help, my trachyphyllia are sick!

[jmason]

Yikes, can anyone tell me why my two open brains are so unhappy??

I have a mature 36 gal reef tank with 130 watts of PC lighting and a variety of soft corals, including one fluorescent green and one pink trachyphyllia. They are both placed towards the bottom of the tank and have been quite happy for months. I haven't made a habit of spot feeding them since they have faired well with light, bits of food that happen by and DTs added every other day. In the past week the green brain hasn't opened at all and the pink opens just a bit. Parameters are fine: SG 1.023, Calcium 405, iodine 0.06-0.08, dKH=8. The only recent change is that my daughter and I put in a nice frogspawn about a week before the brains started to look unhealthy. The frogspawn is doing fine and is located at least 10 inches away from each of the brains and the button polyps, yellow polyps and toadstool leather that is closer to the frogspawn are looking fine as well.

Whatever the open brains are so sensitive to doesn't seem to be affecting the other softies in the tank. Any ideas?

 

[Aaron M.]

Try moving them up to a secure spot where they can get more light and see if that helps. Watch to see if anything is nipping at them or something similar.

 

[Steve Cuddeback]

Do you have any tangs in the tank? I have had sailfins, hippos and nasos kill my trachophilia and my wellsophilia.


Steve

 

[simonf]

By not opening up you mean not inflating during the day right?

When you added the frogspawn did you change the flow or move the brains? or change anything else?

Did you test ammonia/nitrate?

Simon

 

[jmason]

Yes: by 'not opening up' I actually meant not inflating during the day. Formerly, they inflated to 3-6X their nighttime size after the lights went on. I placed the green brain in a spot with more intense light this week but that hasn't seemed to work. When I added the frogspawn I had to move one red discosoma but, again, the brains are pretty far away from the mushroom as well as the frogspawn.

I checked ammonia (=0) and nitrate (=20ppm) and even did two 15% water exchanges this week to further lower the nitrate (although my nitrates have always ran about 20). I did, however, find the pH was 7.8 so I added some buffer to bring up the pH to 8.0. My pink open brain seems to be doing a bit better the past day but the green is looking even worse than before.

 

[simonf]

I would try dimmer light with the green brain and see if it opens up. Also maybe spot feeding them until the start to look better.

When you moved the green brain into the light did you also move it into stronger flow?

Maybe run carbon and see if that pulls anything out and continue with the water changes.

 

[tedmc2]

I've had a Trachophilia radiata for about 1 1/2 years and it seems to go through cycles where it will not inflate for a couple days to a week. I also do not direct feed and it has been in the same spot with moderate light and current for over a year.