Who can help me save my bubble coral?

[stano]

I have an established 90 gallon (3 years) reef tank. All corals are doing quite well and are growing. Fish are very good, 5 in total. The only real problem other than a bit of red slime algae is a bubble coral I bought about two years ago. For the first 6 months the thing was quite good. Then slowly it began deteriorating. It is about 6" long in the shape of a U. All that is left now is about 3" of coral that is alive, and to be honest looks pretty sad. The coral will still take brine shrimp actively. I also must admit that I have up until just recently not made a concentrated effort to feed this thing directly. I am pretty confident on my water quality, and my lights are pretty good (8-48" flourescents), so my question is: Am i starving this thing to death??? I really do not want this coral to die and I think there is enough left to save it. btw I have tried moving this thing all over the tank, farther from the lights, closer to the lights, less current, more current?? Also whenever I try to feed my corals the fish always steal the food from them, I end up using a little piece of fishing rod to beat them off. All suggestions appreciated.

Stano

 

[EmilyB]

I wish I could help. I just got a piece of bubble coral from another reefer who said it had fallen into another coral and it would come back.

It is, much to my surprise ! I haven't directly fed it, but the tank is well fed.

The coral is stuck into a rock crevasse and has lots of flow on it.

 

[klingsa]

I don't know how much you've moved it, but I do know that corals don't like being moved around a lot. But I'm sure that's not the main problem. What other corals do you have? Any stonies? I ask, because stonies and LPS corals need a lot more light than some others, like leathers and mushrooms and zooanthids. I guess the main questions about lighting are what the total wattage is, and if you're providing the right wavelengths of light for the coral. Aside from the cost (which is a lot 8O ), I'd say you could try improving your lighting. It certainly won't hurt anything. Also, how old are your bulbs? You mentioned a cyano problem, which makes me think that maybe your bulbs are getting old. They put out different wavelengths of light as they age, so that could be the problem for both. I've never had a bubble coral, but I do have the related frogspawn. Are you supplementing the tank with calcium? If not, that's probably the cause. I can tell by looking at my frogspawn if I have supplemented on a given day. The difference is dramatic. If you're already doing that, maybe try more? Just a thought.

Good luck!
Sara

 

[stano]

Thanks for the responses

My lighting is really due for an update. I do have 8 40 watt bulbs, but I must admit some are far too old. I am in the process of saving to purchase some MH pendants, and get rid of most of the flourescents. That will likely not be until August I suspect. The coral has been moved to several spots over a two year period but typically for 3 months at a time. The other corals in the tank are mainly soft corals, (2 large finger leathers, bunch of polyps, bunch of mushrooms, and two hard corals, a torch coral, and a bubble coral). I do add supplemental calcium (kalkwasser and or a liquid supplement) on an irregular basis, mostly by guess and good fortune by looking at coraline algae growth, etc. Do you think the feeding is an issue at all?

Stano

 

[brandon4291]

This may be tricky to narrow down. Your bubble coral is on the lower-end of light requirements for LPS stonies, so I think your lighting is fine as long as he is at least half-way up the tank and not shaded or obstructed by other corals or their extended polyps. These sinuosas are feeders, and if mine ever gets large I would feed it more than just BS> how about a piece of fish or silverside for some extra protein boost. In well-fed tanks, this direct feeding is not always necessary but there is a notable problem with yours, so we need to get specific to narrow down the cause. Can you eliminate for sure the chance of stingers/tentacles from other inverts touching your P. Sinuosa? These corals are rather easy to keep provided calcium and alk are maintained. I would suggest adding the kalk on a regular basis after weekly testing of alkalinity and calcium separately, each system can have various demands on these two individual additives and infrequent additions may not be enough for the long haul on your paticular setup.

Anywhere a frogspawn would grow healthy so should a bubble, so there has to be a reason that can be pinpointed. For now until we get better specs on your ambient calcium and alk measures, all I can guess is it needs more supplemental feeding to support its metabolism. Perhaps more than what is derived through photosynthesis and occasional catches of brine shrimp. Keep the fish off of it for an hour at feedings, they are slow feeders typically. The fish may simply be removing too much food from the coral before ingestion is complete.

Keep the updates coming, we can figure it out eventually. Also, the lighting may be the cause of the slow degredation as well, if the active spectrum has shifted significantly due to age then the tissues may not be getting enough light to function. But, if the euphyllias are surviving and have been then?....

Good Luck

Brandon M.