Candy Problems???

[PFB]

I may have exclaimed my good luck to soon.

 

I just noticed over the last couple of days that my Candycane is not opening as full as it was and the base of the flesh, that is normally pink, is turning blackish. The heads are still sending out their feeders at lights -out.

 

They are not receding, just not bright pink like they were before.

 

Here is where it gets tricky for me. The only test kit I have is PH and it has been stable at 8.3.

Salinity stable at 1.024.

Temp goes from 78 at night to 82 at day.

18 watt 10K/blue combo on 13 hrs a day.

I started dosing 1 drop calcium, 1 drop iodide, (Seachem) every other day. Calcium one day, Iodide the next. Started about a week back.

 

Question stop dosing immediately to see if problem clears?

4 deg. temp swing to much over a 12 hr. period?

 

BTW, button polyps and shrooms are opening, multiplying and doing fine.

 

Should I start feeding, I have not fed them anything to date?

 

Or…. maybe this is normal for Candy’s?

[SoS]

Without test kits that's alot of dosing. could be overloading the calcium and iodine

[BCOrchidGuy]

How often are you doing water changes?

 

I agree with SoS, Iodide is easy to overdose and it can kill your softies when overdosed. Calcium test kits are not expensive, best to know where your levels are.

[PFB]

It's an Eclipse 3, so with LR and sand, maybe 2.5 gal of water total.

Soooooo, I have been doing approx. 2 to 4 cups every 3 to 4 days.

Water is of same SG and temp.

 

Should I be changing more? BTW, use IO and now Reef Crystals. (extra Calcium in that mix, so maybe I am dosing to much?)

 

I just changed 2 cups and they perked up a little.

 

They aren't completely black now, just a sort of dark grey at the base where they meet the stalks (I guess you would call them stalks)

 

I think the calcium and iodide may be doing it. Will try .5 drop every 3rd or 4th day. I would think I could add 1 drop to 1 cup of water, stir and dump out .5 cup. That way I should in theory, get .5 of a drop....

 

I will get test kits next time I am at LFS.

 

The odd thing is that the buttons are loving life. They are growning new polyps. I have a golf ball size rock that was half covered a week ago, now it's almost completely covered. My critter-thingy-pods are all over the place, never saw so many in my FO tanks.

[BCOrchidGuy]

You may be fine with out dosing at all if you are doing a bit of water every couple days.

[ross76053]

You're experiencing what I experienced with my Candy Cane when I first got him, but mine was actually worse - I had two heads that were receding badly.

 

With that being said, the good news is your bad heads are still sending out feeders. The little guys may be hungry, and you definitely should be feeding them.

 

Here's how I fed mine - I bought some frozen zooplankton from my LFS (they come in small cubes). I thawed all the cubes, put the juice in a small blender and let 'er rip for about 30 seconds. [Note - if you are married, said blender should be dedicated for aquarium foods only. If you're not married, any blender will do - us guys don't mind a little zooplankton in our teeth.] Then I re-poured the juice into the cube containers and re-froze them.

 

Now, I'm not sure how much (in ml.) those cubes contain, but I can assure you that a full cube is way too much for a nano. I thaw about 1/5 of a cube in a few drops of saltwater and use a small dropper to suck up the juice, then squirt the juice into the tank (I also had a skimmer at that time, which I turned off for an hour or so).

 

In the beginning, I would target-feed the entire Candy Cane. Now that the sick heads are better, I just squirt it all into the tank....about 1 milliliter. Oh - the reason I blended the cubes - the particles are too large for the corals to efficiently consume, so at the advice of others in the forums here, I chose to chop it up a bit.

 

Now, about the test-kit thing. If you're gonna keep corals, it's your responsibility to invest in some more test kits - especially if you're keeping stony corals. You've got to make sure your calcium level is around 400 - 450.

 

Don't know how big yer tank is, but if you're only adding one drop of iodide and calcium on alternating days, but I bet that your tank is still way low on calcium. If you're tank is at least 10 gallons, you're not overdosing with iodide, either (I put a drop of iodide in my 10-gallon every day).

 

Please invest in some more test kits - at least a Calcium and Alkalinity test - your stonies will love you for it.

 

Good luck....Ross.

 

Edit

I dose 5 ml. of Calcium every day to keep my Calcium at 450, so unless you've got a shot-glass for a tank, you're not adding too much Calcium. Only a Ca test kit will tell.

[sjpresley]

Here's something, you CANNOT overdose calcium to the detriment of your corals. If the calcium does become supersaturated (usually somewhere around 500 or so ppm depending on your alkalinity) the calcium will precipitate out making it look like it is snowing in the tank. When levels drop this precipitated calcium will re-dissolve just fine. I add 7-8 drops of calcium a day to my 10G which may have about 7 gallons of water at the most in it. Your dosing should depend on the calcium demand in your tank. At 10 drops/day it will snow in my tank in a week or two. I go a couple days with no calcium and cut back. The more calcium needy corals/clams/coraline you have the more you need to add to keep things growing. Which is why parameters in most reef tanks are very dynamic and require constant (weekly-biweekly) measurement to adjust dosing according to the needs of the tank.

 

Iodine IS easily overdose and will usually poison your arthropods well before you notice any change in the soft corals. However, iodine is not stable and breaks down when exposed to light, which is why it is always stored in amber glass not clear (just like good beer), so usually Iodine poisoning isn't a problem either. I don't know that "breaking down" is an accurate description of what happens, I think that when exposed to light iodine actually just bonds to some other molecules creating iodide or something that is less biologically active which then poses no threat to your animals.

[PFB]

Wow!

All good info., thanks all.

I need to read more on Calcium and Iodide and get a test kit.

Will "chew" on all responses and give an update in a week or so.

Thanks again.

[hhasty79]

Heyyy now some of us girls don't mind a little zooplankton mixed in with our smoothies...just gotta find the right girl

[ross76053]

Laffs....I love it....and no offense intended....:x

[Mnesarchus]

Originally posted by ross76053

I dose 5 ml. of Calcium every day to keep my Calcium at 450, so unless you've got a shot-glass for a tank, you're not adding too much Calcium.  Only a Ca test kit will tell.

 

??? You dose 5ml of calcium every day? With water changes alone my calcium stays very high. What test kit are you using?

[BCOrchidGuy]

BTW Iodide is removed by a skimmer.

[ross76053]

Using Red Sea - the one everyone hates. But I've tested my results with the LFS, and they're right on. I haven't had a snowstorm yet.

[PFB]

Update:

 

I stopped Iodide drop but continued Calcium (still need test kits).

I did feed them twice with Frozen Brine Shrimp (yes, I know, little nutrional value, but I had them in freezer).

Huge difference – the head that was black-ish, gray is now fully pink.

They are opening much larger during the day and extending their feeders way out at night.

LFS store said I didn’t have to feed, but I took the advise of folks on this board and am thankful.

Will get some real food next trip to store.

 

Another question – do I need to feed my brown buttons and mushrooms?

If so, what do you recommend – the same zooplankton mix?

 

How is that Kent micro food that is sold in the jar, instructions say something like one drop per x gallons every day directly added to tank or can be targeted by syringe?

 

I guess I would like to find a good, general purpose food that will fill the needs of the majority of the corals that actually need supplemental feedings. (Sorry about these questions but I have become confused with the more posts that I read concerning feeding)

[Kalanianaole]

PFB: I know this is a little off-subject, but you said you have a 3 gal eclipse with 18 an 18 watt bulb...where did you find/how did you make your set-up?

 

To all: I've done my research, but am still confused on calcium. I know it's crucial for hard corals, but excactly what does it do for them?

I just started using Seashem's Reef Complete, Reef Carbonate and Reef Plus, 1 ml of each twice weekly on my six gal. Any feedback on Seachem or my dosing would be neat.

 

gracias senors

[PFB]

It is a JBJ clamp on strip light. Has a 18 watt combo.

 

http://www.jbjlighting.com/sys_clamp_on.html

 

I just removed the bracket and all the pieces-parts and have it setting on top of a square sheet of glass.

You can’t cut the glass to fit exactly since the eclipse is not even close to being square, but it works fine.

It leaves some openings on sides plus in the back, but evaporation has been minimal.