I got a Brain

[bob`_your_dog]

Hey hey, at last I have my first coral! it's a open green brain, (T Geoffroyi i think). Well it's been in me tank for about 2 days and still seems to be closed. It's also been secreting some wierd brown sorta stuff, i was positioning it and i dont think it likes being touched and has been doing this a couple times today I dont know why or what it is, thought it may be some sorta defence thing.

Um the dude at the shop didn't really tell me much, and i dont really know the generall etecit about coral, if you can touch them and all that. But i have it in a medium flow place and quite high up to get enough light. I only have about 110watts which i was told would be enough. And at night under my black light this coral looks amazing! it glows and really really looks cool, but i'm not sure if he dig's it so i dont run it for to long.

 

[bob`_your_dog]

Here's a bad photo of him, and a sea urchin in the background. You can see (kind of) thats he hasn't really opened up yet

and a full frontal, my aquascaping skill need a bit of work.

 

[bob`_your_dog]

I just noticed today, but it appears that my brain isn't doing so great. It looks as tho he may even be dying, abit of his green skin has peeled off, and his skeleton is starting to show. It's not that bad yet, but does he have a chance of survivng, or is he on the way out, and what can i do to help, more light less light? I'm really at a loss

 

[Navarre]

What lights was it under fromthe shop you got it?
Brains usually prefer sand under them, is the coral on the sand or onrocks?

 

[bob`_your_dog]

It came from 2 T5 3 foot lights, so 80watts i geuss, and i have about 90-100w. It is attached to a small piece of rock. I originally placed it quite low, but i now moved it up to get more light. The guy at the shop said they do that when adjusting to light and water conditions. My salinity way very high yesterday! 1.027/8 so i rushed down and got some RO and have been slowly brinning it down today.

I really love this coral, considering it's my very first and i would like to try save his poor little life, I read that one should try fed them some meaty food, i tried that but well how do u feed these things anyway??!!

Should i place him lower in the sand maybe? Or adjust my lighting? Aghh this tank has been constant work since day 1! and i think my finance's are about ready to catch up to me and make me convert back to fresh

EDIT: i just remembered that it was in the sand at the shop, they had a coral rack but he was on the floor, what difference does this really make if he's attached to a small rock anyway?

 

[Navarre]

Some corals naturally grow on the sand whilst others grow on rocks. This indicates that a sand dwelling coral might prefer a lowler level of light than perhaps an acro that reaches for the surface.

I would not atempt to feed it anything just yet, allow it to settle, if you push, prod and force it then you are likely to stress it.

Its possible that high salinity might have stressed it but usually high salinity is preferred by corals and disliked by fish (my Achilles died of kidney failure this way )
When you introduced it into the tank, how long did you take to acclimatise it?

 

[bob`_your_dog]

About 40 mins, i dripped water in for most of the time, but i fear it was a bit to short, because my water is allot cooler than the shops due to air-con, and it was a boiling hot day and the shop has not chillers or anything. And even after 40 mins when i slowly let my water into the bag to let it out i saw a sudden heat wave in my tank, you know when the water is all blurred, like the heat off roads.

 

[Navarre]

That isnot heat, that is a different SG. When i add Ro water to the sump i get the same thing.
This will agree with the fact you mentioned that the SG in your tank was very high. Most shops run their tanks SG very low (around 1.012 roughly) to save on salt costs so adding the water to a HIgh SG may well have caused a shock if the acclimatisation was only 40 mins.

 

[bob`_your_dog]

Is this called bleaching by any chance, where by the coral turns a lighter colour in order to get absorb light? I heard that or read it somewhere. And do you think it's got any chance to live Navarre?

 

[Opcn]

Bleaching is when the coral jetesons its symbiotic algea, white things dont get much light. Also Navare that has to be a typo, a coral or SW fish would die in a matter of days in Salinity that low

 

[Navarre]

Eek sorry yes a typo! You will see im very fond of making them My excuse is that its my way of making sure you all pay attention

1.021sg is what it should read.

 

[bob`_your_dog]

Well bad news, he died today. RIP my first coral. Very dis-hartning i must say. The guy at my LFS said i must bring a water sample in on monday and he'll do a full range of tests and try figure it out. But my 3 small anenomes have survived hall, and they're still around. He suspected copper, but i'm using natural see water. And my lighting isn't to powerfull or weak, so i can only assume the change in salinity did it

So i geus i'll leave corals out for now, at least till i know my water is safe

 

[Navarre]

You mention you use Natural Sea water. Are you sure that this water is safe? I use it but only after many weeks of thourough testing. The water may be good enough for fish but there might be a pollutant that means its not safe with corals. (perhaps a sewer or similar close to the shore)

Its possible that the salinity change caused the problem and usually if a coral dies this fast then its usually down to an acllimatisation problems. Poor lighitng would see it gradually deteriorate and i feel it would do so a bit slower than this. High lights would bleach it and turn it white but the coral wiould still be thre with no die back.it might have been damaged when handlingit. the tissue is very fragile and a tear during placement could kill the entire coral.

Just a few thoughts what might be the cause.

 

[bob`_your_dog]

Well the beach i collect from is quite far off the beat and track, it is also where all the people i know and my lfs's go to and recomend. I haven't tested it, but it's quite a deserted strech of beach and i assume it's safe. It's also very close to a reef. so again i am at a lose, well i just hope the guy at the shop feels sorry for me and decides to replace him for me.

 

[bob`_your_dog]

I have also just noticed that my 2 cleaner shrimps appear to have what looks like black pimples on them. The 1 had it about 2 weeks ago and when it moulted they dissapeared. But now they're back and on both of them, i fear there is something in my water. I'm gonna head down and get some carbon, not that it's gonna help much. But everybit helps.