Brain Corals from TBS dieing

[jeffb]

I have been having problems with brain corals on my TBS rock dieing.

The die off began Sun when a small brain about 3/4 in died. It looked fine the night before. The second brain died Wed. It was about 1 1/2 in. When I got home from work today, I have found that another one about 1 1/2 in is dieing.

The die off seems to occur overnight. I check the tank before work and have found shrimp picking at the remains. I didn't check the tank this morning, so I don't know if the 3rd died last night or while I was at work.

The only thing that I can think of is that I had an anemone move near the 2nd one and stung it. This was probably about 3 weeks ago. I don't know if the 3rd one was stung at the same time, but it didn't show any signs of being stung like the 2nd did. The 1st one to die was never stung b/c it was nowhere near the anemone. I moved the anemone after the stinging incident to a different part of the tank where it has stayed.

The tank is now 2 months old.
50 gal tank under 190 watts VHO
10 gal refug and 15 gal sump
pH 8.2
Calcium 410
Alk 3.2
Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia all 0

Am I doing something wrong or have I overlook something? I want to blame the anemone but it never touched the 1st one to die and may not have touched the 3rd one. What can I do?

Is there something that I can do to save the 2nd or 3rd brains or are they totally lost?

Is there something I should do to prevent my last brain from dieing?


Here is a picture off my dieing brains.
The one on top next to the green sponge is the 3rd to start dieing.
The one on bottom is the 2nd to die.
I never had pictures of the 1st to die.

Here is a picture of the 2nd when I first got it in Nov.

Here is a picture of the 3rd when I first got it in Nov.

Here is a picture of my last brain that I want to save.

 

[liverock]

Re: Brain Corals from TBS dieing

I have been having problems with brain corals on my TBS rock dieing.

The die off began Sun when a small brain about 3/4 in died. It looked fine the night before. The second brain died Wed. It was about 1 1/2 in. When I got home from work today, I have found that another one about 1 1/2 in is dieing.

The die off seems to occur overnight. I check the tank before work and have found shrimp picking at the remains. I didn't check the tank this morning, so I don't know if the 3rd died last night or while I was at work.

The only thing that I can think of is that I had an anemone move near the 2nd one and stung it. This was probably about 3 weeks ago. I don't know if the 3rd one was stung at the same time, but it didn't show any signs of being stung like the 2nd did. The 1st one to die was never stung b/c it was nowhere near the anemone. I moved the anemone after the stinging incident to a different part of the tank where it has stayed.

The tank is now 2 months old.
50 gal tank under 190 watts VHO
10 gal refug and 15 gal sump
pH 8.2
Calcium 410
Alk 3.2
Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia all 0

Am I doing something wrong or have I overlook something? I want to blame the anemone but it never touched the 1st one to die and may not have touched the 3rd one. What can I do?

Is there something that I can do to save the 2nd or 3rd brains or are they totally lost?

Is there something I should do to prevent my last brain from dieing?


Here is a picture off my dieing brains.
The one on top next to the green sponge is the 3rd to start dieing.
The one on bottom is the 2nd to die.
I never had pictures of the 1st to die.

Here is a picture of the 2nd when I first got it in Nov.

Here is a picture of the 3rd when I first got it in Nov.

Here is a picture of my last brain that I want to save.

These guys are usually very tough....although they do not like anemones, are you feeding them, see Wooglins thread about them..

Thanks
Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com :rollface: :rollface: :rollface:

 

[delta]

wait till lights out the look in the tank, with a flash light if you dont have moonlights, see if the brains have their tenacle out if so take a turkey baster full of thawed frozen bine shrimp or the like and gently sqeeze it over them. you will see them grab the food thats it.
also it may help to turn off you pumps while they are feeding

hope this helps

 

[jeffb]

Re: Re: Brain Corals from TBS dieing

Re: Re: Brain Corals from TBS dieing

These guys are usually very tough....although they do not like anemones, are you feeding them, see Wooglins thread about them..

Thanks
Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com :rollface: :rollface: :rollface:

I have feed small pieces of uncooked shrimp. Also with a turkey baster have feed brine shrimp, cyclop eeze, and golden pearls.

 

[delta]

have you seen any unwanted crabs i had one picking away at my brain and it looked like a goner but i got the culprit and he was sorry he ever touched the brain.

just a thought but have you changed your lighting cycle or maybe even a new bulb?

perhaps you top off water? was there a recent water change?

just looking for some sort of tell tail

 

[Sgt Fury]

I had several nice brains on my 1st shipment that did quite well until I added some bad rock. I agree with Delta, you can tell alot about the condition of the coral by looking for signs active feeding.....namely the "tentacle" extensions along the exterior ridges. Get a red lens on a small flashlight and take a look. I fed my minced shrimp sparingly mainly relying on targeted phytoplankton/zooplankton feedings. Also, i kept them under medium current......they seemed to do quite well. Anyways, good luck!

 

[jeffb]

I had several nice brains on my 1st shipment that did quite well until I added some bad rock. I agree with Delta, you can tell alot about the condition of the coral by looking for signs active feeding.....namely the "tentacle" extensions along the exterior ridges. Get a red lens on a small flashlight and take a look. I fed my minced shrimp sparingly mainly relying on targeted phytoplankton/zooplankton feedings. Also, i kept them under medium current......they seemed to do quite well. Anyways, good luck!

The feeding tentacles only extend after I have added the food mix to the tank. The tentacles are never very long probably not more than a 1/4 in. Is this bad? I received a galaxia frag from a friend and it extends its tentacles 2 to 3 inches. Anyways, I started the more direct feading of the shrimp because of the short tentacle length. Could I have overfead the brains? I feed a little every 2 to 3 days.

The brains are not in direct water flow from a return or powerhead, but the 2nd to die one may get a fair amount of current when compared to the 3rd and the last surviving brain.

have you seen any unwanted crabs i had one picking away at my brain and it looked like a goner but i got the culprit and he was sorry he ever touched the brain.

just a thought but have you changed your lighting cycle or maybe even a new bulb?

perhaps you top off water? was there a recent water change?

just looking for some sort of tell tail

I have no bad crabs attacking the brains and the brains start dieing from the center not the sides. The first areas that start showing the skeletal structure are the ends of the folds where the mouths are located.

Light bulbs are 2 months old.

Top off water is RO with no recent water change to throw off chemistry.


Could a peppermint shrimp have killed the brain by picking at it? The shrimp are all over the dieing brains picking off the remaining soft fleshy material, so could one have started picking at this material to begin with and that have been the reason the brains are dieing?

 

[Sgt Fury]

Some times it happens. Make sure your ro water is buffered and attempt to keep all your temps and paramaters rock steady...good luck....

 

[delta]

they only extend about a 1\4inch on the brains so yes that is fine
but usually they extend the tenacle right after lights out so that may be indication of some sort
if current is a problem then you can use the top af a soda bottle to cover the brain while you feed them, cover with top and target threw the hole in top. wait till they have eaten un disturbed then remove the top.this will also gove them some time to extend their tenacle with no competition

overfeeding usually isn t a problem

but you mentioned a new galaxia frag did this happens soon after you added the frag?

 

[jeffb]

The surviving brain did open its feeding tentacles last night after the lights went out. I woke up several times during the night and the tentacles were still open at 4am.

The galaxia frag was added 4 to 5 weeks ago. That was before the anemone stung the 2nd brain to die.

In another thread, someone mentioned a white cotton looking fungus. I have seen no signs of a fungus or disease, but could there be something unseen?