Bubble coral needs help!!!

[XflatZ22]

My bubble had been doing very well for the first few months and had begun to bloom up nicely. Until recently, half of the bubble has become deflated, while the other half is doing fine. On the deflated side, there is what looks like diatoms growing on the exposed skeleton and has me worried. The tissue is recending also from this sde and I dont know what to do....
I have been reading up on the RC religiously, and have done a few things such as better flow, different positions in my tank, checked for predators, and lighting, but still no change.

Para:
Ammonia:0
Nitirite: 0
Nitrate: 0.5
Temp: 78-79
SG: 1.024

I really need help and dont want to lose this piece. All other corals are fine. Tank has been up for 5 months, 30 gallon. Please help

 

[NaclH20freak]

Need more info. What's your PH, calcium, dKh?

 

[XflatZ22]

opps, sorry forgot to mention that.
PH is at 8.2
calicum is at 450
and dkh.....? idk, dont have test for it sorry. But like I said, this wasnt a problem before, it just suddenly happened. I have been doing more reading, would some type of dip help? I've never done that before and would need some help if I need to do one.

 

[OARrocks]

I've had mine for a year and it has done great. Mine is now doing the EXACT same thing. all params are fine in mine as well.

 

[NaclH20freak]

Do you do routine water changes? Trace elements are essential for coral growth and utilization of calcium. Iodine, magnesium and strontium are just a few. These are quickly depleted. I would do a a 50% water change and see if it helps. Don't expect overnight results, but you should see improvement within a couple of days. Continue weekly 10% water changes and you'll have happier corals.

 

[JEFFR259]

dKH is crucial to coral health and happiness and needs to be tested as it can fluctuate greatly if you are not supplmenting it to keep it up. dKH is a measure of your tank's alkalinity. IMO, the most important things to measure in a tank (once established and cycled) are Alkalinity, Calcium, PH and temp.

dKH should be kept between 8-12 IME

 

[XflatZ22]

thanks for all the advice!
i recently did about a 40% W/C a few days ago, but still not helping. I have always added in iodine, stronuim, and calcium, so I dont think thats it. About the dkh, if it is low, why is one side thriving while the other is doing so poorly. It is literally half of it, one side is doing very well getting nice and big....the other is showing skleleton, receding tissue, and algae growth on the skeleton. If someone could explain this it would be great! I will post pics as soon as I can.
Thanks again for everyones help

so far, the other half is not getting better......

 

[XflatZ22]

well i checked again this morning..... the good side is just doing great, the bad side is well.....still not so great. Still receding tissue and algae on skeleton. Could it be some kind of infection affecting only one side?
Again, thanks for all the advice.

 

[XflatZ22]

anyone please? More ideas would be great.... I took my water to get tested today at the LFS, they said the dkH was at 9. so I guess its ok. Still not looking good. I will try to post up picks when I can.

 

[Sula]

Do you feed your bubble?
I recently got a near-dead one from an LFS and have been bringing it back with low flow and light and plenty of target feeding.

 

[XflatZ22]

yeah, I feed my bubble coral squid about once a week. I might begin to feed more if it helps. As an update, this morning, the affected side still has receding tissue and skeleton exposure, but the algae is gone from the skeleton, so that is good. Maybe with more feedings it will slowly come back. Does anyone recommend something to feed it?
More ideas are always welcome, and like I said pictures will be coming shortly, probably in a hour, so keep watching and posting. Thanks again for the help.

 

[XflatZ22]

ok, i got some pictures. Hope this helps in fixing my coral

thanks again

 

[E.intheC]

pics are too small to really see any detail. to me at least. can you post anything larger?

Thanks

 

[XflatZ22]

ok, got some bigger pictures to post up. There from a cellphone camera, so there kinda bad but I hope they help. So far the bubble has stayed the same, no new change and parameters are the same as well.

thanks again for all the help

 

[Sula]

Here are my thoughts:

1. Get a test kit for dKh so you know where you are at there. Some corals are more senstive to dKh drops that others.
2. If you haven't done a big water change as suggested above, do it now. If there is something out of balance in your water chemistry a water change will help.
3. Make sure your bubble is in an area of low flow.
4. Feed mysis shrimp regularly. When I was bringing mine back I fed it every day, now it is less regular but still more than once a week.

That's what I would suggest, hope you can bring it back.

 

[XflatZ22]

ok, thanks. I will definitly get a test for the dkH. I will feed it everyday and will keep posting updates on its progress. Hope it comes back and thanks again for all the great help.

 

[XflatZ22]

well, i made a discovery today that is pretty well worth noting. It seems that my dkH was low, my LSF had done the testy incorrectly or something. I just recently bought a dkH test kit, it was a joke how low it was. Also saw that calcium test had expired, that too was low. So seeing that cal and dkH were low, I assumed my pH was shot as well... and it was. I quickly added buffer and cal supplement and the bubble bloomed up very nicely on both sides in 2 hours. I am going to buy KalK tomorrow and add it into my tank, hopefully raising dkH, cal, and pH all at once. I will be feeding regularly to help it along. Thanks for everything and I hope if anyone encounters this problem, this might help.

Thanks again