Before I start, I've got a 75 gal tank, 4x54W T5HO lighting, no fish, primarily an LPS tank.
I have a large frogspawn colony (30+ heads) that spherical in shape. Well, over time, I've had problems with the heads growing towards the bottom of the colony dying off. Nothing wrong with the water parameters, not brown jelly, no infections, not RTN, etc. Usually, what happens is the smaller heads toward the underside will stop opening up, and within the next week or so, they'll start disintegrating (at which point I slowly start sucking the dead tissue off with a turkey baster). The problem doesn't spread, per se. Nearby heads aren't affected, and the problem seems to be under control for a while, until the colony grows a bit larger and more underside heads start experiencing the same problem... What's even odder is that these heads that keep dying are not new, fresh, babies. They're not fully grown, but they're still developed enough to open fully to about 1.5".
My question is... Is this because the lower heads are not receiving ideal amounts of light and/or water flow? I'm trying my best to place the colony in an area of even, all-around flow, but too much water flow also seems to disturb them, where the heads won't fully open up. The stalk is placed in the crevice of a rock, and there is nothing touching the bottom heads (i.e. they're not resting on the rock).
Also, I'm worried about the rotting tissue causing unnecessary problems with water quality, bacteria, etc., but I'm also afraid to try to move this big colony to try to frag the dead heads. The last thing I need is to shatter the colony or to risk damaging nearby heads. I feel like sometimes, it's best to leave them be, unbothered.
Finally, I did frag this colony once, where I split it into two (somewhat accidentally). The one I'm having a problem with now is the 30-headed one, but I also have a 15-or-so-headed colony as well. Since I split them up about 4 months ago, both halves have grown like crazy, where I now have at least 10 new baby heads on each half. The 15-headed colony is fine, no dying heads yet. However, it's also not spherical. I've got other colonies of hammer and frog, but they're not spherical either, and not quite as large (largest is about 10 heads), and I've got no sort of problems with the others either. So, my last question is: is it more beneficial to frag the colony, so that there's less crowding and competition amongst the heads? I really like the look of one large colony, but if I'm going to keep losing heads here and there, I'd much rather chop them up to have several, smaller, but healthier colonies.
It's just very frustrating, since I just lost three conjoined heads that were about to split into three independent heads. And now, every time there are heads that aren't fully open for one reason or another, I stress out about it and can't stop staring at it, inspecting it, and obsessing over it.
Thanks for the help.
I have a large frogspawn colony (30+ heads) that spherical in shape. Well, over time, I've had problems with the heads growing towards the bottom of the colony dying off. Nothing wrong with the water parameters, not brown jelly, no infections, not RTN, etc. Usually, what happens is the smaller heads toward the underside will stop opening up, and within the next week or so, they'll start disintegrating (at which point I slowly start sucking the dead tissue off with a turkey baster). The problem doesn't spread, per se. Nearby heads aren't affected, and the problem seems to be under control for a while, until the colony grows a bit larger and more underside heads start experiencing the same problem... What's even odder is that these heads that keep dying are not new, fresh, babies. They're not fully grown, but they're still developed enough to open fully to about 1.5".
My question is... Is this because the lower heads are not receiving ideal amounts of light and/or water flow? I'm trying my best to place the colony in an area of even, all-around flow, but too much water flow also seems to disturb them, where the heads won't fully open up. The stalk is placed in the crevice of a rock, and there is nothing touching the bottom heads (i.e. they're not resting on the rock).
Also, I'm worried about the rotting tissue causing unnecessary problems with water quality, bacteria, etc., but I'm also afraid to try to move this big colony to try to frag the dead heads. The last thing I need is to shatter the colony or to risk damaging nearby heads. I feel like sometimes, it's best to leave them be, unbothered.
Finally, I did frag this colony once, where I split it into two (somewhat accidentally). The one I'm having a problem with now is the 30-headed one, but I also have a 15-or-so-headed colony as well. Since I split them up about 4 months ago, both halves have grown like crazy, where I now have at least 10 new baby heads on each half. The 15-headed colony is fine, no dying heads yet. However, it's also not spherical. I've got other colonies of hammer and frog, but they're not spherical either, and not quite as large (largest is about 10 heads), and I've got no sort of problems with the others either. So, my last question is: is it more beneficial to frag the colony, so that there's less crowding and competition amongst the heads? I really like the look of one large colony, but if I'm going to keep losing heads here and there, I'd much rather chop them up to have several, smaller, but healthier colonies.
It's just very frustrating, since I just lost three conjoined heads that were about to split into three independent heads. And now, every time there are heads that aren't fully open for one reason or another, I stress out about it and can't stop staring at it, inspecting it, and obsessing over it.
Thanks for the help.
