Candy cane coral help

shua71

Member
Hello all. My tank is a 50 cube with a sump. Most of my corals are doing well such as my hammer, Frogspawn, torch, and zoas. For some reason I am unable to keep Candy cane corals. I purchased a head and it began to recede. Thought I may have damaged it and purchased another and it appears to be going to same route. I don't have any fish which would possibly eat coral. Tested my tank and CA is at 400 alk at 10 and mag at 1260. Any ideas on what would cause this? Tank has been running for a year.
 
Its not near an anemone is it? Otherwise, its a bit of mystery ...considering you are having success with similar coral types.

Here's mine that I had to move slightly... as the rtba keep torching it. Just moved it out of the reach of the tentacles and it responded with a dozen new heads growing underneath.


Also, some corals send out long stinging tentacles at night. They can reach 4-5" inches when extended. I hope you find out what the problem is...
 
It isn't near anything. My tank is all softies / LPS so flow is low. No indirect flow and I've tried raising it up in the tank and lowering it
 
Many years ago I had an issue with any LPS that I put in the tank. The tissue would slowly recede up to each head until the heads would die off. It drove me nuts for a while.

Some people suggested i dip a few of them. I dipped a few of them in lugols and after a few days there was some improvement. I had much improvement, so I researched adding some to my tank & they all recovered and have been thriving. Now, I occasionally add a few drops to my tank every month or two.

You could try dipping it in a lugols dip and see if it helps.
 
Many years ago I had an issue with any LPS that I put in the tank. The tissue would slowly recede up to each head until the heads would die off. It drove me nuts for a while.

Some people suggested i dip a few of them. I dipped a few of them in lugols and after a few days there was some improvement. I had much improvement, so I researched adding some to my tank & they all recovered and have been thriving. Now, I occasionally add a few drops to my tank every month or two.

You could try dipping it in a lugols dip and see if it helps.

Hmm. Maybe my chaeto is using up all my iodine.. Did your euphyllia do poorly? Mine are doing fairly well. I did notice my clove polyps are no longer as thick as they used to be. Acans still doing well
 
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Is it anywhere in the tank other than the sandbed, and did you properly acclimate it to your lighting by starting it on the sanded and slowly moving it up? If not then it needs to go on the sandbed since you likely burned it.

Also your magnesium is pretty low, need to bump it up to 1400ish
 
Is it anywhere in the tank other than the sandbed, and did you properly acclimate it to your lighting by starting it on the sanded and slowly moving it up? If not then it needs to go on the sandbed since you likely burned it.

Also your magnesium is pretty low, need to bump it up to 1400ish

I will try to bump up the mag. One frag is on a rock very low down another is on the sand bed. Both are doing poorly
 
Weird, have you tried feeding it? ime recession is usually alk related but yours seems good, hopefully it's just the low mag. Any fish in the tank that might be picking on it?
 
I've had a single head of candy cane for almost a year and it hasn't grown at all. Its feeder tentacles come out at night and I feed it about twice a week but absolutely no growth. Its been a mystery to me. Acan, mushrooms and duncan have all grown multiple heads since I've added them but this candy cane has stumped me.
 
Weird, have you tried feeding it? ime recession is usually alk related but yours seems good, hopefully it's just the low mag. Any fish in the tank that might be picking on it?

No fish which could pick on it at all. It's odd because after a water change it'll puff up for a few days but it'll shrink back in afterwards. Makes me believe I'm lacking in something that's causing this. I use Scripps natural sea water for my water changes but there is a Triton test on the water and seems it only lacks calcium alk and mag which I dose
 
Is your alkalinity stable or does it tend to fluctuate? Also do you fix the alk/calcium/mag in the Scripps water before using it in the tank? If not then the issue could be that you have some alk swings, which are usually the culprit of receding LPS ime
 
Is your alkalinity stable or does it tend to fluctuate? Also do you fix the alk/calcium/mag in the Scripps water before using it in the tank? If not then the issue could be that you have some alk swings, which are usually the culprit of receding LPS ime

It is stable. I dose the water prior to adding it to the tank
 
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