What's up with my candy coral?

[Fanof49ASU]

What are these brown spots?

 

[HelloMyNameIs__]

Looks like diatoms growing on it. If its in a low flow area, they will grow algae on them if the detritus isnt blown off of them from the flow.

 

[Fanof49ASU]

It's actually just under my refuge return......pretty high flow area. Whatever it is, it's attached pretty well. I just sprayed it with a turkey baster, which the coral didn't like at all.

 

[HelloMyNameIs__]

Have you tried rubbing it off with your hand? (besure to wash your hands well afterwords)

 

[Fanof49ASU]

No, I haven't.

Just tried it. No change.

 

[HelloMyNameIs__]

Im stumped then. Thats what it looks like in the pic, but apparently not.

 

[Angela Short]

Did it happen suddenly and how long have you had the coral? Weird looking. Have you moved it recently or any other changes to mention?

 

[pitbullpooch]

at first it almost looked like flat worms but it does look more like diatoms once i looked at it closer. If it was flatworms then you would have seen them move once you used the turkey baster on them since they hate high flow. hopefully someone can figure it out for yea...good luck.

 

[jfolley67]

check your salinity.....my candy canes got a color like that before they starting bleaching out to white....it happened kind of slowly, the turning white, but it was that my salinity was too low.....and I did not know it...just a thought..

 

[SRT80]

These candy canes was in my brothers tank. I don't know the color change process, but they use to be teal. All his tests was fine...PH, Ammonia, Nitrates, Salinity, Calcium, etc. But, they was bein' touched by alot of xenia. Maybe that messed them up? I have them in my tank hopin' they make a recovery. I have had in that spot for awhile and no better really, but haven't got any worse. Maybe I should put them in a little shade? Just under 65 watt PC in a 10 gal. in the middle of tank...

Steve

 

[gflat65]

So they are under high flow? How long have they been there? If they've been there for a while, i'm not sure what to say, but if they've only been there a little while, I'd say to move them to a lower flow area (as well as checking parameters). Mine seem to like lower flow and light.

 

[rcmike]

I have some in very high flow and they do just fine. If I had to guess I would say they don't have enough flow. From the looks of the xenia I would say there isn't a whole lot of flow there.

 

[Fanof49ASU]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9351028#post9351028 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jfolley67
check your salinity.....my candy canes got a color like that before they starting bleaching out to white....it happened kind of slowly, the turning white, but it was that my salinity was too low.....and I did not know it...just a thought..

My salinity is pretty stable. I'll check again in the morning.

 

[Fanof49ASU]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9351942#post9351942 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gflat65
So they are under high flow? How long have they been there? If they've been there for a while, i'm not sure what to say, but if they've only been there a little while, I'd say to move them to a lower flow area (as well as checking parameters). Mine seem to like lower flow and light.

They've been there for a couple of months without any change.
It's not under a steady blast of flow, but it's directly under the return (to the fuge) and it's a pretty steady flow. The Xenia's grow like crazy at that point....it's their favorite, most productive spot in the tank.

I'll have to see where I can move them to. I don't have many places left.

Thanks.

 

[Fanof49ASU]

FWIW....they are still growing and getting larger very well....they just won't lose the spots.

 

[TitansFan]

Maybe the are a new super rare spotted candy cane. You should probably hurry and post them on ebay for several hundreds of dollars.