Can anyone ID cause of death?

[Reefn'_Dude]

Hello,


I have had my reef tank up and operating for about 6 mos now. All creatures, fish, corals and else all seem to be doing well and standard (salinity, temperature, Am, PH, Nitrate, nitrite, calcium, Mg and others) are all on par.

I have lost very few creatures, but I seem to keep loosing anemones, and now I've lost an anemone looking plate coral.


I ran a 90 gallon reef setup previously to this and had many anemones that grew and multiplied.


here is a picture of the plate coral now:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7518945@N06/3338954501/" title="IMG_0728 by eewk, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3631/3338954501_d5ffc7a114.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_0728" /></a>




There appear to be white curly strands all over. they are white and seem to be eating the plate coral. the same white strands appear on the anemone before it died as well.


What is going on? anyone know?

 

[gflat65]

I'd venture to guess that the white strands are mesenterial filaments. If the coral/animal is exposing them and dying, it is stressed from something. What are the actual values for water parameters? What test kits? How do the things that are dying look before you put them in the tank? How long has whoever you are buying them from had them before you buy them?

 

[Reefn'_Dude]

Well:

Params:

Salinity 1.0205
Temp 79.1-81.2 daily
Alk 8 Dkh
Ph 8 to 8.3
Am 0
Nitrates 0
nitrites 0
Calcium 430ppm


Supplies are Red Sea, Tetra and Sera

I use RO/DI for water change and top off. Salt mix is Reef Crystals.
I have a healthy and teeming Refugium, I protien skim and water goes through a MarineLand 360 4 stage canister with purigen, Chemi-pure, ceramics and bioballs.

The dying things (plate coral, anemones) all look great for some time with long broad extension and good feeding and threat response time.

I have been buying the stuff from the LFS and they quarentine for a minimum of 1 week before the animals go into the sale displays. these particular animals were 2-3 weeks before i purchased.

 

[GaryR1984]

What kind of lighting do you have?

 

[Reefn'_Dude]

Lighting consists of a brand new (one month old) Ushio 14,000K 175w MH and 130w of fluorescent actinic lighting

 

[DetectiveTofu]

For starters, that is a Heliofungia actiniformis -it is classified as an LPS, not a soft coral. So try re-posting in the LPS forum, and you may get more feedback
Heliofungia require quite a bit of light IME. How far away from the light source is your specimen? In general most of these species of coral do not do too hot in captivity, though success with keeping these guys is definitely not unheard of.
Did you see how the coral was packaged for you to take home from the LFS? Is it possible the person packing them up did not handle the coral appropriately, or neglected to allow it to deflate fully prior to removal from the tank? Even a small tear can lead to secondary infection, which often times becomes terminal.

 

[lancer99]

I will second what Tofu said....

Heliofungia actiniformis is really hard to keep in the long term. It usually looks great for 6 months or so (speaking from experience!) then quickly disintegrates.

The other "plate" corals like Fungia and Leptoseris (the latter, just from what I've heard) are much more hardy.

-R

 

[Reefn'_Dude]

Thanks for the input guys, the roommate got it without doing any research. Poor little animal...

 

[RyanSweatt2004]

I know this is an old post but have you concidered that your salinity is 1.0205, seems a bit low when you concider the ocean is normaly around 1.026. and most reef tanks are kept between 1.023 and 1.025.