Open brain coral dying

A

alysak6075

New member
So i had this open brain coral for a few months. It started receding and once i fixed the water issues it stopped and looked like it was doing better. It was swelling up during the night but it would not eat. This morning though it receded like crazy there is way more skeleton showing. I really am out of ideas. Can anyone please suggest something to try? I have dipped it, maybe i need to do an iodine dip again or move it to a spot where there is even less flow.

My tank is a 54G corner

pH: 8.1 - 8.2
Alk: 4
Calc: 450
Mag: 1350
Temp: 77-78

weekly water change 5-10G
 
Are you dosing alk? You need to slowly raise that no more than 1dkh per day. 7 dkh is the bare minimum to keep your tank at.
 
before the values ..what are you using to measure/test for alk ?

4-6 alk is not good .. alk must be atleast 7 .. stable systems may take it less than 7 but not for long ..

dont follow advice from fish stores .. half of them dont knwo what they are talking about
 
tinman said:
before the values ..what are you using to measure/test for alk ?

4-6 alk is not good .. alk must be atleast 7 .. stable systems may take it less than 7 but not for long ..

dont follow advice from fish stores .. half of them dont knwo what they are talking about
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good to know. i use the Seachem Marine Basic, it has the orange liquid where you count the drops and then divide by 2
 
alysak6075 said:
good to know. i use the Seachem Marine Basic, it has the orange liquid where you count the drops and then divide by 2
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not sure about that test kit but i think you sort of got a wrong reading ..

almost all salt mixes mix at more than 7dkh alk .. and unless the tank is heavy with sps, it wont drop to 4 dkh and that too at weekly water change 5-10G, at which point those sps take shot before your open brain coral..

one condition that might be happening in your tank is you dosed on already high alk ( wrong reading from your test) and then low nutients would burn sps ..not sure what the effect of high alk low nutrients on lps though ..

another chance is your magnesium being too low and it would affect the lps same way ...



unrelated to the water chemistry .. open brain welsos are lower light corals so if you are blasting a radion on it ..well that might be the case too .. what lights at what percentage are you using ?
 
tinman said:
not sure about that test kit but i think you sort of got a wrong reading ..

almost all salt mixes mix at more than 7dkh alk .. and unless the tank is heavy with sps, it wont drop to 4 dkh. at which point those sps take shot before your open brain coral..

one condition that might be happening in your tank is you dosed on already high alk ( wrong reading from your test) and then low nutients would burn sps ..not sure what the effect of high alk low nutrients on lps though ..

another chance is your magnesium being too low and it would affect the lps same way ...



unrelated to the water chemistry .. open brain welsos are lower light corals so if you are blasting a radion on it ..well that might be the case too .. what lights at what percentage are you using ?
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this is very good info thank you! im no way near as professional as you at this, my light is a simple "Finnex Ray2 24inch" its a 20W light, there is no regulator on it.
 
alysak6075 said:
this is very good info thank you! im no way near as professional as you at this, my light is a simple "Finnex Ray2 24inch" its a 20W light, there is no regulator on it.
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how long have you had this coral for under this light ?

any other corals in the tank behaving weird ?
 
i only have 2 corals in the tank, the open brain and a plate coral. the plate is doing ok, no discoloration, its not happy because my bicolor blenny likes to pick at it, seems i have bad luck with corals. or im just an idiot that shouldnt mess with corals and stick to fish only
 
its been under it since day one. So a few months, the only other coral is a plate coral and it is on the same level as the open brain, it is doing fine
 
alysak6075 said:
i only have 2 corals in the tank, the open brain and a plate coral. the plate is doing ok, no discoloration, its not happy because my bicolor blenny likes to pick at it, seems i have bad luck with corals. or im just an idiot that shouldnt mess with corals and stick to fish only
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Too many factors factors :| move it to a lower flow area .. and as you are just getting into the hobby..get some quality tests. those would help you a lot in the longer run.

Don't get disappointed, we all started the same way :) that's one of the most important things this teaches us : Patience :)

View attachment 12594
 
tinman said:
Too many factors factors :| move it to a lower flow area .. and as you are just getting into the hobby..get some quality tests. those would help you a lot in the longer run.

Don't get disappointed, we all started the same way :) that's one of the most important things this teaches us : Patience :)

View attachment 12594
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Thank you! i shall try not to get to depressed that i'm killing a creature that i'm responsible for:( Thank you for you advice and time, i will try to save it if i can!
 
A 20 watt fixture doesn't seem like enough light for a 54 gallon to support coral. Maybe look into getting a better light or adding to your existing one.
 
Irsug1 said:
A 20 watt fixture doesn't seem like enough light for a 54 gallon to support coral. Maybe look into getting a better light or adding to your existing one.
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That is what i am doing now:) i am looking to add another light to it. Thanx for the advice.
 
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