RE: Open BRAIN edges turning brown...HELP!

[earthguy00]

RE: Open BRAIN edges turning brown...HELP!

I recently got my first open brain and it was doing ok
for about a week.

I started moving it around thinking my RBTA was stinging it as the side closest to the RBTA, it's edges started turning brown.

It has now gotten brown at the edges everywhere and am wanting to know if this is from stress, too much light or another reason?

It does not want to eat anything I give it for the past 2 weeks. And is showing skeleton 24/7 for the past 10 days or so.

Today it seems to have puffed up slightly.
I have had it for only 3 weeks or so.

Here are my parameters.

30 Gallon Cube (15% weekly water change)
Coral Pro Reef salt
Aragonite reef sand 15 lbs.
15 lbs. live rock
Live plants
Chemipure Elite
Aqua C Remora HOB skimmer
Penguin 350 Biowheel filled with LR

Temp 76-79.

* SG 1.025
* Calc 480
* Mag 1350
* Alk 8.4
* NH3/NO2/NO3 all 0
* PH 8.0

Please see pic for analysis. thx.

 

[Aquatic Life Direct]

That does not look good.. did you buy it looking like that as far as color? Looks very bleached... There is a chance that it can come back but I dont think it will make it.... What kind of lighting do you have and what kind of lighting was it under when you purchased it?

 

[albano]

That does not look good.. did you buy it looking like that as far as color? Looks very bleached... There is a chance that it can come back but I dont think it will make it.... What kind of lighting do you have and what kind of lighting was it under when you purchased it?

+1...the 'skeleton' is not white...looks like it's been dying for longer than a week or 2!

 

[Jzhou]

how strong is the flow going towards the brain?

 

[jcdeng]

I think its dead, and you might want to move it, might be brown jelly disease.

 

[earthguy00]

brain

I actually got it when it was a bit of a darker shade of red and greenish on the edges.

I have 60Watt LED equivalent to 250W MH.
3 watts CREE XPG emitters.
My lights are 23" away from the brain.

I have it now at the bottom of the tank in the sand as I hear these guys are not accustomed to being set on a rock etc.

Flow rate is minimal.

 

[earthguy00]

I don't think it's dead btw as it actually puffed up slightly today.
And what exactly is brown jelly disease?
I tried to take this off with a tweezer, but seems as hard as the coral itself. Should the brown jelly disease be more liquidy?

 

[Coralreefer1]

The brown looks like cyanobacteria growing on what was once live coral tissue that has died leaving just the calcium skeleton underneath that is being overcome with the nuisance cyano.
It definitely looks bleached. Unfortunately, pet shops will sell corals that are bleaching because they display colors not often associated with healthy corals, like the neon pink color and white tissue that look kind of attractive.
These corals can come back but care needs to be addressed. Ideal water flow, lighting, water changes, iodine supplement and TLC can reduce the onset of the demise of your coral.

 

[Aquatic Life Direct]

My guess is light shock... these guys do not like alot of light IMO.... try putting it in a shady area... it may come back... the skeleton looks like its getting some algae growth and not brown jelly... if you see a brown liquid like matter then that would be brown jelly...

 

[earthguy00]

brain

Thanks for the headsup guys.
Yah....I would imagine that sounds more like it.
Brown jelly sounds more liquidy. lol.
The edges have been on the brain for a good week now, but it doesn't seem to be getting worse. See what happens.

The thing is I must have moved it a good 10 times since
I've had it. I know I shouldn't have moved it so much, but the general care of these guys dictates bottom of the sand. And had it most of the time on a rock. Dummy me.

I've had it in a shady area before as well, but I'm thinking
I haven't given it enough time for it to come back.

I've upped my PH to 8.3 last night and am due to a water change this coming weekend. So, see what happens in the meantime.

Thanks for your inputs. Will keep posted of progress.
thx.

 

[ming]

My guess is light shock... these guys do not like alot of light IMO.... try putting it in a shady area... it may come back... the skeleton looks like its getting some algae growth and not brown jelly... if you see a brown liquid like matter then that would be brown jelly...

+1
The edges look like it died a while ago, but right now its bleaching which is why the colors are so faded. Most likely too intense light, but can also be from too hot water.

 

[earthguy00]

brain

Interesting though. The brown edges for some reason looks like it is pushing upwards.

But, if this is in fact brown algae is it advisable to take a nylon brush and try to rub this out? Or will this further aggravate the current condition and to best leave it alone?

Dunno if my lights are too strong as when i had it higher on a rock it did not have this problem. Only when I started moving it around.

 

[andylee]

Do you have a picture of what it looked like when you it? Looks like it's. Almost all exposed skeleton.

 

[earthguy00]

brain

I had a pic of it a few days after I got it, but somehow deleted it by mistake.

But, managed to have one in the background of my
Extreme Black Ice.

This was moved a week after I got it. take a look.

IMO I think it would have done ok if I left it on the sand bed the first time. But, still some bleaching present.
So, maybe it would eventually have showed skeleton, but
taking longer. dunno.

 

[albano]

This was moved a week after I got it. take a look.


IMO I think it would have done ok if I left it on the sand bed the first time. But, still some bleaching present.
So, maybe it would eventually have showed skeleton, but
taking longer. dunno.

maybe, it would have recovered...but it looks to be in bad shape... bleached from the start!

 

[andylee]

Sorry, looks terrible now. I see almost no flesh, even in the original picture. Also, that's kind of an off color, likely related to bleaching or just doing poorly when first obtained. Don't know that positioning/repositioning had much to do with it.

 

[earthguy00]

brain

sob sob. :-(

Maybe I can use it as a paper weight.

 

[04 orangemach]

I have one of those it is on top of rock I feed mine hbh crab and lobster bites and it has grown considerably lights are cree leds 24 blue and 24 white over 57 edge

 

[earthguy00]

brain

I'm doubting if I should have moved the brain from the original position on top of the rock.

The care of these corals dictates they are sand dwellers and
I figured that was good enough reason to move it.

If it weren't for one of the side edges turning brown I may have just left it there as it seemed to be doing OK. Most of the time it was puffed up as well................hmmmmmm a question mark lingers.

Well, at least I know not to move these guys around in the future.

I think it has even gotten worse than the last pic on this post, so it may be heading for my desk soon.

Thanks for your inputs.