Kenya tree going, gone, or nothing to worry about?

[marcusbacus]

I have this medium sized Kenya for about 3 weeks and recently it began to shrink. I read everywhere that when it does that it can be due to the coral wanting to grow and that it's normal, but it doesn't look good to me.

At first (about a week ago) it was like this (only picture taken with a flash):

then 2 days ago it started to look like this:

It doesn't appear to be dissolving or something like that, it is just a bit more flat than usual and have this blue-ish hue instead of the regular pink and some brown thing where it was the top of a branch. I also read that when it's dividing it usually releases this brown tissue thing then it goes back to life after a while.

This is how it looked like exactly 10 days ago, when it started to shrink I think:

All parameters have been the same since it started. Just the nitrates are higher than they should, the rest is fine.

I have lost a kenya in the past, and it doesn't look much like that, it dissolves pretty quick but this one seems as I've said just "flat". It's glued to an astrea shell.

 

[91Atrac]

I've seen my Kenya shrink small parts of its branches and every night when I just the LEDs off and the moonlights go on it shrinks and shrivels but NEVER have I seen it look like that. Looks like bad rubarb to me.

Has lighting changed or powerhead placement? Some equipment failure? I'm just as clueless as you tho. Sad


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[marcusbacus]

Yes it does shrink at night with lights off or slightly before they are off (and it only reopens during the day, if I turn the lights back on at night it stays shrunk, it's a natural behaviour), but this time it's like that even with lights on. Nothing has changed in position, lights, temperature, etc. either.

 

[Khemul]

Closing up at night (or when irritated) until it looks like Cauliflower is not out of the norm.

Bending over isn't a horrible sign either.

But it should keep at least the same range of color (colors may lighten or darken as it expands contracts).


Unfortunately I don't know what to tell you beyond that. Kenya's are pretty damned hardy. They are flexible on flow, lighting, parameters (within reason). It takes a bit to really hurt one (cutting a whole branch off just makes them sulk). But that one appears to be rotting.

Are there any other corals in the tank? If it is the only coral then I'd say check the parameters. But if you have others and they are fine then that isn't likely, since the other corals would normally go before the Kenya.

 

[marcusbacus]

The others are fine, there aren't many corals now as I'm rebuilding this tank from scratch after a crash (as described in the thread "can this hammer recover") but they are ok. One coral that gives me warnings faster than the kenya is the xenia, if it doesnt open something is really wrong with some parameter.
The colours have changed a little from the usual pinkish/slightly blue/gray to something more like blue/purple (but they also change colours when they shrink naturally, to darker colours), and in the base of the coral it's a bit orange/brown now (it was all in the same colour before), but it might be that brown stuff being released, not sure. As I've never seen this growing process, I can't tell. I think if it was already dead, it probably would have detached from the astrea shell. I'm avoiding to take it from there and give it a shake to see if it's dissolving, but at the same time if it's dead already it might start to mess up with the water...

 

[marcusbacus]

It still hasn't changed - for better of for worse. Today i took it off and gave it a big shake, it's definitely not melting or something neither detaching from the shell. It's just a bit "shy" it seems. I might be wrong but I think I saw a small new branch at the other side of the astrea shell that wasn't there. If it was really dead I think it would have started to melt by now. It will be moved to the new tank (a Red Sea Max 250) asap (which actually means "as soon as the new tank is fully mounted and cycled... which will still take a couple more days or even weeks...).

 

[philosophile]

Smell it. That would be a food way to see if it is dead. I'm not sure how to describe the smell of live softies but they have a distinct smell from being dead.

 

[marcusbacus]

Yes, when they're dead they smell... dead. Hard to describe indeed, but I know what you mean. A lot of corals have a distinctive "healthy" smell.
Today I was moving a few rocks around to accomodate one small rock with some mushrooms on it and of course a lot of stuff was moving in the water, so it sort of appeared nearly awaken again for some minutes (some brown stuff like its little mouths appeared at the shrunken tips) as if it was trying to get some food, but still almost entirely shrunk, although not flat. Then it got flat again... I still have lots of hope with this one, though.

 

[91Atrac]

Any update on the Kenya?


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[marcusbacus]

It died. Suddenly it dissolved entirely. As I'm building a new tank (I've posted a question about the skimmer elsewhere but no replies so far...), I'm not really worried with all the mess that is going on in this little one which seems to be doomed. Everything was fine until 6 months ago then nothing else worked despite all the parameters and everything else seem to be fine. I'll just let this one settle down and maybe redo it in a few months.

 

[91Atrac]

Maybe it was your mixing pale? I was using one and found it had been used for corrosive liquids. I also had a friend find something about brute or some garbage can leeching chemicals into the water too.


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[marcusbacus]

it was/is new, and bought specifically for that purpose, and apparently didn't have any of these white residues on it or any suspicious smell or something (no residues since I quit using the Red Sea salt, btw). I am suspecting of the water quality of the DI in the last weeks/month(s), the resin maybe wasn't ok, but it's already replaced.

 

[91Atrac]

I don't think it would have been a bad filter on the water unit, pol use tap water lol with great success might I add. In our area anyways. I tried to help. I'm at a loss


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[marcusbacus]

The problem isn't the source water per se, but the bad resin that can leak back all the bad stuff to your "filtered" water.

 

[91Atrac]

Yea true. Good point. Forcing water through clogged filter just leeching the bad into "filtered" water. I'll keep this in mind for future


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