Disintegrating Corals

[golby]

So I have had my tank up and running for more than a year now (a year with fish and LR) and yesterday/today one of my mushroom corals is basically disintegrating. It has been in the same place for like 11 months and next to a frogspawn for like 9 months. I have no idea what is going on...all numbers are the usual and all other corals are fine (leather coral, torch, frogspawn, zoas and other mushrooms).

Here's a pic (hope this works):

Any ideas?

 

[golby]

I am not sure why the picture looks so bad...it didn't look bad on my CPU before I uploaded to photobucket...

 

[lReef_lKeeper]

cant tell anything from that pic

 

[golby]

Second try - best pic I can get.

 

[ChrisKirkland]

which coral are you talking about?

 

[Arrgh Matey]

That same thing happened to one of my mushroom covered rock a year or so ago. No idea what it was, but I left it for a while thinking it might clear up, and it just spread to the other mushrooms close to it. I pulled out the rocks and scrubbed all the disintegrating shrooms off with a toothbrush, and never had a problem again.

My advise would be to get the affected mushrooms out of your tank, pronto.

 

[Floowid]

Check it tonight with a flashlight several hours after the lights have gone off, see if the hammer is putting out long sweeper tentacles and stinging the shrooms.

 

[golby]

I'll check tonight...but in the year or so I've had the frogspawn I have NEVER seen sweeper tentacles at night.

 

[golby]

which coral are you talking about?

The disintegrating mushrooms in the center (the pic is rotated 90 degrees from reality).

 

[Percula9]

I agree that it's coral warfare from the frogspawn.

 

[golby]

Okay, so I did some tank testing this AM and my numbers are bit off from typical, could this explain? All the mushroom corals from that rock are gone--my euphylia corals and trumpet corals appear to be fine, but my green star polyp is withdrawn and some of my zoas just look a bit off (I guess I could describe it as slightly closed)


PH: 7.8
AMM: 0.2
Trites: 0
Trates: 7.5
Copper: 0
KH: 8
Calcium: 460

I just dosed a little dKH to hopefully bring the pH back to the 8.2-8.3 range.

 

[DC_40gallon]

Yeap frogspawn stung the **** out of it.

 

[NCNBilly]

+1 on the frogspawn/hammer sweepers doing the damage.

Do NOT add buffer to correct low pH (7.8 is fine, anyway) or you'll have more problems than you started with. Do a search in the Chemistry forum. Given the time of year, I'd guess you closed your house and turned on your AC, increasing indoor CO2.

 

[golby]

Frogspawn as culprit doesn't quite explain the withdrawn GSP and the slightly closed zoas that aren't near the frogspawn.

What's the problem with adding a buffer like Kent Marine (I add it slowly and always into the sump)? Isn't it designed to increase alkalinity and bring the pH closer to 8.3?

 

[Levito]

Assuming it is allelopathy, this could make sense. For whatever reason, the frogspawn decided not to play nice anymore. This may be triggering a chemical reaction in some other corals, and several parties could be fighting it out.
You may want to do a large water change and rearrange some of the unhappy corals away from the frogspawn and anything else which has started to look unhappy lately.

 

[lisafoster]

You ideally want your ph at 8.2 dropping at night I have heard is typical. also when the house is all closed up in the winter and summer because the ac is on this happens.Don't dose anymore and let it be I would do a water change. I have frogspawn all over the place near all my corals. I would say watch you ammonia and do a 20 gallon water change. I lost 90% of my corals last year becaue I moved around my rocks and disturbed my sand this caused a spike in ammonia and melted my corals. Moving the frogspawn wouldn't hurt either.

 

[cfrobin]

Frogspawn +1 / mushroom -1

I have had it happen, nature.

 

[golby]

Thanks for the input folks, I had actually done a big water change the day before things went south for the mushroom corals. Will do another water change in the next day or two. In the meantime, things have calmed down--lost all the coral mushrooms on that one rock, but nothing else (knock on wood); that is, the mushrooms elsewhere appear alright and while my GSP is still spooked, that happens once every month or two, so I'm not too worried about that.

It's interesting that the frogspawn would unleash a chemical attack after peacefully coexisting for 9 or so months. It has been growing nicely recently...up to 9 heads from 1 when I bought it, so perhaps it's exerting itself now that it is bigger.

 

[Dr Ric Marshall]

This same thing happened to all on one kind of mushroom coral in my tank.. after a big water change. My Ph has also been down as well. And my GSP also recedes about once a month, but i think thats a calcium thing.

 

[heathlindner25]

This same thing happened to all on one kind of mushroom coral in my tank.. after a big water change. My Ph has also been down as well. And my GSP also recedes about once a month, but i think thats a calcium thing.

The last time golby visited on RC was 2011.