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My 1-Day Old Coral Frags Are Gapping


MotherofAnimals

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MotherofAnimals

Hi everyone, 

 

I just acquired many coral frags from a friend as a gift yesterday, and I know very little about them. I'm very grateful because they're gorgeous and it was thoughtful, but I'm overwhelmed. I dipped them all in Brightwell KoralMD for 10-minutes and put them in a frag rack in a 2.5-gallon tank that I’ve been using to quarantine corals. They looked great this morning, but tonight I noticed a lot of them have their “mouths” open. I do remember reading that this condition is bad and now I'm worried because I feel like I failed in only 24-hours, lol.

 

 I fed the tank last night with PNS YELLO SNO and phytoplankton from AlgaeBarn. I honestly don't know why; it just seemed like a good idea. I didn't feed anything tonight. I thought to throw in some LRS but decided against it. I've attached some pictures of the frags and a video of the flow to get a better picture of my issue. I turned the powerhead off in the pictures. If anyone can provide me with any guidance, I would be highly grateful. 

 

Tank parameters

Ammonia: 0

Nitirite: 0

Nitrate: 5

Kh: 9

Ph: 7.8

Temp: 78-79

Light: Micmol Aqua CC all channels max 50%

(Getting/Renting a PAR meter today)

Flow: Around 40x turnover. One Sunsun JVP-110 powerhead and one Tetra Internal Filter 5-10 gallons. 

Link to video of flow

 

I didn't check phosphate, calcium, magnesium because I just did a water change and assumed it was within normal range. It's only 2.5 gals, WC are easy to do frequently. 

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That's a lot of frags.  Eventually, you'll have to be concerned about them stinging each other.

 

The flow seems alright.  And the water parameters seem fine; although I'm curious about the phosphate level (we'd like to see measurable, but not high levels from a good low range test kit).

 

About their mouths, I'd probably attribute it to stress.  Maybe it's just the sudden change in parameters (and lighting, and flow) compared to their previous environment.  Not that your tank's parameters are off (just that they might be different).  This might improve as they acclimate.  However, watch for signs of additional decline.

 

I would hesitate on the instinct to overfeed, which is pretty common, and can result in various other problems.  Corals are photosynthetic, but usually can benefit from light weekly feedings.

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MotherofAnimals
4 hours ago, seabass said:

That's a lot of frags.  Eventually, you'll have to be concerned about them stinging each other.

 

It's A LOT of frags! And I'm super stressed out about them stringing each other. I didn't want to throw them in my display tank right away and freak everyone out or invite something unwanted. I might start adding them to my DT slowly over a few weeks once I've monitored them for a while. 

 

4 hours ago, seabass said:

The flow seems alright.  And the water parameters seem fine; although I'm curious about the phosphate level (we'd like to see measurable, but not high levels from a good low range test kit).

I'll purchase a Hanna ULR phosphate meter today. I didn't have one before because I only had a cute little goniopora and zoa before this. 

 

4 hours ago, seabass said:

 

About their mouths, I'd probably attribute it to stress.  Maybe it's just the sudden change in parameters (and lighting, and flow) compared to their previous environment.  Not that your tank's parameters are off (just that they might be different).  This might improve as they acclimate.  However, watch for signs of additional decline.

I thought it was acclimation too, but looking at them this morning after the light has been off overnight, it seems their mouths have closed. My uneducated guess is the light might be too intense and stressing them out. If that's all it is it that's an easy fix, so fingers crossed. 

 

4 hours ago, seabass said:

I would hesitate on the instinct to overfeed, which is pretty common, and can result in various other problems.  Corals are photosynthetic, but usually can benefit from light weekly feedings.

I fought the urge and didn't feed anything. I just imagined it would be overwhelming to eat something when stressed. I know I don't want to eat anything when I'm stressed out, lol.

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MotherofAnimals
4 hours ago, Pjanssen said:

Wow! I need a friend to give me a ton of corals!

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My bestie is the best! She bought almost everything on my “OMG I want this one day” list as a graduation present. She’s awesome.

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