Tree Coral Struggles

[QuiGonJay]

I've been struggling with this tree coral and trying to sort out if it's sick, dying or just propogating itself.

After being out of town for 4 days, I came back to find the tree coral quite wilted with it's skin flaking off and rips in some of it's branches. It has since dropped two branches completely. I have moved it to the bottom of the tank to aid in clean up. After some testing and investigation, I have a few theories - would love to get the thoughts of those more knowledgeable than I.

* Placement - i had moved the coral about 2 inches higher in the tank which placed it 2 inches from a leather coral. Perhaps it and the leather don't get along? The move was about 3 weeks back - no issues until now.

* Alk - all parms noted below - only one that's changed is Alkalinity - after being around 9.0 for the life of the tank (9 months), it's now 7.5ish - no clue why. Other than starting up a skimmer and adding purigen and chemipure elite to the media basket about 2 weeks back, things have been consistent.

* Feeding - I don't feed this coral specifically - should I?

* Propagation - maybe it's just dropping 'branches' to reproduce. If so, it just looks sad and horrible - you'd think making baby corals would make it happier.

Other corals in the tank that seem to be doing well are xenia, zoa (frag), mushroom, leather, duncan (frag), candy cane (frag), gorgonian, green star polyp, caribbean rose.

I'm worried most that if it is diseased/dying and I leave it in, it will poison the tank. But don't want to dispose of it if it's truly just propagating.

Tank - 45 gallon, 9 months old, Salinity: 1/026, temp 80, Ca: 400, KH: normally 9, now 7.5, MG 1400, PH 7.9/8, Nitrite: 0, Nitrate: 20-30 (been trying to get this down for two months).

 

[str8kickn1]

Imo, i just think its adjusting to the new flow and location. My tree leans up against my finger leather with no issues, try leaving it alone for a few days to a week and if dont adjust id try moving it back to where it started. My trees have drooped like this many times and bounced back within a few days. Good luck by the way, mine drops branches about once every two weeks. Im sure you will hear some more opinions

 

[Webmanny]

Do not worry. It is near impossible to kill this thing. I've intentionally tried to kill some growth in areas of my tank where it grows over more expensive corals and like Xenia, this thing keeps coming back. Just leave it alone and wait.

 

[QuiGonJay]

Thanks. It stopped dropping branches and I moved it back to the original spot and it is recovering. Maybe it just was propogating. If it continues to do well I may try it back by the leather. Until it went through the 'dropping' phase it seemed to do well there.

 

[Principal_P]

My tank has seen many periods of "dark ages" over the seven years since I first started. Mostly as a result of my trial and error...my tree is one of those pieces that has survived my learning curve, so yeah it's pretty darn resilient.

Not that long ago, I noticed that some branches were droopy. When I turned it around to see what was happening, I was pleasantly surprised to see several trunks. It appears as though those trunks are migrating from one another. I don't think it's mobile like the foot of an anemone, but it sure looked to me as though they were trying to separate from each other.

Maybe that's what's going on with yours???

 

[QuiGonJay]

Maybe. It does seem to be doing better as time goes on. Intriguing creatures, I'm learning as i go!

 

[urbanrat84]

IMO the coral shown in the picture is not healthy.

It could have been a flow issue or coral warfare as you suspected. Many soft corals can be placed together without a problem however not all - I have a Cladiella sp. and a Klyxum sp. that do not get on when they are within reach of each other.

The Klyxum leans towards the Cladiella and rubs itself against its side, causing shedding in that one location and a dappled look to the flesh. I believe if I left it for too long, the Cladiella's flesh would start to decay.