Dead Heads on Frogspawn, Torch, Hammer - Normal??

[starrfish]

I have some very healthy Frogspawn, Torches & Hammers. But sometimes one or two of the heads will die for no apparent reason. The remaining heads appear to be healthy. Is this normal? Is it a signal that something is wrong?

 

[Bidadari]

Daire, I'm no expert by any means, but I have my frogspawn for more than 2 years now, and I never had a problem of dying heads so far. On the other hand, I had a torch before, when I upgraded my tank, it started to die on me. First it's only 1 head not opening, then the tissue started to come off, then not too long after that the other head started dying. I'm guessing because I put it in the high flow area, and it didn't like it.

 

[MarkO]

Yeah, I've never had heads die off unless the coral was on its way out. But I have seen my anchor coral try to build a new head and fail.

 

[starrfish]

Hmmmm...the corals don't die after the individual heads die. I wonder if those heads are getting too much flow. Thanks for the input. Anyone else?

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Flow

I agree that these coral do not like high water flow (or even moderate water flow). I would move it to a lower flow spot in your tank and see what happens.

Hmmmm...the corals don't die after the individual heads die. I wonder if those heads are getting too much flow. Thanks for the input. Anyone else?

 

[NeO]

Chuck,
I Don't know about that!!
I have a frogspawn that is sitting in the sand in front of my tank that is been hammered by the 2 tunzes 6100, and I never had a head die on me!!

 

[marco67]

Daire,
Are the heads that are failing on the underside?
I've seen this happen as these guys get big, the heads that don't get enough light to thrive die off and energy is diverted to new growth.

 

[RichConley]

I agree with NeO. My froggie gets a ton of flow, and looks much better now than it used to.

 

[starrfish]

The heads that are dying are in all different locations. I changed the flow and moved one of my Frogspawns this morning. We'll see if that makes a difference. Not many of my corals get blasted by flow - most get indirect flow so I'm not really sure that's the issue. The remaining heads all look healthy.

 

[Greg Hiller]

>Are the heads that are failing on the underside?
I've seen this happen as these guys get big, the heads that don't get enough light to thrive die off and energy is diverted to new growth.
<

Beat me to it Marc.

>The heads that are dying are in all different locations<

Should not be happening if the heads are not shaded, or too near the sand. Sometimes an occasional infection will start, but if you are loosing these on a regular basis something is wrong.

Any fish going to town on these?

 

[starrfish]

I haven't seen any fish going near them. I did have a slight drop in my alk a few weeks ago (dropped about 2 dkh from 10 to 8) when I switched salts. Could that have caused this kind of problem? That's the only thing I can think of that has changed. I didn't think it was that big of a change, but maybe it was. I brought the alk back up slowly with a drip over a week's timeframe.

 

[Greg Hiller]

Daire,

I've really don't know if your low alk was to blame, but it's never a good thing. I'm of the opinion that if they alk is low it is a good idea NOT to raise it slowly. Get it back to a healthy level quickly.

 

[starrfish]

Too late. But it's not like 8 dkh is unhealthy. I keep it around 10 because that's where my softies seem to like it best.