frogspawn help!

[coshansky]

Hello all,

 

I added a frogspawn coral to my tank in May 2012. It only has one head, and was doing well for the first several weeks. Then it began to shrink in on itself, and now it is almost completely inside its skeleton, poking its tentacles out only slightly. I've read that I should hand-feed meaty food, but it doesn't take it from me. I've also read that lighting is important, but I have two 10,000K T5HO bulbs plus one blue and one violet. Daylight runs for about 8 hours, with dusk/dawn running for 1 hour each (Admittedly, I don't know a lot about lighting). I don't add trace elements because I read that my weekly water changes should be sufficient, and my calcium is quite high. Frankly, all the other corals are really thriving, so I'm unsure the problem.

 

Current tank parameters (20 gallon)

salinity: 1.023

pH: 8.0-8.2

ammonia: 0

nitrite: 0

nitrate: 0 (but there was a spike in June ranging from 5-40ppm, but this resolved itself by July. No change in the frogspawn following return to 0 levels.)

phosphate: trace

calcium: >520mg/L

KH: 6-7

stock: 2 clowns, 1 goby, cleaner shrimp, blue tuxedo urchin, many mushrooms, several polyp corals, duncan coral, several hermits, several snails.

 

Any and all advice is very welcome!

Thanks.

[Tenor]

What's salt brand that you're using for your water? DKH could be a problem if it low 6-7 day time, could be lower at night.

[BulkRate]

The salinity's a little low, but that's more a factor if it's fluctuating over short periods of time. Ditto on the alkalinity reading as well. What salt mix are you using? I ask because I'd be concerned about your magnesium possibly being out of balance with calcium so high but alk so low. Bad batches do occur from time to time, as does settling. Maybe have an lfs do a spot check on your wc water if you don't have all the kits on hand?

 

Have you perhaps changed the orientation or flow settings on a powerhead (or had a snail "adjust" one for you?). Frogspawns prefer medium, turbulent flow as opposed to current in a single direction... too much can literally saw their tentacles off on their own skeleton. Also, frogspawns tend to be fairly lighting-agnostic, but if those are the original bulbs they may be starting to go and you're not getting the right spectrum out of them anymore.

 

Another potential cuiplrit might be one or both of your clowns have taken a shine to it and tried to host it... one head's usually a little small to allow the coral to put up with that sort of treatment.

 

As always, a pic would help. Ideally a decently-focused macro shot of the head in question.

[coshansky]

Hello,

 

Thank you for your thoughts. Sorry for the late response on my part.

 

I've moved the frogspawn to a less laminar current--I noticed that he was indeed sitting in a one-way current.

 

My salt is Oceanic Natural Sea Salt Mix, and it does say on the side that it has "high calcium/high magnesium". Maybe this is too high? Or perhaps too high for a 20gallon? I'm almost done with this container anyway...any recommendations on brand?

 

I've been working on easing my salinity up, but this evening it's still about 1.023-1.024. Note that I am just using just a floating hydrometer. A refractometer is on my to-buy list.

 

I've also tested the dKH this evening, and while the Ca2+ is still >520mg/L, the dKH is somewhere between 8-9. This might be more reasonable, but I have no explanation for the shift between this reading and previous readings. I do, however, have another slight spike of nitrate (5-10ppm), but I think this might be due to a crab dying. I will be taking my water to the LFS to be tested independently as you suggested as well.

 

I've thought about the lighting, and these particular bulbs are about 6 months old. What are your thoughts on bulb longevity?

 

I've attached three photos: 1-about a week after entering my tank; 2-about 1 month ago or so; 3-about a week ago, and it looks the same today.

 

Again, all thoughts are very welcome!

Thanks!

 

 

 

The salinity's a little low, but that's more a factor if it's fluctuating over short periods of time. Ditto on the alkalinity reading as well. What salt mix are you using? I ask because I'd be concerned about your magnesium possibly being out of balance with calcium so high but alk so low. Bad batches do occur from time to time, as does settling. Maybe have an lfs do a spot check on your wc water if you don't have all the kits on hand?

 

Have you perhaps changed the orientation or flow settings on a powerhead (or had a snail "adjust" one for you?). Frogspawns prefer medium, turbulent flow as opposed to current in a single direction... too much can literally saw their tentacles off on their own skeleton. Also, frogspawns tend to be fairly lighting-agnostic, but if those are the original bulbs they may be starting to go and you're not getting the right spectrum out of them anymore.

 

Another potential cuiplrit might be one or both of your clowns have taken a shine to it and tried to host it... one head's usually a little small to allow the coral to put up with that sort of treatment.

 

As always, a pic would help. Ideally a decently-focused macro shot of the head in question.

[coshansky]

I also forgot to mention that my clowns don't really go near it--they've taken to another, rather large polyp colony, so I don't think that's really a problem for the frogspawn.

 

Thanks!

[Enigma]

In the last photo (which is very hard to make out) it looks like the head has mostly melted. It looks like there is tissue missing in the second photo, as well.

 

A better photograph would enable a better assessment, however.

[scsdukefan408]

Im guessing this corals a gonner...its not looking good whats so ever...if there is anything left to possible save..try giving it a dip in revive and make sure nothings bothering it...hope things turn around