whats wrong with my sun coral

[nog]

hi all, hope you can help

had my sun coral for at least 6month and all has been going well even little ones growing on it but all of a sudden it dosent look so good..one end of it is showing alot of yellow inbetween it is still feeding ok but not quite as well on the end showing the yellow. all water testings are ok had some trouble with phosphate but under contol now........sorry but picture not great but hope it helps any advice would be great

thanks in advance

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e152/nog321/P3270009.jpg

[nog]

anyone????

[adam.crouch]

can u blow the yellow stuff off?

[nog]

hi adam, i dont think i can, i will try when i feed it later, it looks more like the top layer of "skin" is coming off

thanks

nog

[kevo66]

If on closr inspection it is coming away, I would frag the good half just to try and save it ;)

[nog]

hi kevo66 how do you frag it? sounds a bit drastic!!! thanks
nog

[evilervin]

Hi,

can u blow the yellow stuff off?
Dont blow the 'yellow stuff' off.

I would frag the good half just to try and save it
IMO, dont frag it.... it can be done but can also do more harm than good.

If i where you, I'd simply ensure the waters tip top, and continue feeding. If possible i would increase the amount of food given (as long as it wont effect the water quality), to aid speedy recovery.

dont make any rash decisions, keep the coral well fed, it will pass.
Recheck your PO4 levels, elevated PO4 can cause what your witnessing...as can NO3 etc, basically water quality or a contaminated water collum is the 'noramlly' the cause.

For your own piece of mind, i would do a partial water change, re-new your carbon and add one of those Polyfilter jobbies for a few days.

HTH
Roger

[kevo66]

^^^I would do what the man says^^^ Knows more about em than me ;)

Roger, where about in North Wales you from mate? Anywhere near Connahs Quay?

[evilervin]

Roger, where about in North Wales you from mate? Anywhere near Connahs Quay

Llysfaen, not to far from Connahs Quay... 45mins or so.

Nog,

After having another look at your pic, the grey areas on the right hand side of the main part of the 'yellow stuff' is worring me... is it possible for a closer pic? Is there any chance you've allowed detritus is settle on the coral?

Roger

[nog]

hi evilervin (roger) i was waiting for you reply as i know you know your stuff on these corals....

nothing has landed on this coral that i know of the dark stuff does come off, i have (since this started) been feeding every day and all polyps are attempting to come out, i will test water again today and see if i can get a better picture and do a water change ( i do a 10%change each week), it has also been moved recently as somthing was knocking it off its rock but this had started before so mayb that had somthing to do with it?... i have also added (2 months ago) a candy stripe dwarf angel which i have been watching very closlely but have seen no evidence of it bothering any of the corals....

i could set up a small tank to move it to if you thought it would be of any help i really dont want to loose it as it was looking stunning.(well one half still is)

many thanks for your help will post readings and photo later

nog

[sky1ine]

personally unless something was trying to eat it i.e: your angel i'd be tempted to leave it where it is, i think putting it in a small tank will make the water params to hard to control meaning more stress on the coral....
but as always i'd wait for either a more experienced brain to turn up, or wait for evilervin (roger)

atb
marc

[evilervin]

Hi,

it has also been moved recently as somthing was knocking it off its rock but this had started before so mayb that had somthing to do with it?

Being knocked around can certainly stress the coral, more so it it gets up turned, so its calices end up on/in the sand/rock.
To be honest if this was the cause i would expect to see damage to the calice edges, and clearly from your pic there is no damage to the calices or the coenosarc covering the calices.

i have also added (2 months ago) a candy stripe dwarf angel which i have been watching very closlely but have seen no evidence of it bothering any of the corals....

IF (big if) the drawf angel is nipping at the coral it will be very reluctant to expanded (same with too much unwanted attension from shrimps). I had a Lemonpeel dwarf angel which dam near killed my first sun coral, it wasnt causing much damage to the polyps with the direct action of the 'nip', but boy did it stress the coral. I should also add that i very much doubt if the 'yellow stuff' is directly caused by the angel... he/she will be nipping the polyp and calyx as opposed to the coenosarc covering the corallites (the tubes).

nothing has landed on this coral that i know of the dark stuff does come off
The more and more i study your pic, the more I'm convincing myself that this (yellow stuff) has been cause by detritus (possibly the grey stuff), the areas of damage are where I'd expect matter to settle. How often and by what means have you being clearing the coral of detritus / settled waste?

i could set up a small tank to move it to if you thought it would be of any help
If you have the tank, LR, skimmer, powerhead etc, and you think the angel is the cause / your water paramiter are suffering due to the daily feeds, / you want an interesting 'species only' tank, then why not... as long as "small" isnt below say 70ltr*, and weekly water changes are carefully matched , Ie; temp, sg, PH etc.

As Marc has mentioned, if you find the lower volume of water difficult to maintain ie rapid changes in water paramiters, the coral will be more stressed and its health will decline further.

*; I say 70 ltrs as i have no experience of keeping sun corals in a tank below this volume.

HTH
Roger

[nog]

thanks all for the replys

roger your words of wisdom are great and i am hopeing you are right in that this will pass...

since feeding every day the coral is looking better and responding more i will have to keep a close check on the water tests yesterday nitrate was about 5 ph 8.2 kh 7 these are all consistant in my tank phosphate was about 0.05 but as said i have a water change to do (didnt get time yesterday:( ) this morning the coral looks better with most polyps been out all night, well they were out when i went to bed and out this morning when i got up!! ( its normal behavior is to be closed through the day then open when i feed the tank and be out all night) i hve a couple of pictures of feeding last night

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e152/nog321/P3290013.jpg

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e152/nog321/P3290014.jpg

i will try to take another when it is closed to see if it looks any better

i tend to gently wave my hand over the coral when it finished feeding to remove anthing left on it (normaly every second day)

the tank i could use is only small would say no more than 50gallons so will leave that option for now and see how it goes

many thanks again to all what would we all do without this site:applause: :thumbsup:

[evilervin]

Nog,

i am hopeing you are right in that this will pass...
With the coral expanding as much as shown in the pic, and with your daily feeds i'm positive it will pass.:)

this morning the coral looks better with most polyps been out all night, well they were out when i went to bed and out this morning when i got up!!
With the increase in the amount of food you now feed (your change to daily feeds), you can expect to see the coral expand a lot more during 'daylight' hours.

i tend to gently wave my hand over the coral when it finished feeding to remove anthing left on it (normaly every second day)
I find the best way to clear the corals 'body' of detritus / general crap is:
With the coral CLOSED, gently blow water onto the coral with a turkey baster.. i do this daily. BTW, im not saying dont use your hand, merely stating how i do it.

the tank i could use is only small would say no more than 50gallons
50gal (200ish ltr) would be a plenty of water volume.

What to do now?
Continue your feeds, and keep us posted.

Roger