Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

Well oddly enough my Blastomussa frag has grown 7x since I got it. But my Frogspawn and Candy Cane haven't been so fortunate. After releasing my Blastomussa colony back to Mike, he said it made a rebound and looks great, so I am hoping to do the same with these guys.

The Spawn still opens it just doesn't "puff" up like it used to. But it eats when I feed it, etc...So I think it is healty but just doesn't like my tank. 2 heads

The Candy hasn't receded but the heads don't expand at all anymore. 4 heads with 1 splitting.

If anyone would like to voulenteer their tanks to house these corals for me that'd be great. Of course, if they do good and you want to thank me by chopping up a softie for me, that'd be great too

Do you normally check your parameters and how often, also what brand of kit do you use.

How old is your bulb? What kind of current are they in? What do other corals look like? Are there any corals touching or in very close proximity? I am sure that everyone here would rather try and solve your problem first. Did you ever set up you 20 gallon?

I usually don't check my parameters. Last time was a couple of weeks ago.

ph 8.3
amm 0
trites 0
trates 0
cal 420
alk 3-4

not sure if were really right on, got it done at B&B but I'll tell you the alk/cal seems to pretty balanced for when I drop any kent tech alk, it instanly precipitates in the water.

haven't check phos, mag, etc...since the crash.

I just do weekly 1 gallon WCs (15-20% water volume)

The main bulb (32 watter) is 9 months old, but the 2 corals have been like this for even before the crash 2 months ago.

Current wise they are both in low-moderate areas. no direct current, and pretty random due thier location.

All the other corals look great. Growing, opening, feeding, pooping, etc...

the closest thing to the spawn is a pipe organ frag 3" from it, so I highly doubt it's the culprit.

The closest thing to the candy is an encrusting gorgonian and even fully extended it's a good 2-3" from it.

I'm kinda chalking this up to the "xenia" factor. although they are all fairly hardy, some can keep things, some can't.


and no the 20 hasn't gone up yet, although all the hardware is there. It's just the LR that I need.

Could it be allelopathy due to the close proximity of octocorals in less than 7 gallons of water? I remember seeing mushrooms and xenia on your web page. not sure what other softies. Wouldn't carbon help if it were this?

intresting idea, but how would you explain the blastomussa, who is literally surrounded by zoos and shrooms, doing so well?

there is no xenia anymore. it shriveled and died

Mushrooms and octocorals are known for releasing terpines and other chemicals to gain dominance. It could be that in such a small tank they have built up. Not real familiar with the Blasto, so I can't say why it isn't in the same condition as your other hard corals. Also, if your alk reading is in dKh it is too low. 12 is a good number to shoot for. if it in meq/l it is ok. Carbon sounds like a good start. Cheap and easy (just the way I like em') and you can usually see results within a few days. That would be the first thing I would try.

I have read (It's in print so it must be true right ) that some species are more sensitive than others.. makes sense they might be from opposite ends of the world or might not. Borneman seems to think the euphyllia are particullary sensitive. I'll see if I can find what it was I was reading on what is more sensitive to what.

the alk reading is meq/L not DKH. That would be a little out of wack. Actually the last time B&B tested I asked the guy which one it was and it stunned him for a bit.

I can drop in some carbon, but I have done it before and no noticble differenc occurred.

I'm off the 4th, so I can deliver these guys to you, or if you want to meet me half way, whatever.

I just want to be responsible here, and give these guys a chance.

They aren't doing good in my tank, and maybe a larger water volume can do them some good. I don't have many more places in the tank to move them, they've pretty much been everywhere.

Harbinger, if you wanted to try and house them elsewhere until you get your other tank setup I'd be glad to help you out. I will have even more empty room when I move the softies out of here soon. As long as there is no planaria or aptasia on them For the moment I have plenty of room, haven't lost anything yet. I have been a bit worried about my closed brain, it has not acclimated as well as everything else, but is looking better. (I really want that one to do well.. it's gorgeous) I might have to put them in a dark area to begin with until they acclimated to the halides, and I am guessing I would need to revert them back to a dark area before we move them back into your new setup if you are going with pc's.

I found this:http://users.rcn.com/jfox61/sps_faq_v1.htm. Ir refers specifically to SPS but I think that it also extends to LPS. Check out #10.

I too have PLENTY of room to store your stuff. I can either put them in the main tank or the refug (which is under 220 watt's of VHO). I have salifert kits if youwant to bring some water to the meeting I will test it for you!

Sorry about your corals!

Elizabeth

i'll babysit some also, and im closer to you, so let me know...

I have blastumosa that has come back from certain death (aqua works GAVE it to me!), so I know I can probably take that one....I will certainly be happy to help you out!

Elizabeth