Green Finger Coral Help!!

[sean144]

I have been having some difficulties with my Green Finger Coral. I have had it for about 2 weeks. I had it in a different location up until a few days ago because the polyps would not come out of the fingers all the way (actually the would only barely come out). I moved it because my LFS where I bought it told me to do that because the original location may not have been the right spot for it. Now, I am still having problems with it. This morning when I woke up, all the polyps were starting to come out. I left my house for about 10-15 min and when I cam back it seems as if the coral has gone limp at the base and the whole coral seems to be turning a light purple color instead of its light green color. All parameters are normal.....ph is 8.2-8.3, ammonia 0ppm, nitrite and nitrate 0ppm, calcium is at least 520ppm, phosphates are 0ppm, and salinity is 1.024. The only other thing I can think to mention is my tank, having already cycled is going through an algae bloom, first it was the brown stuff, and now the brown is subsiding and I am getting what I am assuming is green hair algea (it looks like grass beginning to grow out of the rock). I have 6 hermit crabs, an arrow crab and I am going to be getting some snails for the algae on the glass. Should I try moving it again....or will moving it to soon cause too much stress? I have attached several pics.....sorry for the quality I didnt want to try and remove the algae of the glass in front of the coral because there is not a lot of room between the coral head and the glass and I dint want to stress it out by me scrubbing and hitting it. I tried to show the purple coloration in the second pic. Any help in the matter would be greatly appreciated. I am just not sure if this is something I need to be concerned about.

 

[sean144]

Sorry...forgot the pics

 

[cloak]

How big is your tank? What kind of lighting do you have.

I would just find someplace among the rocks where it will be receiving a decent amount of flow, and then either epoxy or glue it in place. After that, just leave it alone. IME, they don't like it when you fiddle with them too much. GL.

 

[trinidiver]

Sean144, you forgot to mention the Alk.

X2 as what Cloak said. Your lighting & height of tank will determine where it should be placed

 

[sean144]

I have a 55 gallon tank with a dual t-5 light with one super daylight bulb and one blue actinic. When I originally placed it in the tank it was much closer to the top of the rock structure. Since I moved it closer to the bottom where I have the pics above it was struggling, but I have left it alone as per the feedback I have received and in just a few extra days it seems to be dramatically better. It no longer has a limp (unless reacting to current. The coral head is now a nice pink color and the "fingers" seem to be coming further and further out, but still hasn't come all the way out. So it seems as though it likes where it is now. Two other questions I have: 1) If any of the branches are against a rock will that stress the coral (if need be I the base the coral is attached to is long and I can always slide it out an extra 1/2 inch or so to give it more room). 2) If I don't see the "fingers"/polyps coming out of the branches, how long should I wait before trying another spot in the tank ( a month, 2 months)?

 

[elmatth1]

Sometimes leathers will stay retracted for days without any issues. I had a toadstool that was retracted for two weeks and when it opened back up, it looked better than ever. Not sure if it was shedding its outer skin (do they do that? Idk) or something. The other leathers in my tank at that time were fully inflated and seemed to be doing well. I would leave the leather for a couple weeks in one spot to see if it opens back up before moving it again.

 

[cloak]

I have a 55 gallon tank with a dual t-5 light with one super daylight bulb and one blue actinic. When I originally placed it in the tank it was much closer to the top of the rock structure. Since I moved it closer to the bottom where I have the pics above it was struggling, but I have left it alone as per the feedback I have received and in just a few extra days it seems to be dramatically better. It no longer has a limp (unless reacting to current. The coral head is now a nice pink color and the "fingers" seem to be coming further and further out, but still hasn't come all the way out. So it seems as though it likes where it is now. Two other questions I have: 1) If any of the branches are against a rock will that stress the coral (if need be I the base the coral is attached to is long and I can always slide it out an extra 1/2 inch or so to give it more room). 2) If I don't see the "fingers"/polyps coming out of the branches, how long should I wait before trying another spot in the tank ( a month, 2 months)?

With that type of lighting over a 55, I would place/epoxy/glue it somewhere up top again and leave it alone. (lots of flow though) GL.