Kenya Tree Dying

B

BryanSam

New member
Hi All, I'm not sure where this topic should have gone, I'm new to coral keeping - if it should go in another forum, please move it for me?

My tank's been successfully running for a while now, and in talking to my LFS, one of the first corals he recommended was a Kenya Tree, as being hardy and easy to keep.

It did well in my tank for about 4 weeks (possibly 6) fully extending, getting quite large and spreading out, and having a good leathery pinkish color.

Long story short, about 3 or 4 days ago it kind of shrunk up and laid down on it's side and has been like that since.

I've read they they'll sometimes do this as part of a regeneration phase, but I'm concerned it's dying.

Parameters:
Salinity: 1.026
AM: 0
NTRI: 0
NITRATES: between 5 and 10 ppm
Calc: over 450
PHO: 0 or barely detectable

It should be noted that all the fish, a shrimp, snails, hermit crabs, and another leather coral are doing fine in the tank. My lighting setup is low tech but it's always worked before as well. Any advise or help?

IMG_1874.jpg
 
Your parameters look good. Is it in a place of high light and moderate to high flow? Also it's a leather coral and they will do what you describe before they shed. From your picture I'd move it to a better flow area and higher in the water column.
 
Dkuhlmann said:
Your parameters look good. Is it in a place of high light and moderate to high flow? Also it's a leather coral and they will do what you describe before they shed. From your picture I'd move it to a better flow area and higher in the water column.
Click to expand...

Sure, I'll give that a shot, thanks for the suggestion! I've been told before they like moderate to low flow though, is that incorrect? It does get good flow there but it's sitting towards the bottom. I'll move it higher up.

Is there any way to distinguish if it's shedding, or dying?
 
Not seeing your alkalinity. s/b 8.3 on the DKH scale. If that's off, that can be a major.
 
My Kenya Tree is in the middle of my tank, high light and moderate flow at times can be high flow. It's flourishing :D I didn't plan on it being a center piece of my reef.

Sk8r, you're probably right on the alk, I however don't dose any nor do I test for it. I don't have enough hard corals that consume it in any quantity and my water changes I'm sure are more than adequate. I've got no problems with any of my corals and I've got SPS, LPS and Leathers. As a matter of fact the ONLY thing I check is sg before a wc and I test the sg of the new mixed water once first mixed and the next day before I do the wc. I'm not saying this is right but it works for me. Once or twice a month I'll use the two part Kent nano reef and once or twice a month I dose trace elements. I've never had any issues and get good PE as well as growth.
 
They form some calcium carbonate sclerites, boney slivers inside which help them support themselves. they need alkainity and calcium to do this though they can dfo well with alk as low as 6 dkh ,IME.
They don't shed ,ime, like sacrophyton( toadstools do)at least not noticeably. Prolonged collapse is sometimes indicative of a potential problem, It may recover on it's own in a few days. Kenya tree( capnella) don't need a ton of light ,they do take up organic material for a relatively large portion of their need for organic carbon, If you are still keeping butterflys, they'll nip it or some other animal may be bothering it.
 
What tank mates do you have, and exactly what type of lighting is it? I have had Kenya Tree grow in just about every imaginable light/ flow/ placement/ parameter scenario, so it is leading me to believe that there is something in the tank bothering it.
 
kenya imo dont shed just a question, where there tiny polyps coming out of it. it should look hairy when fully happy, or was it just puffy. my friend has his kenya for over 6 years and mine for 9 months and they didn't shed once for us. also to be safe double check your water test to make sure your testing correctly, maybe bring a water sample in to the lfs to make sure your getting the same results. ust to be safe
my friend cuts his all the time and mine took a while to look great. it also would come out then drop at times. so i wouldn't worry because there easy to keep. if its dying it will shed pieces of itself. so if blow water on it see stuff coming off of it then its dying and i would take it out, if not dont stress.
 
Kenya trees do shed, just not as obvious as say a toadstool. I already gave my best answer for this KT. Good Luck!
 
I have a kenya tree in the dying process right now, thanks to chemical warfare from a massive green sinularia. It is all shriveled up, yours just looks like it is going to shed. Watch to see if some of the branches start to come off.

As CHSUB said it could be on its way out for some unknown reason.
 
what test kits are you using? because if your phosphates are barely visible ,and you're not using a low range kit there probably sky high
 
anthonys51 said:
kenya imo dont shed just a question, where there tiny polyps coming out of it. it should look hairy when fully happy, or was it just puffy. my friend has his kenya for over 6 years and mine for 9 months and they didn't shed once for us. also to be safe double check your water test to make sure your testing correctly, maybe bring a water sample in to the lfs to make sure your getting the same results. ust to be safe
my friend cuts his all the time and mine took a while to look great. it also would come out then drop at times. so i wouldn't worry because there easy to keep. if its dying it will shed pieces of itself. so if blow water on it see stuff coming off of it then its dying and i would take it out, if not dont stress.
Click to expand...


I have a huge kenya and trust me they shed. Mine do it for a week straight and they look terrible but then they come back. If you can kill a kenya without trying you have a major issue. Those things are indestructible.
 
Lizzy_lray said:
I have a huge kenya and trust me they shed. Mine do it for a week straight and they look terrible but then they come back. If you can kill a kenya without trying you have a major issue. Those things are indestructible.
Click to expand...

I agree Lizzy and yes mine sheds too ;) Hmmm maybe ours are the only ones that shed LOL
 
Thanks for all the answers.

I've moved it up in the tank, which puts it in a higher flow area, it's VERY droopy at the moment, but nothing is falling off of it, it's not losing branches or anything, but it's also going on 4 days like this.

To answer the above questions:
1.) I'm using compact fluorescent bulbs 7500k (not sure on lumens or whatnot) - a toadstool thats flourishing, as well as the tree previously, it was spread to about 4 inches, each branch had tiny little finger like lumps extended off it that looked slightly hairy?

2.) I have 2 clownfish, 1 toadstool, 1 fire goby, 1 diamondback blend, 2 turbo snails, 2 hermit crabs and a peppermint shrimp. Nothing in the tank pays any attention to it at all.

3.) I'll check my Alk tomorrow, I use the API drops test kits, I have the reef and the saltwater kit, I always test twice, 15 minutes apart to account for inaccuracies in the drops, and I always assume 1 level higher than the reading shows, just to be on the safe side. I don't dose, or add any chemicals to my tank at all, maybe I'm low on something I can't test for? The other leathers, snails and such are doing fine though.

4.) 2 days after the droop, I did a 30% water change with a fresh mixed batch of salt water at 1.026 on my refractometer.
 
Maybe my water is more stable and cleaner than yours :). Just playing. maybe mine is just waiting for the right time to shed
 
Dkuhlmann said:
I'm pretty sure those lights are not going to work long term for corals, and therein lies your problem.
Click to expand...

No doubt, these are low tech light setups thus far, and before adding anything with higher requirements I'd obviously need a better lighting solution, however Kenya tree's should grow fine under these lights, and had no problem for roughly a month until one day it had it's issue.

I did my Alk test, and I'm between 9 and 10 on the dHK scale, or roughly 180 on the kh ppm scale, so that should be fine I'd imagine.
 
Your alk is fine. Kenya trees are very hardy and very hard to kill. Only the worst water or poor/insufficient lighting will kill them. Your problem is your lighs. Sure it lasted a month but it's slowly dying because there isn't sufficient lighting. Mine is thriving as are the rest of my corals LPS, SPS, Leathers and anemones under HO T5's. If you want your corals to live I suggest you get some sufficient lights.
 
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