Brain Issue

[idisc]

Past few days my brain has been super receded. Its the only coral that is doing this. I have had it for over 2 months and normally is very full. Nothing had changed in the tank.

For what its worth: Calc 420, Alk 9, Mag 1400, 1.025/26, Phosphate: Not detectable on Api kit, Nitrate 5

 

[QPWithCheeseQP]

Do you target feed?

 

[cloak]

You might want to try dipping the coral in Revive or perhaps some Coral Rx and see what happens. Maybe it will bounce back for you.. GL.

 

[idisc]

I never target feed it. I have had it for close to 3 months. I feed the entire tank with Cyclops ez once in awhile.

I will order some Revive as I don't think I can get any locally, or RX for that matter.

 

[mcfa2403]

In my experience high flow and high temps seem to have negative effects on trachyphyllia for what its worth. That sucks, good luck hopefully the dip will help.

 

[idisc]

Well he is still looking the same as of last night. He mouth does open a tad when I feed, but nothing much. I guess the only thing I have done is moved him about 2" away from the glass a week ago...so I moved him back to his original spot.

Doesn't seem to be getting any worse, but was not looking better either. I will see if moving him has an effect when I get home from work today. I ordered Revive, but it will not be in until Tuesday. Hopefully he holds on that long.

I also have a few new corals coming in on Tuesday that I ordered before this happened. I have a "Button Coral", Plate, Multi Flower Lobo, and then a Galaxia Coral Frag. I hope all is good. Rest of my corals look great.

 

[snorvich]

Well he is still looking the same as of last night. He mouth does open a tad when I feed, but nothing much. I guess the only thing I have done is moved him about 2" away from the glass a week ago...so I moved him back to his original spot.

Doesn't seem to be getting any worse, but was not looking better either. I will see if moving him has an effect when I get home from work today. I ordered Revive, but it will not be in until Tuesday. Hopefully he holds on that long.

I also have a few new corals coming in on Tuesday that I ordered before this happened. I have a "Button Coral", Plate, Multi Flower Lobo, and then a Galaxia Coral Frag. I hope all is good. Rest of my corals look great.

Careful with the Galaxia, they have significant sweepers.

 

[idisc]

Ya the plan is to keep him down stream of anything else. I heard they can be nasty. For the price I was getting it for, seemed like a steal and wanted to give it a shot.

 

[Dapg8gt]

Imo they benefit greatly from target feeding. Once I feed the tank I wait till I see the sweepers come out and feed it meaty bits, then I have to guard it for a while so the fish don't steal the food lol..

 

[idisc]

Yea I am interested in seeing how large or small the frag actually is. Rest of my order was for 3"+ corals...got the galaxia on a whim for something different. How is the growth doing on yours and placement?

 

[idisc]

So I ran out of calcium test so I bought a new one today. Another api one because that's all Petco had. Well the results are..well scary. My old api kit which doesn't expire till may 2016 was reading my calc around 380-400... I tested it tonight and its a 500.... One of my hammers is not looking good. I hope my Alk kit is reading correct.... Should I let it go down alone or do a water change?

Brining some water to a LFS tomorrow for a calc and alk reading...dangit. Brain is not looking any better.

 

[d-man]

That war coral above it could be stressing it out as well.

 

[TheSaltySnailer]

Imo feeding it now will just stress it out more. I would put in a shaded area with low flow if possible and not touch it. If it starts to get back to normal than feed it a little. Best of luck

 

[mcfa2403]

I know they are pricey, but I would recommend getting a salifert kit in the future (for Calc, Alk, and Mag) they are more reliable plus easy to use.

I would also make sure your heater is working properly, you would be surprised what temp issues will due to a tank. I had a titanium heater go bad without bothering to put a separate thermostat on it and my temp was fluctuating about 4 degrees a day. Some corals showed no signs of stress some died (made it really hard to figure out what was happening).

Also, I would test your pH just to make sure there are no swings (I'm not recommending to chase pH but sometimes if CO2 levels are high or if your buffer ratio of carbonate/bicarbonate are out of wack you can fix pH without raising alk). My experience with what I refer to as true LPS (LPS is not a scientific term, so I define it as corals with an endoskeleton that is not clearly visible when the flesh is inflated) is that they tend to react more significantly to instability than to poor water quality. Ups and downs in parameters (pH and temp in particular) seem to have the most deleterious effect. (FWIW my trachyphyllia have always showed signs of stress in temps over 82)

 

[Philly_Reefer]

an inexpensive trick is to use a coke bottle top or eggcrate cage DIY of coarse to cover the corals and then feed generously to avoid predation of the food. I do agree that attempting to feed that specimen currently may be to stressful, however, feeding system at night especially will show you that they may be interested in eating ( a great sign for overall recovery)