Problem with slowly declining brain coral

jdewolftx · 10/01/2018, 02:52 PM

All,

I have a 110 gallon tank that has been up for approx. 3 years. I have a mix of LPS and SPS. It has a chiller and I dose 2 part as well as Nopox. My parameters are all pretty stable with DKh sitting around 8.5, Ca sitting around 430, NO3 sitting between 0.5 - 1 ppm, and PO4 sitting at 0 ppm.

A few brain coral that I have had for around 18 months seem to be slowly decaying. Right now you can see some pull back from the skeleton. (albeit little for now) However, I have a button polyp that has really pulled back. In addition, I have a Duncan that I grew from just a tiny frag to a decent size and it used to almost always be flowing and happy. However, in the last month it has really pulled inwards. From the pictures I am including you can see that my elegance, frogspawn, acans, and zoas are all doing great.

I am just so confused as to what could be causing this. I never see fish nip at them so I do not think it is that. I do not keep much of a clean up crew since my nutrients are kept so low and algae is well controlled by my Fox Face.

Any suggestion? Has anyone seen this before? It cannot be coincidence that the two brains start to pull back at the same time. I have been doing water changes. The next thing I am trying is I am replacing all my filters in my 5 stage RO-DI system. The TDS meter still shows zero but perhaps some impurity is still getting through.

I appreciate any ideas.

-Jeff

Dsekula · 10/02/2018, 12:38 AM

To me it seems like the alk might be a tad high for those low nutrient #s , but that's definitely subject to opinion. I run slightly higher po4- 0.2-0.4 and no3- 4-6 range and have seen best results with alk at 7- 7.5 (again it's subject to opinion but I have found the happiest coral for me with theIf you had some nutrients stored in the rocks or sand and it's finally used up those coral could be hungery? For lps that looks like either a starving situation or too much light/quick nutrient drop. I'd personally try shifting them to a slightly shaded spot and feed them a bit. I've noticed personally all the coral you mentioned seem to prefer the lower light lower flow areas where food will collect a bit after feeding (espically those brains) my experience is they like almost dead spots.

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jdewolftx · 10/02/2018, 07:09 PM

Thanks for the input. I think you are right about the coral starving.

-Jeff

Reef Bass · 10/03/2018, 06:37 PM

Check your magnesium.

jdewolftx · 10/05/2018, 07:43 PM

I just checked MG and it definitely shifted. I think I switched from Red Sea to Kent Marine Mag. During this time frame. Is this swing enough to irritate the brain coral and the duncan?

-Jeff

Reef Bass · 10/05/2018, 07:54 PM

Not in my opinion. Low mag makes lps grumpy and yours got down to 1200 which, in my experience, is where things can start to head south, especially if mag continues to drop. The increase you saw occurred over 12 days or so if I'm interpreting the graph correctly, which is not tremendously stressful. If things continue to deteriorate, mag is not the problem.

jdewolftx · 01/04/2019, 05:02 PM

Well I hate to report that I am losing the war. The scoly completely detached and is floating around. The same happened with one of my brains. What is worse is my elegance coral followed suit. I had that thing for 3 years and it tripled in size. But a month ago it just started detatching. Today I had to remove it. The water parameters have remained relatively constant except nitrate which is holding steady at 0.5 ppm.

The only positive news is that the Duncan looks like it is recovering. The zoos and acanthus all appear to be healthy. Are there bacterial pathogens that can move from brain to brain? This is the only thing that makes sense.

-Jeff

Uncle99 · 01/04/2019, 10:21 PM

I have found brain corals over the years, hard to keep, but Scolymia easy.
Once I had a Scolymia where the poly almost completely came off after years of great health.
When the water was tested, it was found to have a elevated content of metal which we tracked back to an overdose of Red Sea Colours.
Two back to back 25% WC....waited a week.....two back to back WC.....discontinued colours program for a month.....all returned to normal

Dsekula · 01/21/2019, 08:29 PM

...

10/03/2018, 06:37 PM	#4
Reef Bass colors and textures Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Petaluma CA Posts: 6,301	Check your magnesium. __________________ The human desires for instant gratification and immediate problem resolution cannot be satisfied with this hobby. Former president and co-president of the Wine Country Reefers. Current Tank Info: 60 gallons of Scleractinia and Zoanthidae lit w/ LEDs

10/05/2018, 07:54 PM	#6
Reef Bass colors and textures Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Petaluma CA Posts: 6,301	Not in my opinion. Low mag makes lps grumpy and yours got down to 1200 which, in my experience, is where things can start to head south, especially if mag continues to drop. The increase you saw occurred over 12 days or so if I'm interpreting the graph correctly, which is not tremendously stressful. If things continue to deteriorate, mag is not the problem. __________________ The human desires for instant gratification and immediate problem resolution cannot be satisfied with this hobby. Former president and co-president of the Wine Country Reefers. Current Tank Info: 60 gallons of Scleractinia and Zoanthidae lit w/ LEDs

01/21/2019, 08:29 PM	#9
Dsekula Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2018 Location: Sterling Posts: 271	... Last edited by Dsekula; 01/21/2019 at 08:46 PM.

10/02/2018, 12:38 AM	#2
Dsekula Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2018 Location: Sterling Posts: 271	To me it seems like the alk might be a tad high for those low nutrient #s , but that's definitely subject to opinion. I run slightly higher po4- 0.2-0.4 and no3- 4-6 range and have seen best results with alk at 7- 7.5 (again it's subject to opinion but I have found the happiest coral for me with theIf you had some nutrients stored in the rocks or sand and it's finally used up those coral could be hungery? For lps that looks like either a starving situation or too much light/quick nutrient drop. I'd personally try shifting them to a slightly shaded spot and feed them a bit. I've noticed personally all the coral you mentioned seem to prefer the lower light lower flow areas where food will collect a bit after feeding (espically those brains) my experience is they like almost dead spots. Sent from my E6810 using Tapatalk

10/02/2018, 07:09 PM	#3
jdewolftx Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Flower Mound, TX Posts: 77	Thanks for the input. I think you are right about the coral starving. -Jeff

01/04/2019, 05:02 PM	#7
jdewolftx Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Flower Mound, TX Posts: 77	Well I hate to report that I am losing the war. The scoly completely detached and is floating around. The same happened with one of my brains. What is worse is my elegance coral followed suit. I had that thing for 3 years and it tripled in size. But a month ago it just started detatching. Today I had to remove it. The water parameters have remained relatively constant except nitrate which is holding steady at 0.5 ppm. The only positive news is that the Duncan looks like it is recovering. The zoos and acanthus all appear to be healthy. Are there bacterial pathogens that can move from brain to brain? This is the only thing that makes sense. -Jeff