Candy Coral In Distress!

[eferguson]

I am new to reefing and just brought home my first batch of coral. My tank currently has a pair of clownfish a good size clean up crew and two peppermint shrimp that have been doing well since I brought them home a month ago. Half of my corals seem to be doing great and have opened up after moving them and a few of them (my candy coral specifically) seem to be dying. I got it from my local fish store around noon yesterday, brought it home and dipped it like the pet store instructed, and placed it at the top in a mid flow area in the tank. I noticed what looks like the coral receding and after some research moved it lower in the tank thinking the light is too much that high but this morning it looks much worse. Is there still hope for this coral? The flesh has all but gone away and the white bone structure is now exposed. 

[eferguson]

Here is a picture of it currently. Very stressed. 

[Tired]

Definitely very stressed, but not dead yet. 

 

What did you dip it in? 

 

What are your water parameters? Exact numbers, not just "good". 

 

What corals do you have that are alive and doing well? 

 

What light is it, what setting is the light at, and how far below it was the coral originally? 

 

How was the tank cycled, and for how long? Ocean rock, dry rock, something else? 

[RoyalGramma001]

What light do you have?

[ajmckay]

Unfortunately they don't usually come back once they're like this IME.  Low light and low flow for the best chance.  My opinion is shrimp prevent corals in this state from recovering.  The peppermint shrimp were probably picking at it at some point.   Once I had some success keeping shrimp at bay with a breeder box that I attached to the rim of the tank in a low flow/light area like the corner. 

 

As for the cause?  I think it depends.  LPS are fragile and they're often damaged due to rough handling during collection and transit or improper acclimation. FW dipping corals is a good practice but where possible you should try to temp and pH match the water.  For corals I think an iodine bath is probably gentler.  But that's just my experience. 

 

Good luck I hope it pulls through.

[eferguson]

@Tired I am so glad to hear that it isn’t dead just yet. 
 

I dipped it in ReVive Coral Cleaner for 9 minutes after floating it for temp. 
 

I wasn’t aware that I needed to be testing levels other than PH, Nitrite, Ammonia, and Nitrate until last night so I have ordered a kit for Calcium, Salinity, and Magnesium. It will be here tomorrow. 
 

My light is not the best. It is an LED white/blue light that only gives off about 13 w. I have a new light coming as well that is more suited and was recommended by the guy at the store. It is a dimmable 30W Reef LED and it is adjustable. 

The Candy Coral was originally about one foot from the light and now it is closer to 2 feet away in a more shaded area. 
 

My tank was cycled with live rock for three weeks before adding snails/crabs. A week later I added the clowns and that has been two weeks ago.
 

Yesterday I also got a frogspawn and hammer that have full or almost fully opened back up and are doing well and zoanthid that is partially opened back up. 
 

I jumped a little too fast thinking that I had my set up completely and research done until getting them home and placing them. 

[Tired]

Salinity is the most important thing to test for, IMO. It's too easy for it to get off-kilter. Be sure to top up the tank frequently, with RODI (not salty) water. Don't use the swing-arm testers, they're inaccurate. Get a refractometer, or an electric testing device. Calibrate it regularly by testing something with a known salinity to make sure the reading is correct.

 

Your light doesn't sound nearly bright enough to have harmed the coral this way. Still, keeping it in low light is a good idea.

 

How much of the cleaner did you put in how much water, and did you provide any sort of aeration or stirring during the process? 

 

I will warn you, that is not a happy coral. It may not bounce back from this, especially if, as mentioned above, the shrimp pick at it. 

 

Your rock looks reasonably mature, so you may be able to keep some corals. Do you have any coraline growth? 

 

What is that to the right of the coral, in the photo above? A strangely textured rock? 

[eferguson]

I will be topping it off from now on with RODI. Since it’s such a small tank I’ve been getting pre mixed salt water from my local store to keep from having to mix it at home. 

With the cleaner I did 4 cap fills with 1 gallon of water. I agitated the water 2-3 times during the 8 minutes. 
 

I haven’t seen my shrimp out much since messing in the tank trying to get the corals placed right yesterday but they could be picking at it during the night. Is that something I need to worry about with the other corals? 

 

I do have coralline growth cover about half of my rocks at this point. That’s what caused me to think I was ready for some coral. 
 

The structure to the right is a cool looking live rock. I am hoping if this coral bounces back I can move it. The live rock is alone so that hopefully in about 8 months Bubble Tip can go there and be isolated. 

[ajmckay]

11 minutes ago, Tired said:

What is that to the right of the coral, in the photo above? A strangely textured rock? 

Looks like a pipe organ coral skeleton

[Tired]

Cleaner shrimp (including peppermints) will steal food from corals, potentially injuring them in the process. Some species of peppermint are also not reef-safe, and will eat corals. 

 

Coraline is a good sign. This candycane is in a serious bind, but the others will likely do fine, assuming all parameters are good. A note: if you find out that your salinity is off, change it SLOWLY. Fast changes will shock things. 

 

The cool-looking purple rock looks a lot like a pipe organ skeleton to me, too. It's a type of coral skeleton. I mean, it is basically a rock, I don't see any flesh. But it's a rock that's that nice deep purple color all the way through. It's probably sharp, don't touch it without gloves. 

(Really, don't touch any rockwork without gloves, there can be hidden sharp edges. But especially don't touch that.)

[ajmckay]

22 minutes ago, eferguson said:

I will be topping it off from now on with RODI. Since it’s such a small tank I’ve been getting pre mixed salt water from my local store to keep from having to mix it at home. 

With the cleaner I did 4 cap fills with 1 gallon of water. I agitated the water 2-3 times during the 8 minutes. 
 

I haven’t seen my shrimp out much since messing in the tank trying to get the corals placed right yesterday but they could be picking at it during the night. Is that something I need to worry about with the other corals? 

 

I do have coralline growth cover about half of my rocks at this point. That’s what caused me to think I was ready for some coral. 
 

The structure to the right is a cool looking live rock. I am hoping if this coral bounces back I can move it. The live rock is alone so that hopefully in about 8 months Bubble Tip can go there and be isolated. 

I mean salinity is very important - but as long as it's relatively consistent most things can survive in a range of salinities.  If your tank is small evaporation can cause swings which are bad so daily top off is pretty important.

 

But given your other corals are doing well that's likely not your issue. The coral was probably damaged in transit. If it were the dip or the light or other water parameters then likely the other corals would be suffering similarly.  If you have several that aren't doing well then that's where I would go next.  Lighting (with the exception of super over the top too powerful ones) causes a more gradual decline.

 

I've seen some pretty clever devices for transporting fragile LPS/SPS corals. One I've used is to take a small cup like one of those things you get in 25 cent machines and cut a hole in the bottom.  Stick the post of the coral in there so that if it rolls around it does so on the plastic cup, leaving the skeleton protected. 

 

 

[RoyalGramma001]

28 minutes ago, eferguson said:

@Tired I am so glad to hear that it isn’t dead just yet. 
 

I dipped it in ReVive Coral Cleaner for 9 minutes after floating it for temp. 
 

I wasn’t aware that I needed to be testing levels other than PH, Nitrite, Ammonia, and Nitrate until last night so I have ordered a kit for Calcium, Salinity, and Magnesium. It will be here tomorrow. 
 

My light is not the best. It is an LED white/blue light that only gives off about 13 w. I have a new light coming as well that is more suited and was recommended by the guy at the store. It is a dimmable 30W Reef LED and it is adjustable. 

The Candy Coral was originally about one foot from the light and now it is closer to 2 feet away in a more shaded area. 
 

My tank was cycled with live rock for three weeks before adding snails/crabs. A week later I added the clowns and that has been two weeks ago.
 

Yesterday I also got a frogspawn and hammer that have full or almost fully opened back up and are doing well and zoanthid that is partially opened back up. 
 

I jumped a little too fast thinking that I had my set up completely and research done until getting them home and placing them. 

Is your light full spectrum?

[eferguson]

15 minutes ago, ajmckay said:

I mean salinity is very important - but as long as it's relatively consistent most things can survive in a range of salinities.  If your tank is small evaporation can cause swings which are bad so daily top off is pretty important.

 

But given your other corals are doing well that's likely not your issue. The coral was probably damaged in transit. If it were the dip or the light or other water parameters then likely the other corals would be suffering similarly.  If you have several that aren't doing well then that's where I would go next.  Lighting (with the exception of super over the top too powerful ones) causes a more gradual decline.

 

I've seen some pretty clever devices for transporting fragile LPS/SPS corals. One I've used is to take a small cup like one of those things you get in 25 cent machines and cut a hole in the bottom.  Stick the post of the coral in there so that if it rolls around it does so on the plastic cup, leaving the skeleton protected. 

 

 

I think that transportation is what has hurt this one so much. That’s a handy idea to use the small cups.  Thanks for the tip! 

16 minutes ago, RoyalGramma001 said:

Is your light full spectrum?

I believe so. I know the one that I have coming is. 

[eferguson]

18 minutes ago, Tired said:

Cleaner shrimp (including peppermints) will steal food from corals, potentially injuring them in the process. Some species of peppermint are also not reef-safe, and will eat corals. 

 

Coraline is a good sign. This candycane is in a serious bind, but the others will likely do fine, assuming all parameters are good. A note: if you find out that your salinity is off, change it SLOWLY. Fast changes will shock things. 

 

The cool-looking purple rock looks a lot like a pipe organ skeleton to me, too. It's a type of coral skeleton. I mean, it is basically a rock, I don't see any flesh. But it's a rock that's that nice deep purple color all the way through. It's probably sharp, don't touch it without gloves. 

(Really, don't touch any rockwork without gloves, there can be hidden sharp edges. But especially don't touch that.)

I’ll be keeping all of this in mind moving forward. Thank you for being so responsive! I’ll try and update if this one pulls through in the next few weeks when I get things on a better track.