What's wrong with my coral?

[BillNye]

First, can anyone tell me what type of coral this is?

Second, can anyone tell me why I have two heads that seem 'deflated'?

I left town for 5 days. I did a water change before I left and changed out the socks and ATO. I came home to a ph of 8.33 (usually 7.9-8.1) and this guy with one deflated head and another completely down to the bone.

What gives!?

 

[ColinAbi]

Hammer coral

 

[BillNye]

Thanks!

More info:
salt 36
ph 8
ca 430
alk 11
mg 1380ish
nitrate/nitrite below 5
ammonia 0

 

[ColinAbi]

Thanks!

More info:
salt 36
ph 8
ca 430
alk 11
mg 1380ish
nitrate/nitrite below 5
ammonia 0

Not sure why it is deflated, all levels look in check. Might want to lower salinity to 35 though.

 

[oldbones]

They'll do that from time to time as a normal part of business, but usually for only 12 hours or so. If it recedes all the way inside and all you see is bone, it's not happy.

 

[BillNye]

It usually hangs around 35 (35.9 right now).

The other head has no tentacles at all and had a kind of clear film or 'scab' attached to it. Anyone?

 

[BillNye]

They'll do that from time to time as a normal part of business, but usually for only 12 hours or so. If it recedes all the way inside and all you see is bone, it's not happy.

One of the heads is all the way to the bone. Will it grow back? I've seen them recede when there is too much flow but this one looks bad... This has been going on since Monday.

 

[Nickyz]

Bad news, if it has been that way since Monday then you're probably experiencing some die off. That is unfortunate, its a beautiful hammer you got there, good luck.

 

[chefbill]

Look for brown jelly disease. Not trying to be a fear monger, just from your brown scab description it maybe something to investigate.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

It could be the start of brown jelly disease as Bill states and is something to watch for. I would make sure it's got a good bit of flow for a while or even take a turkey baster and blow those heads to see if you see any brown stuff on the heads. I'm going through this now with my once beautiful Duncan colony, that is now reduced to only 8 single fragged heads It was a beautiful colony with 23 heads less than a week ago.

So if you have any brown stuff that blows off of the shrunken heads it would be brown jelly disease. I can talk you through treatment but need to verify first. The sooner the better.

This is a hammer coral to answer your other question. PH is fine but your alk is very high should bring it down to 8 or so.

 

[bradyvictor551]

I think it's look like a hammer coral

 

[Radioheadx14]

also make sure there isnt a jet of water hitting it, or nothing else bothering it.

 

[BillNye]

It could be the start of brown jelly disease as Bill states and is something to watch for. I would make sure it's got a good bit of flow for a while or even take a turkey baster and blow those heads to see if you see any brown stuff on the heads. I'm going through this now with my once beautiful Duncan colony, that is now reduced to only 8 single fragged heads It was a beautiful colony with 23 heads less than a week ago.

So if you have any brown stuff that blows off of the shrunken heads it would be brown jelly disease. I can talk you through treatment but need to verify first. The sooner the better.

This is a hammer coral to answer your other question. PH is fine but your alk is very high should bring it down to 8 or so.

Just to be clear, there's no brown film or brown anything. There was a clearish film covering one of the heads with maybe 2 deflated tentacles still there. The other head has a small bunch of tentacles but they are very deflated. Here's a picture of the two heads from tonight.

My questions are: Is there anything I can do? Will it grow back where it has receded to the bone? Should I break off the 'dead' heads to help from spreading/give room for others to grow?

As for the alk, I've been using coral pro sea salt for over a year, which states their salt mix alk is around 11-12 and I have seen great growth and health since. Should I find a salt with a lower alk?

Thank you all for the advice. This was my first coral - started with 2 heads and grew to 22, so I'm determined to keep this guy alive...

 

[BillNye]

Hate to multi post but could this have anything to do with the RODI I just installed?

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Well I'm glad to hear it doesn't have brown jelly, but that was simply stated by me for you to look for. I wasn't saying that was your problem.

I did say what your problem was in the second part of my post. Please go back and read it.