I think my brains are not doing too well

[dannieboiz]

The red one opens but I noticed the flesh doesn't look to well

I think this green brain is a goner

what can I do to try to help these guys out?

 

[Teremei]

yeah looks like a little bleaching, but I wouldn't say they are "goners". .

What KIND of lighting is your 250w? PC? VHO? MH?

For your information I had a green favites and after about 3 weeks started to look stressed/unhealthy. I had 220w on my 55 (PC lighting) and I gave it away to save it's life. After a couple weeks in MUCH brighter lighting the guy said it's doing great in his tank!

So just based on my limited experience, I would say lack of lighting. I was SHOCKED and wasn't prepaired (based on what some LFS have told me, they AREN'T easy corals). . I found out they need ALOT more lighting, than I originally thought. I would assume 400w VHO/T5 would be the bare minimum for most brains.

 

[dannieboiz]

Definitely not lights, I have 2x HQI 250w MH and 2 x T5 HO 460nm actinic blue is plenty lights. I brought the red one home from just VHO lights and the green one came from 175w hqi 14k, mine are 10k so par is not a problem.

So we scratch one possible solution off..... keep 'em coming.

 

[Teremei]

ok so it's deffinatly not lights, sorry I couldn't help further.

Are you feeding them at night? And if so how often? If their sweeper tenticles are coming out an night then you should deffinatly humor them and give them what they are looking for (some nice frozen mysis, and even large peices like krill for the open)

 

[dannieboiz]

Maybe that's why, I usually feed the entire tank as a whole with my blend of seafood mix and Cyclopeze. I didn't think Brains are picky eaters nor had to be target fed like my SUn Coral. In fact let my drag my arse out of bed and go feed them now right b4 my lights go out.

 

[Teremei]

Yeah one thing I noticed is when I slacked off with the feeding that's when my brain started to go downhill. I mean the guy would have his tenticles out every night. And I must have gone a week, week and a half without feeding. I should have kept feeding atleast 3 times a week.

Give that a try in the meantime and see if they look better. And maybe someone else can come in to help you out. But I think the feeding would be a good start. Remember, larger meaty items. They have no ability to eat phyto or small floating foods in the water. They need to eat learge meaty peices.

Remember, the best/easiest time to feed them is 1 hour after the lights go out. When their sweepers are out. Because then they can actually move the food into their mouths. Just make sure to turn off any powerheads that might direct flow in the area of where the brains are. If you can get flow down near the brains enough so the food isn't blown away. Then you're good. Give them the ability to eat it. Because they can take nearly an hour to eat everything. They are very slow eaters.

 

[FDinPA]

Mine is also not an overly picky eater. I have occasionally droped sinking pellets on him by accident (bombs away!) He slowly moves them into one of his mouths and engulfs them. He must digest them fairly well because I have yet to see a slimy pelet get blasted back out.
I soak fish, shrimp, mysid and artemia in selcon and he has eaten them all.
I really do not think that your problem is lighting. Mine is well off to the side of a 175w MH and does really well as long as he is fed somewhat regularly. I normally feed him directly only once or twice a week.

 

[Paintbug]

i have a green open brain myself. its under 260W of PC, and on the bottom of the tank. i dont feed it but about once every 2-3 weeks. i have had it for about 7-8 months. its growing, and very healthy. they dont like alot of flow on them either. you havent mentioned your water parameters. where are they? how long have you had them?

i have an updated pic on my site (the little red house) if you want to see it.

 

[Ti]

spot feed it phyo.