Is my Brain Coral dying?

[ZR2]

I bought this colored brain coral from LiveAquaria and received it Tuesday. It did not look that great from the start. It looks more white to me and it looks like I can see the skeleton structure of the coral. It also had two mouths on it and I no longer see those. Should I remove it so it will not pollute the tank if it’s dying? Or should I leave it and see if it recovers. I also got a enchanted green bird nest tree the same day that still looks really good. 

[WV Reefer]

1 minute ago, ZR2 said:

I bought this colored brain coral from LiveAquaria and received it Tuesday. It did not look that great from the start. It looks more white to me and it looks like I can see the skeleton structure of the coral. It also had two mouths on it and I no longer see those. Should I remove it so it will not pollute the tank if it’s dying? Or should I leave it and see if it recovers. I also got a enchanted green bird nest tree the same day that still looks really good. 

Looks rough but that doesn’t mean much. 

 

I would get it down in the sand where it belongs for a start. What’s it supposed to be? Lobo? Wellso?

[ZR2]

16 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

Looks rough but that doesn’t mean much. 

 

I would get it down in the sand where it belongs for a start. What’s it supposed to be? Lobo? Wellso?

Lobo Tonga colored brain coral 

[WV Reefer]

Just now, ZR2 said:

Lobo Tonga colored brain coral 

Brain corals like to inflate and if they are on the rocks it can tear their skin. They also do not like a lot of flow blasting directly on them for the same reason. 

 

Try moving it down on the sand off to the side and see if it comes back. 

[ZR2]

Just now, WV Reefer said:

Brain corals like to inflate and if they are on the rocks it can tear their skin. They also do not like a lot of flow blasting directly on them for the same reason. 

 

Try moving it down on the sand off to the side and see if it comes back. 

Ok thanks, should I add some reef trace also to help it out?

[WV Reefer]

Just now, ZR2 said:

Ok thanks, should I add some reef trace also to help it out?

I never add things to my tank so that’s up to you. 

 

If you see the mouths again you could try feeding it. 

[FrontMan]

You purchased a coral from a mail order company based in Wisconsin during the artic freeze?  

 

I have no idea why LiveAquaria doesn’t stop shipping from Wisconsin in the winter, but that’s their decision. The internet is riddled with posts of fish and corals arriving dead or frozen. Take the coral out. Get your money back.

 

i’d suggest waiting until the spring to order anything else or at least look for a break of warm weather. I live in a place with a warm climate year round, but I regularly check the weather in other locations if I’m ordering animals from somewhere else. It’s the responsible thing to do. 

[ZR2]

48 minutes ago, FrontMan said:

You purchased a coral from a mail order company based in Wisconsin during the artic freeze?  

 

I have no idea why LiveAquaria doesn’t stop shipping from Wisconsin in the winter, but that’s their decision. The internet is riddled with posts of fish and corals arriving dead or frozen. Take the coral out. Get your money back.

 

i’d suggest waiting until the spring to order anything else or at least look for a break of warm weather. I live in a place with a warm climate year round, but I regularly check the weather in other locations if I’m ordering animals from somewhere else. It’s the responsible thing to do. 

It has a 30 day guarantee, I moved it to the sand and going to see if it comes back. Only parts of it are damaged, my birds nest coral looks good still. Going to give this one a shit before I pull the plug on it. 

[Clown79]

It's in really rough shape.

 

 

Brains prefer the sand bed, particularly lobo's. Their flesh easily tears so being up against rock is risky to their flesh.

 

They also require low light and flow.

[ZR2]

20 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

It's in really rough shape.

 

 

Brains prefer the sand bed, particularly lobo's. Their flesh easily tears so being up against rock is risky to their flesh.

 

They also require low light and flow.

Yeah it did not arrive in the best shape. Hoping it will bounce back now that I have moved it to the sand bed. Not sure how good my it’s chnaces are, but I can get a refund within 30 days 

[Clown79]

I'd get the refund

[WV Reefer]

5 hours ago, ZR2 said:

Yeah it did not arrive in the best shape. Hoping it will bounce back now that I have moved it to the sand bed. Not sure how good my it’s chnaces are, but I can get a refund within 30 days 

Keep an eye on it and if it doesn’t heal get your money back. I nursed one back from the brink of death so maybe you’ll have good luck also. 😊

[Tamberav]

I would send them a pic and ask for a refund but keep it and see if it survives. The way I see it... you ordered a healthy coral and paid for a healthy coral and received a coral that looks very stressed/damaged. 

 

I don't have many problems ordering in winter, I just got a package Tuesday and it arrived at 9am. I brought it inside immediately. Corals seem to handle cold better than heat so I generally avoid summer orders although they toss in ice packs. 

[jservedio]

On 2/2/2019 at 10:01 AM, FrontMan said:

You purchased a coral from a mail order company based in Wisconsin during the artic freeze?  

 

I have no idea why LiveAquaria doesn’t stop shipping from Wisconsin in the winter, but that’s their decision. The internet is riddled with posts of fish and corals arriving dead or frozen. Take the coral out. Get your money back.

 

i’d suggest waiting until the spring to order anything else or at least look for a break of warm weather. I live in a place with a warm climate year round, but I regularly check the weather in other locations if I’m ordering animals from somewhere else. It’s the responsible thing to do. 

 

I lived in WI and ordered plenty of stuff in the winter along with a bunch of other MARS members and not had issues. They have their shit together up there for dealing with the extreme cold. If they didn't understand how to adjust their packaging for the weather, they would have to shut down from early November until the snow melts in April.

[mcarroll]

I didn't see anyone post or ask for the tank conditions....

 

Can you tell us what your most recent or current test results are like?

 

Please include nitrates, phosphates, as well as Ca, alk and Mg at least.

 

Any other history on the tank, as well as a full tank shot, would be very helpful.

 

I'm not sure I've seen a Lobo recover from that far gone before, for what it's worth.

 

He's gonna need some nitrates and phosphates, so if either are zero that's a good place to start with changes, if any are needed.

[ZR2]

3 hours ago, mcarroll said:

I didn't see anyone post or ask for the tank conditions....

 

Can you tell us what your most recent or current test results are like?

 

Please include nitrates, phosphates, as well as Ca, alk and Mg at least.

 

Any other history on the tank, as well as a full tank shot, would be very helpful.

 

I'm not sure I've seen a Lobo recover from that far gone before, for what it's worth.

 

He's gonna need some nitrates and phosphates, so if either are zero that's a good place to start with changes, if any are needed.

Yeah the lobos is about dead I am going to remove it and I did get a refund. I saw someone else complain on another forum that received a damaged lobos from live Aquaria. The last time I tested the water ca, Mg, and Alk were all within the recommended ranges. I do not have a phosphate test. 

 

My water test  have been great and have not had any spikes since starting the tank. Ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are all at 0. I have a royal gramma, clownfish, and a strawberry crab. They have all been doing well. I only use Nutri-Sea water and it is diluted with RODI to reduce the salnity as Nutri Sea Water tends to have a higher salinity. 

 

I also have an enchanted green bird nest coral that was added the same time as the lobos and it has showed no signs of health issues. It seems to like the spot it’s in and the water parameters. The lobos is also struggling because my royal gramma likes to bury it with sand haha. 

 

The tank has had been up and running since late December. It cycled completely in under 2 weeks and I have never had a spike in my water conditions. The lobos arrived hitting the side of the bag and was not floating with foam like the other coral. I am thinking the lobos was damaged from bouncing off the side of the bag during transport. 

 

The tank is a Fluval Evo 13.5. I am also thinking about adding a conch to clean up the green coraline that is spreading to my sandbed. My concern is that the conch will each the leftover Mysis shrimp that sink to the sandbed, leaving a shortage of food for my strawberry crab. If you don’t have a strawberry crab I highly recommend getting one. They are fun to watch.  Any opinions on the conch? 

[mcarroll]

11 hours ago, ZR2 said:

I do not have a phosphate test.

Either get one, or get your water tested at the LFS for it.

11 hours ago, ZR2 said:

nitrates are all at 0

This is not good and why you're getting that weird cyano growth and not coraline or another better algae.

 

If po4 is also zero, then it's only a matter of time before the corals go downhill -- don't wait until that happens to find out, get your water tested and know for sure now, when you can still easily address it.

 

Perhaps it's only the photo, but your "enchanted green" looks more like a "pale tan".   This is a result of the too-low nitrates.

 

I would not sleep on this.  React and get the phosphate test(ed), and then rectify the N and P levels one way or another....dosing nutrients directly is the most precise and quick way.  Target levels (minimums) for dosing would be 0.03 ppm for PO4 and 5 ppm for NO3.

 

Let us know what the PO4 level is when you find out!  :-)

[ZR2]

2 hours ago, mcarroll said:

Either get one, or get your water tested at the LFS for it.

This is not good and why you're getting that weird cyano growth and not coraline or another better algae.

 

If po4 is also zero, then it's only a matter of time before the corals go downhill -- don't wait until that happens to find out, get your water tested and know for sure now, when you can still easily address it.

 

Perhaps it's only the photo, but your "enchanted green" looks more like a "pale tan".   This is a result of the too-low nitrates.

 

I would not sleep on this.  React and get the phosphate test(ed), and then rectify the N and P levels one way or another....dosing nutrients directly is the most precise and quick way.  Target levels (minimums) for dosing would be 0.03 ppm for PO4 and 5 ppm for NO3.

 

Let us know what the PO4 level is when you find out!  🙂

I am going to order a Phosphate test kit, thanks for the advice. However, I am not entirely sure its cyano growth. After doing research, I found that Coraline can be bright green and the algae is bright green. I do see some areas with small hairs but other areas do not have this. Could it be a mix of green hair algae and green Coraline? I re-tested the Nitrate, I realized I was doing the second step wrong. I was not shaking it long enough, the Nitrate is sitting between 5.0 and 10.0 ppm. The enchanted tree has green polyps attached to a tan/brown trunk. It looks very similar to the picture on live aquaria. It's hard to see the green in the picture and the picture was taken at night. I had turned the lights back on to snap a picture, which could have affected the colors. What is the best way to clean this up if it is a bad algae? I am thinking I should add some snails and a conch. My strawberry crab does not seem interested in the algae. 

[mcarroll]

Bright green coraline is even more rare than bright green cyano...which is already rare.

 

What does it feel like? 

 

Cyano is slimy and may be in mats.  Coraline is hard and calciferous.

 

26 minutes ago, ZR2 said:

What is the best way to clean this up if it is a bad algae?

Fixing nutrient levels is the way to correct this.  (It will give your coral a shot at recovery as well.)

 

And you'll want a standard cleanup crew like any tank.....Ceriths are my favorite, but Astreas and Trochus are awesome too.  Turbos rock bigger tanks.

 

Make sure you have enough to deal with the algae load....incease numbers slowly, but as-needed....there's no maximum as long as you go slowly and keep the population sized with the algae load.

[ZR2]

47 minutes ago, mcarroll said:

Bright green coraline is even more rare than bright green cyano...which is already rare.

 

What does it feel like? 

 

Cyano is slimy and may be in mats.  Coraline is hard and calciferous.

 

Fixing nutrient levels is the way to correct this.  (It will give your coral a shot at recovery as well.)

 

And you'll want a standard cleanup crew like any tank.....Ceriths are my favorite, but Astreas and Trochus are awesome too.  Turbos rock bigger tanks.

 

Make sure you have enough to deal with the algae load....incease numbers slowly, but as-needed....there's no maximum as long as you go slowly and keep the population sized with the algae load.

Ok, It comes off when I rub my finger on the rock, so I am assuming its green cyano or green hair algae. So, what caused the algae to form. In terms of the phosphate levels? Also, how do you raise or reduce phosphate levels? I was hoping it was Coraline. Has anyone tried the Coraline in a bottle to help jumpstart the process? Should I scrub the algae off and let the tank suck it back into the filtration system and then rinse the foam block in the sump area the following day?

[mcarroll]

Only cyano will easily rub off....you'd have to pull hair algae off, which is pretty hard to even grab if it's tiny.

 

If you're more sure of your nitrate levels now, we still need a phosphate test to really know in what direction to go.

 

If you run a search on the coraline in a bottle product, there are some folks her who have reported their experiences with it.  I'm sure there are others elsewhere too.  If you know anyone else with a mature reef, you should be able to get "live scrapings" instead.  Either way...

 

Let us know about the phosphate test results!! :-)

[ZR2]

On 2/7/2019 at 5:14 PM, mcarroll said:

Only cyano will easily rub off....you'd have to pull hair algae off, which is pretty hard to even grab if it's tiny.

 

If you're more sure of your nitrate levels now, we still need a phosphate test to really know in what direction to go.

 

If you run a search on the coraline in a bottle product, there are some folks her who have reported their experiences with it.  I'm sure there are others elsewhere too.  If you know anyone else with a mature reef, you should be able to get "live scrapings" instead.  Either way...

 

Let us know about the phosphate test results!! 🙂

I did the Phosphate test, it looks to be between 0- 0.25 ppm. I would say closer to the .25 ppm range. 

 

 

Alk: 10-11 

Mag: 1250-1300

Calcium: 440 

 

What should I do with the phosphates to get rid of the algae?

[Floundering_Around]

30 minutes ago, ZR2 said:

I did the Phosphate test, it looks to be between 0- 0.25 ppm. I would say closer to the .25 ppm range. 

 

 

Alk: 10-11 

Mag: 1250-1300

Calcium: 440 

 

What should I do with the phosphates to get rid of the algae?

a water change, get as much of that cyano out as possible.

 

Don't get a conch, tank is too small and too new. Get better husbandry first 

[ZR2]

Just now, Floundering_Around said:

a water change

I did a 20 percent water change last week, but the algae have been building slowly for weeks. Not sure the water change is the best route as I already do that and the problem has not improved. 

[ZR2]

Anyone try this? https://www.amazon.com/Brightwell-Aquatics-Phosphat-Phosphate-Remover/dp/B00BUFTJII/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=reef+tank+phosphate+remover&qid=1549819908&s=pet-supplies&sr=1-4

 

I do not want a reactor as it is a small tank and I do not really have a place to put a reactor. Also, should I add a CUC to clean up the algae? I just do not want 1000 snails in my tank.