[steve bridgend]

iv had enough of this my bubble is slowly dying and is not responding to anything it been completly retracted for about a month about a week ago i noticed a small aiptasia growing on its skeleton next to the flesh wich iv managed to remove but the coral still wont expand all other corals are fine even my acros so its not a water quality problem iv tried it in a few places and still no response i cant feed it because it never everts its tentacles even if i directly squirt it with rotifers its currently on the floor of my 2 foot deep tank under a 250 watt halide any ideas guys

[Dave.I]

Doesnt sound like its going to make it but you could try feeding it this way.Cut off the top quarter of a coke bottle and place it over the coral(if it fits)bottle top up and then quirt some mysis on to the coral and let it sit a couple of hours.This will protect it from fish steeling the food and let it eat in peace.If you dont get a response from this then its not looking good.

Dave

[steve bridgend]

wont the bottle just float do i put the lid on tried feeding it in a bucket for about 15 mins and had no response

[tommo]

Just because your acros are fine, doesnt mean its not a water quality issue. and what other livestock (coral wise) do you own

What are your parameters exactly

tom

[lindsay]

Any chance of a picture?what is a bit strange is that the time period of the coral not doing well is quite long.Could be a number of things,water chemistry,predator,flow.I have found with bubbles if the flow is too strong they will often not expand fully,i normally position them under the flow from a pump.

[lindsay]

Do you have the Flame angel in the tank that was in some of the pictures you put up?,if yes is he a good guy,they can nip corals on the quiet,so much so i have had customers swear its not him,until prov en otherwise lol.

[steve bridgend]

hi guys the flame has gone as ive upgraded to a 6x2x2 now and he died on the change over the only fish at the mo are sailfin and os tang i keep all stoney corals sps and lps evrything else is fine params are
nitrate 0ppm api
phosphate below 0.03 d and d
calcium 380 api
kh 8 api
mag 1380 salifert
turnover is about 25 times an hour but getting a polario soon as im going more sps now

[steve bridgend]

sory no pics as the camera is on holiday with my sister it completly deflated 90% of the time sometimes you can just see tiny deflated bubbles im at a loss now tbh

[jason@jasonsaquatics]

Hi m8

I have seen bubbles do this when they come in on deliveries .There open for 2 3 weeks maybe a little longer and they slowly start to close up .

On close examination they all have one thing in common and that's a green algae growing on the skeleton of the coral .The algae is not a ling hair like algae but more like a staining on the skeleton ,This algae has the same appearance as the green boring algae you can get on sps coral .

What this algae does is spread up the skeleton under the flesh of the coral slowly killing the coral off.
As far as i know there is no cure for this except fragging the coral ,this is easy to do if its sps but in your case with a bubble coral i think your most likely loose the coral (However I'm not saying this is what you have on this coral but it does happen )

Symptoms are the coral will deflate and become saggy with the sharp blades on the coral start to show ,,with time they to will start to show the green algae on them .Take the coral out and take a look at the skeleton if it has this green look to it you will have a good idea as to whats going on with the coral , As far as I'm aware the green boring algae is not contagious


yours


jas

[steve bridgend]

cant see any green jas thes but the coral flesh does lok discoloured where it joins skeleton like a pinky brown

[lindsay]

If you have a low flow area,try the coral there,if not already the case.

[steve bridgend]

yup it is already there iv moved it to a much darker place too

[steve bridgend]

just noticed the bubble just had a poo is this a good sign that its still functioning

[jason@jasonsaquatics]

Let us know how it goes steve


jas

[Dave.I]

When you say it had a pooh do you meen dark brown snotty stuff from a mouth? If so then it is expelling zooxanthellae and bleaching.This could be due to too much light or stress.

[tommo]

Quote

nitrate 0ppm api

Maybee one issue!

Its probably getting nowhere near enough nutrients, perfect subject to test out ammonium chloride

clams die if nutrients are so low

Tom

[steve bridgend]

the api is pretty crap tbh its probably higher

[steve bridgend]

it was just normal coral poo stringy brown stuff

[tommo]

Quote

the api is pretty crap tbh its probably higher

Possibly, but it could be right!

Mars should stick to chocolate i agree

Tom

[Marcus Watts]

steve bridgend, on Jan 18 2010, 01:02 PM, said:

it was just normal coral poo stringy brown stuff

Hi, not sure if the coral is alive or dead now but the 'brown stringy stuff' you talk about is zooalantha, the coral is expelling it from the mouth area. This is a sure sign of stress as the coral is on the route to bleaching. Water parameters out of balance and/or lighting that the coral found unsuitable are the most likely causes. But anything that stresses the coral can cause it -

I think that so many microscopic or un-measurable factors can attack our corals in a tank - we stock things from all over the world in a few feet of water and sometimes we end up fighting a loosing battle with some corals