Birdsnest help

[Elwood P. Dowd]

Thank you in advance. A buddy of mine bought this frag and stuck it in the sand. The base is dead it appears. He gave it to me to save. I am not a SPS guy at all. I'd like to be, but my tank isn't ready apparently.
0 ammo
0 nitrite
5 nitrate
8.4 pH
1.025 sg

Haven't tested for cal or phos yet. I have kits on the way but want planning on a coral this early on.

What do I do with this guy before I kill it? Frag it off of the dead pieces and reglue it? Move it to the bottom of my tank (40 breeder with 250w 14k & 1500gph flow). Both refrag and move? Will it regrow polyps at the base? Or just keep regressing?

 

[Elwood P. Dowd]

Best I can tell, the polyps that are there are extending g nicely. I am clearly no expert on this.

 

[Elwood P. Dowd]

 

[happyhourhero]

You can remove the bottom if you want. In my experience, it takes a very long time for birdsnest to regrow over dead skeleton. Mine always like very high flow and high light.

 

[Elwood P. Dowd]

I cut the bottom out, glued it to some smaller pieces of rock and left them up high in the tank. Hope it doesn't die. I know it's just a green bird's nest but I loathe when corals die on me.

 

[happyhourhero]

Keep the flow good and the alk stable and you should be good. I love my green birdsnest.

 

[ReefsandGeeks]

+1, you should be good to go. Good call on cutting away the dead. I've had issues with birdsnest growing back over dead skeleton many times. This coral seems to be particularly sensitive to regrowing over dead parts. PE looks good, should be on your way to recovery. good luck

 

[Elwood P. Dowd]

Thanks for the answers folks. I knew what to do, I really needed some back up though. I hard a hard time putting wire cutters on that coral.

 

[Higher Thinking]

Thanks for the answers folks. I knew what to do, I really needed some back up though. I hard a hard time putting wire cutters on that coral.

Cutting coral is just part of the game. As some of my more fragile sps get too big and start encroaching on something else, sometimes I just break of the tips with my hand and toss it behind the rock. I have quite the little bone yard back there. There's also a bunch of birds nest that have continued to grow back there.

 

[Elwood P. Dowd]

I am glad I cut it. Both pieces are looking tons better today. Really full PE, great color. The small but I had to cut out was very much worth putting wire cutters on my first sps.

Thank you guys.

 

[outssider]

Thank you in advance. A buddy of mine bought this frag and stuck it in the sand. The base is dead it appears. He gave it to me to save. I am not a SPS guy at all. I'd like to be, but my tank isn't ready apparently.
0 ammo
0 nitrite
5 nitrate
8.4 pH
1.025 sg

Haven't tested for cal or phos yet. I have kits on the way but want planning on a coral this early on.

What do I do with this guy before I kill it? Frag it off of the dead pieces and reglue it? Move it to the bottom of my tank (40 breeder with 250w 14k & 1500gph flow). Both refrag and move? Will it regrow polyps at the base? Or just keep regressing?

I don't see any mention of ALK. This is one of the most important things to monitor because it can drop quite rapidly. I hope included in the test kits that are on the way is one for alkalinity.....

 

[Elwood P. Dowd]

It isn't. But it i just got on Amazon and ordered one. Thanks for the heads up.