Hiya All'

I have a very droopy and sick looking colt/cauliflower/soft finger leather coral. Up until a weel ago, this coral was upright, big, beautiful and feeding. I noticed that it had, near it's base, quite a large gash. I think this occured in the store as it was being kept upside down tethered to a polysterene block with an elastic band. At the time there was no apparent damage, but the gash has got bigger and now my coral is slumped over. It still feeds a little, but nothing like it was at all. Could there be something that I'm not putting in the water. I put in iodine, strontium, trace elements and feed liquid plankton. In the tank is a pyjama cardinal, file fish, algae blenny, polyps', algae and xenia al of which are thriving except the mushroom polyps and the coral. Is there something that these 2 species need that I don't know about? Would appreciate any advice and/or opinions that you may have. Cheers.

sounds like tha damaged area has become infected.
You could have too much stuff in the water. Strontium & iodine can sometimes upset corals in large doses.
Maybe try doing a big water change and don't add anything for a week and see how it looks. Alternatively move the coral into a spare tank with some new water and keep it seperate for a couple of weeks.

What are your iodine, strontium and 'trace elements' levels since you are dosing your tank with them? Please note your free iodine, iodate and iodide levels so that we can help you determine if there is toxicity. SH

Haven't got any test kits for strontium, iodine or trace elements as yet, but have been very careful to follow instructions on the bottles. Don't think I've overdosed them as the xenyia and the clove polyps are doing fine and thriving. It is just the muchrooms and the colt coral that are not thriving as they should.

if your not testing - dont dose
if you are testing - dont dose

thats how i live, an everything else in my tank lives by

I agree with Musho, if your not testing then don't dose. If the corals aren't using evverything up then the levels can quickly build up and become toxic. Once they are stressed they will use even less of the elements and the levels can rise even faster.

Agreed, ESPECIALLY with Iodine. At low concentrations, Iodine is in fact benificial to corals, but at high concentrations, it can be lethal to many invertebrates (including corals). It in fact is used in moderate concentrations as a short-term dip to remove nasty hitchhikers like flatworms or nudibranchs.

TBH, I never even reccomend testing for iodine let alone dosing for it. Regular waterchanges should suffice here. Same goes for trace elements, not necessary. Not to mention the fact that a large part of me thinks all those "trace element" bottles are just a bunch of freaking Snake Oils. Finally Stronium... Since nobody's ever been able to prove that stronium levels affect coral growth rates in marine aquaria, I don't bother with it. Calcium, Alkalinity (Carbonate), and Magnesium are really the only elements you MAY want to dose/test for. And even then, if you don't have sensitive hard corals, don't bother.

ok guys

have stopped all adds and done a 50% water change what do you think i should do now?

if i can work out how to i will put sum pics up soon

just leave everything for a week or so and see how it looks. If it looks like the coral is starting to fall apart, remove it immediately.