Another Frogspawn Problem

[J. Montgomery]

I have a branching frogspawn with three heads that I've had for four weeks (picture a "Y" shape, one head at one top, and the other two - slightly merged together - on the other). About four days ago one of the merged heads began to deflate and recede from its skeleton and needless to say I'm worried. The other two heads seem to be doing ok, with the totally separate head inflating fully.

They're in a 55 gallon with 4x65W (two actinic, two 12000K), about mid-depth in a region of low/moderate flow. My water parameters are:

Temp: 79-80 F
SG: 1.025 (refractometer)
pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrates: 0
Nitrites: 0
Calcium: 330
Alkalinity: 2.06 meq/L

I know the calcium and alkalinity are low (I've been using Tropic Marin salt) and I'm trying to bring them up. I've been using limewater for topoff, but it doesn't seem to be bringing up my parameters enough.

Any suggestions on what may be going on? I just wanted to throw my dilema out there b/c I've been worrying about it so much. Thanks.

 

[J. Montgomery]

Well, the problem head(s) finally kicked the bucket last night and got suctioned out. The other head is still looking good. Needless to say its tearing me up to have this happen . . . but, I'll keep at it and try to give the best conditions I can and keep researching (my finance says I'm obsessed - and I got to say she's right Any suggestions on care are always welcome.

 

[Hormigaquatica]

Sorry to see that it died...
If all the corals in the tank look healthy, including the rest of the frogspawn, I would guess that it had been injured maybe? A fish or big crab might have picked at it or smashed into it and damaged it, or maybe it was within fighting distance of another coral...
As long as the others are looking good, I wouldnt be too worried about things; in a few months the heads will hopefully split again and you wont notice the one that died off

 

[J. Montgomery]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8559269#post8559269 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Hormigaquatica
If all the corals in the tank look healthy, including the rest of the frogspawn, I would guess that it had been injured maybe?

Thanks for the response Hormigaguatica . . . Actually, it did take a pretty good bump from a piece of live rock about two weeks ago while I was rearranging some pieces. I was thinking that may have been the problem . . . but it kept on opening up for about two weeks after the bump.

Everything else seems to be doing just fine, including a number zoas, other softies (Xenia and green clavularia) and a few SPS frags (encrusting acro, porites, birdsnest, and monti digi - all have been growing over the past few months).

As a side note, some pavona I have has been growing some sweeper tentacles that seem to be getting longer and longer (I think its due to the close proximity of a mushroom coral ****ing it off) . . . I had read some people saying that they pull off the sweepers. I'm not comfortable doing that and don't intent to do that, but was interested in hearing some of ya'lls opinions on the matter.

 

[Hormigaquatica]

If the sweeper is long enough to reach the frog, its a possibility. I never break sweepers off either, but you can if you want to- its rare that itll do any damage to the coral (those tentacles are designed for defense and arent as delicate as the rest of the animal). It could have been a combination of factors- damaged by the live rock, and then stressed by the low KH levels, it just wasnt able to recover. Hard to say for sure