm (or close enough that my test kit can't pick up on it) Nitrite 0ppm SG 1.023. My alkalinity is within acceptable ranges, I can't tell you exactly what because my tester isn't accurate enough. I don't know what to do about it.

[tinyreef]

it could simply be your test kit is bad/old/expired.

 

the brain doesn't seem to be sliming over or rotting away so it may very well be that your water's pretty good. it could just be a lighting or food availability issue for the stony.