Help, my brain is shrinking!

[detz15]

I have a wellso under 260 watts in a 55 and it has been doing great for over a year. The only time it shriveled up was when I had a fish nipping at it. Check to see if anything is nipping. From my experience the alk should not be the problem causing it to receede that fast.

Adding nitrate is a tricky proposition and if it gets out of control it may backfire. Be careful.

Also my wellso shrivels up for maybe a day or two every couple of months and then it comes back large as ever, But the skeleton is not showing. I think that if you are seeing tissue loss of 1/8 inch per day then something is eating it. You might try and protect it with something. That is my suggestion, and I may be totally off base.

 

[Pufferpunk]

If it was only 1 brain, I wouldn't be as concerned. I really freaked out when my devil's hand took a "rest" for a few weeks. Even grew algae on it. I thought it was dead. Posting everywhere I could about it. Came back 2x as big as before. Now when it takes a break I don't worry. The wellso's tissue loss on it is staying about the same--slow. But my trach is also shrinking. Not as bad as the wellso, but not nearly looking as good as it did. The only fish I have added in the past 6 months is a kole tang.

 

[Red Reefet]

Tagging along. My brain just got knocked over by my "looking for a new home" pencil urchin. He landed in my black sand bed & was there for a few days I think. I dusted him off & figured he'd be ok. He looked ok for a few days and now I too have the 1/4" tissue recession in 1 spot and algae is starting to grow on another spot. I also just realized my nitrates are at around 10. My other brain is doing ok, not quite as open as usual, but he goes through a "once a month" ugly stage once in a while.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Ok, now the tissue on a couple of polyps of my green candycane is showing skeleton! The rest of the coral looks great, as does my blue one but I also have a green/purple-rimmed one that is showing skeleton on 1 polyp.

 

[ALTI]

sounds like your salinity could be high. how do youmeasure your salinity? if u r using one of those swing arm hydrometers they get way

 

[Pufferpunk]

1.025, measured w/a refractometer.

 

[wakskat]

Have you tested for magnesium levels? My red and grey open brain was receding, even lost a polyp. My alkalinity and magnesium were a little low and when I boosted them back up (mag to 1350 and alk to 9.7) he puffed back up and stopped receeding. The lps need the magnesium to lay down new skeleton and if the levels are too low they will lose their grip on their skeleton it seems. I had a gigas clam in my 29 gallon tank that was sucking up all the magnesium and calcium. Let me know what you think.

Mark

 

[Pufferpunk]

I'll have that tested, thanks. I think it is fine though. Did yours come back after you got that straightened out?

 

[wakskat]

Yep he is on the road to recovery. The brain is finally puffing back up but there is still a bit of skeleton showing where the tissue had receeded. What kind of magnesium supplementation do you do? If you are only using water changes then it may be that the magnesium levels have just slowly drifted down. I was only relying on water changes to replenish magnesium and I use Instant Ocean ( which is notoriously low in mag). When I used an magnesium additive it help all the corals and corraline algae alot. http://web.archive.org/web/20001017...work.com/fish2/aqfm/1999/june/bio/default.asp

Here is a quote from one of the many knowledgable club members here in the bay area Mr. Ugly-

"I like SeaChem Reefstatus for Ca. I use Salifert for Alk, Mg, and I2. There has been discussion on RC about SeaChem vs. Salifert for Ca.

Looking at Alk and Ca in seawater, the Alk is the determining factor affecting the coral laying down skeleton. The Ca is in excess, so it's more important to watch your Alk levels.

If Mg/Ca ratio drops too low, you can lose Ca to precipitation rather than skeletal growth, and the corals will be unhappy. Sometimes you'll see tissue recession in your LPS when this happens.

Xenia can be a good indicator of pH and alk. Coralline and LPS can give clues about your Mg."

Hope this helps,

Mark

 

[cristhiam]

What kind of fish do you have? I had a hippo tang that went after my brain. I had to tapped the tank for over 2 hours and saw it picking at it. It wouldn't when I was watching the tank close!! smart little guy Anyway I gave it away and killed my friends brain. (he knew about my brain). Just a thought.

 

[Pufferpunk]

The newest fish in there is a small Kole tang.

 

[cristhiam]

If the brains puff up at night my guess could be the tang. Did this happen before the kole was added or after?. If you do a search on RC you will find people having problems with tangs and LPS.