dying/dead? green bubble coral - please help

[ibyhousz]

Hello,
My name is Joel and I am new to the hobby. I have a 65rr tank that has been up and running for a few months. To this point everything has been going very smooth and looked very healthy.
Here's what I have "¦
65rr
40 long basement sump
36 inch t5 tek lights 2 blues and 2 daylights
g2 skimmer
~90 pounds live rock. mixed fiji, totoka, tongo
corals...
orange montipora capricornis
purple montipora capricornis
blue/green acropora
orange montipora digitata
green star polyps
green pocillopora domicarnis
anenome - kind ?
green bubble
fish...
kole tang
2 occelaris clowns
2 peppermint schrimp
coral banded schrimp
starfish
clean up...
trochus
conch
astria
I test regularly for alk, ph, calc, nitrate, and salinity of course.
On Wed...
Temp 78'
Salinity - 1.024
ph - 8.2-8.4
Cal - 400
Alk - low/norm
I'm colorblind and I don't trust my wife and kids (lol) so I brought my water to get tested at the lfs and they said everything looked good with the exception of the alk which was a little low and it wouldn't be a bad idea to start dosing with some ibionic. So Wed I started dosing 15ml calcium and 20 ml alk 1x/day.

Thursday I noticed I was losing water out of my sump near the filter sock. I was losing a steady stream of water that was being replaced by ro/di water and diluting the salinity. I fixed the problem and measured the salinity to be between 1.021 and 1.022. Mixed some water and added it until I got it up to about 1.023 (thursday). Today (friday) I added more mixed water and am now back at 1.024.

Yesterday my bubble didn't open fully like it has for the last month or so. Today it appears to be dying and I can see some of the skeleton. I also found a dead peppermint shrimp last night. Everything else looks fine right now.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Does my beautiful green bubble have any hope?

Do you need any additional info from me?

Thanks a ton!

Joel

I also attached 2 pics of the bubble. One from Tuesday and one from tonight.

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

I found that coral was easily disturbed; it may not be as bad as you think however. That coral has large lobes for a skeleton, and is why care needs to be taken handling them as they easily damaged. Do you see exposed skeleton; I can't really tell? After things happen like you've experienced something is bound to show the stress, in a nice solid system they will often make full recoveries.

 

[ibyhousz]

Thanks for the feedback. I do see some exposed skeleton. Is there anything specific I should do to increase the possibility of recovery?

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

As per parameters, with your stony coral selections at some point you'll want to be able to consistently test alk, Ca, and Mg If you can spot the colour change from blue/green to pink and vic versa Salifert kits will be your ticket. It really is important to be able to test for what you are dosing.

 

[pascal32]

consider moving your salinity to 35ppt (1.026). settle your levels once you get there. Not sure about B-Ionic - check to see if you should be dosing equal parts.

best wishes on the bubble, I just lost a gorgeous neon bubble.

 

[pascal32]

double post

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

For me its always a tough call between moving it and further stressing it, or leaving it be and not doing anything. One thing about watery lps I've found is that when they are weak they often feel better in lower light and low flow, so long as they are safe from being disturbed by crabs, fish, other inverts...

 

[pascal32]

Thanks for the feedback. I do see some exposed skeleton. Is there anything specific I should do to increase the possibility of recovery?

I heard feeding helps, keeping out of direct flow and light. then again, none of this helped me any, hope it helps you though

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

based on the info and pix the bubble coral in this thread isn't dying but stressed from low salinity. Don't move it. Bring S.G. up to 1.025 -1.026

 

[ibyhousz]

thanks so much Gary! As of yesterday it was back up to 1.024 and this morning I will bump it up to 1.025. I love that coral. It's a family fave so far so I really hope to get it back to full health.

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

I feel evaporation is a very nice steady way to increase salinity.

 

[ibyhousz]

From what I have read evaporation seems to be the best way but since it dropped low enough to cause damage it seems like waiting for it to creep back up on it's own could have caused more damage.

 

[ibyhousz]

thanks a ton guys! I have the salinity up to 1.025 and my bubble is starting to look much better.

 

[ibyhousz]

looking even a little better today!

 

[tmz]

Good luck. Plerogyra can be quite touchy. I second Gary's advice. Generally when raising sg try to keep any increase at .001 /.002 per day max.

 

[GAMA827]

Hows the Bubble coral doing now since you've raised the salinity? I'm having the same problem with my bubble (showing some skeleton). My salinity is at 1.022

 

[EllieSuz]

Once your coral is doing well, consider target feeding it once or twice a week. Frequent feedings seem to be keeping mine in excellent health.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Hows the Bubble coral doing now since you've raised the salinity? I'm having the same problem with my bubble (showing some skeleton). My salinity is at 1.022

ACTUALLY.....
your specific gravity (SG) is at 1.022

use a reliable measuring device and raise it to 1.025- 1.026

 

[tmz]

Folks most corals and inverts can't take low sg,; unlike fish they can't maintain their internal sg via osmoregulation ( controlling their internal fulid level by the amount they drink and urinate ) . The water just diffuses into them at low sg and out at higher sg than normal and messes up their internal chemistry There is no reason not to keep at 1.026 which is the natural seawater average. Doing so will help alk ,calcium and mag levels too.

 

[Sweet]

Good tip checking my salt right now