Help LPS Candy Cane

T

TPeter

New member
Not sure what to do here. I have a 100 Reef with sump, established, 200 lbs live rock + I was gone for the week and returned to see my Candy Cane starting to die off around the edges and shrink up. All other LPS look fine with the exception of my finger leather. So I stayed up most of the night and watched under a red light (no red bugs thankgod!) and i saw my amphipods and copepods crawling all over these two for some reason (like tons all over the tops of my candy canes). Nothing new to the tank or added in the past 6months but I have noticed my pod population to increase dramatically. I wasn't expected this? Usually they are all over the rocks, etc. but this is the first i've seen them all over my corals. Any suggestions? I don't think they were eating it, but cerainly keeping them from extending and feeding. I'm thinking this is what is casuing them to shirvel soem and you can start to see the skeleton show under them. Man I have tons of these that come out at night. Some threads say to feed the pods, I see a few cases where some say they have been eating candy cane corals and some softies, I was going to take them off the LR and move them in the tank so see if thats helps. Do I get a mandarine? I tested and all water perimeters and they were spot on. I dose for Alk, Cac, and Mag. My Alk was little low at 165 so I added to 178 last night. Mag is 1450 and Calc is 460 ppm. All other are zero including Phosphate. Any suggestions? Thanks!!!
 
How close are those two corals to each other...the leather could be shedding/cleaning itself, and the candycane is becoming affected by the toxins. Also, make sure the candycane isn't in high lighting and high flow, cause that would make them close up too. I don't think the pods have anything to do with them closing up. Good luck.
 
Good point the leathers are shedding and it is really close. I havent been target feedinig them but put in "reef chili" twice a week. I do feed my other livestock mysis, blood worms, etc. frozen. My light cycle is 4x65W super actinic that run from 3PM to 11PM every day and my 2x. 250 W MH run from 3-10 ever day. The Actinic are 6 months old. Would you replace those? Should I start target feeding the coral? Are mandarine safe and would they help reduce my pod population? I have a gobie watchman, blue tang, sail fin tang, fox face, clown, 2 cleaner shrimp, and crabs, snails. Not alot of live stock. A month ago I saw 2 of my crabs eating my leather finger so I pulled them out and they are in another small tank. That fixed that issue. A few extra questions in here but I really appreciate the help. I would not know what to do without the help you guys provide to a newer person to the hobby!
 
Many LPS can be target fed. Some of them don't need it and will survive from photsynthesis and whatever small trace they can pull out of the water column, like a Reef Chili or a Rod's. Some LPS will die if they don't get enough meat. I am only guessing here, but reef chili is a very small particulate food and it may not be providing what your candy canes need. Things like Rod's and Reef Chili have their uses, but getting a nice fat piece of mysis (or other cut up meat) right into their bellies will do wonders for growth, and keep many of them alive.

Smitty had some great advice above. Where is it positioned in your tank? CC's are a low light coral and could get fried under 250's if too high.

I can't comment on your pods eating it. I've never heard of that so my guess is that it is probably light, flow or food (assuming your param's are stable.) However, just because I've never heard of it doesn't mean it can't happen.
 
Awesome, great info and insight.This helps alot! I just moved them lower in the tank and will target feed Mysis. I had moved them recnently higher in the tank and last week I re-positioned by two power heads after cleaning so I think you might be spot on. Especially as nothing else has changed. Its it normal for pods to be over corals at night? Great stuff! :)
 
TPeter said:
Awesome, great info and insight.This helps alot! I just moved them lower in the tank and will target feed Mysis. I had moved them recnently higher in the tank and last week I re-positioned by two power heads after cleaning so I think you might be spot on. Especially as nothing else has changed. Its it normal for pods to be over corals at night? Great stuff! :)
Click to expand...

Anytime something has an issue. The first thing I do is to try and remember if I did anything new or different recently. It was probably too much light. I keep my cc's on my sandbed under T5's and they are growing new heads weekly :) (plus I feed each head 1x a week with PE Mysis)
 
maybe this is why my cc's dont open up all the way i have them up top. i thought they looked wierd when they opened they didnt look full. good thing this thread was started otherwise i would have never known. to the sand bed they go!!!!
 
Ur question on mandarines, yes they are safe and will keep ur pod pop in check. I have a pair in my reef. Do ur cc open during the day cuz mine just inflate their tissue during the day and send out feeders at night
 
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