Open brain not looking so good...

[STiTCH87]

So my open brain coral hasn't been fully opening the lat month or two. And it is drastically paler than when I originally purchased it. It still has coloration to it, and looks decent under pure actinics, but under full lighting it definitely looks washed out.

I've noticed over the last month or so that the inner parts of it, around it's mouths, has deep/high ridges that are nearly white in color.

Is my open brain dying? My parameters are all in check and I do bi-weekly water changes with really expensive salts and 0TDS water. I don't understand. Maybe my T5 fixture simply isn't bright enough? I have 2 gobies that land on it along with shrimp and hermits that like to crawl over it, but I don't feel like that would cause this, would it?

I just want it to get better because it's such a nice coral. Should I move it up from the sandbed, or get brighter lighting, or what?

 

[STiTCH87]

Anyone help please? =\ Don't wanna lose an $80 coral. =[

 

[lisa foster]

What are your exact water parameters also how old are your lights? Do the tentacles come out at night. Also are the white parts exposed skeleton or is the tissue turning white and how long have you had it?

 

[The Ng Thing]

^^ What Lisa said. I would also verify that your parameters are consistent even with the bi-weekly water changes. Are the bi-weekly water changes part of your regular routine? They shouldn't be necessary unless you have a fish disease or parameter problem. Sometimes it can be too much of a good thing because things don't get a chance to settle down.

 

[SteveDola]

what type of light? might be lacking light

 

[SteveDola]

water changes should definitely be part of your regular routine. Ive never heard of them being discouraged. Ive heard of people not doing WCs regularly and still having a nice tank. Almost all of the nice tanks ive seen have a reefer that does regular water changes.

 

[FOXYB]

1 + on water changes
Try and feed it at night when the lights and feeder tentacles out

 

[The Ng Thing]

I think I misinterpretted.

Bi-weekly = twice a week or every 2 weeks? If it's every 2 weeks ingore my previous post.

 

[STiTCH87]

I've had the lighting since tax free weekend last year, forget when that was.

Checked today:
Salinity 1.026
Temp 78.0
Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates all at zero
pH 8.2-8.4 (in between on the chart)

Following params checked within past 2 weeks:
Ca ~400
Alk ~200
PO4 ~0.06ish

I have never seen the tentacles come out since i've owned it, though I rarely look at it with the lights off, but of the dozen or so times I have, never saw any tentacles. Not sure if it's skeleton or tissue. I wanna say tissue, but how would I know which is which? I've had it since the first week of January.

And yes my params always stay consistent. I check all the levels of my tank before and after waterchange to make sure levels stay the same (unless ofcourse Ca or Mag gets low, obviously it'll flucuate with the saltwater changes since the salts I use contain both.) I always have my temps spot on during waterchanges and top offs and only use fresh RO/DI at zero TDS for both.

The lighting is a 96W TekLight T5 over a standard 29g. Have one daylight, two 50/50, and a super blue actinic.

I don't feed it at all since I was told it wasn't necessary. Could that be the issue? I was told it got most of it's food from the lighting and that target feeding wasn't necessary?

And yes I mean bi-weekly as in once every 2 weeks I do a 5 gallon waterchange and fully clean all the glass and powerheads and skimmer in fresh, warm RO water.

 

[Bruno]

Mag mag mag mag???

 

[delta]

It is receding and/or not puffed up as well a colors bleached out? If so push it into the shade some. Probably too much light.

You run your tank at 11.2+DKH?

 

[STiTCH87]

Don't have a Mag reading as of right now but i'll get one. And yes Delta that is exactly the situation.

And I also don't have a DKH reading yet. I'll try and get both readings taken tomorrow. Question, if I get some sample water to be tested, is it okay if I let the water sit in my car for half a day before I make it to the LFS or will that somehow change what the test results will come out to be?

 

[lisa foster]

I have never tested mag and I keep brains not to say that is not the problem. I wonder if it is the lighting. My timers broke and I was being kind of neglectful about my light schedule I ended up losing one of my brains the skeleton started receding and it died. Maybe your bulbs need to be replaced I have no idea when tax free weekend was. Also how long have you had it did it start losing colr when you put it in your tank if so maybe too much light. I had mine unde 3 250 watt metal halides on the sand and it was fine.

 

[SteveDola]

my guess would be something picking on it. an angel or tang that nips. the smallest amount of stress can cause fleshy lps to receed (ime). Do you have any fish that may nibble once and a while? and feed lps at night...does a coral good.

Oh and btw- you should definitely know your magnesium level. Mag is extremely important in a sucessfully balanced tank.
Also with your alk level...unless Im reading it wrong you said 200? what is that? ppm? ive never heard of Alk in ppm...what does that equate to in dkh or meql?

nvrmind found it. 200 = 11.2 dkh

 

[STiTCH87]

No fish would pick at it, but i've seen my shrimp and hermits pick at it when during fish feeding time. Don't have any angels or tangs, just a clown goby, jester goby, orange spotted goby, 2 clowns, 3 hermits, 3 snails, and some shrimp. I got the brain coral the first week of january and the lighting last summer around august IIRC. It got slightly less colorful when I first got it, but not too drastic and still atleast would fully open fine for an entire month. All this happened within the month of february. I'll have to try feeding it at night, though I have never seen it's tentacles before. And yeah my Mag the last time I got it tested was at an LFS that had a weird kit that didn't read it in dkh.

 

[jayman10134]

No fish would pick at it, but i've seen my shrimp and hermits pick at it when during fish feeding time. Don't have any angels or tangs, just a clown goby, jester goby, orange spotted goby, 2 clowns, 3 hermits, 3 snails, and some shrimp. I got the brain coral the first week of january and the lighting last summer around august IIRC. It got slightly less colorful when I first got it, but not too drastic and still atleast would fully open fine for an entire month. All this happened within the month of february. I'll have to try feeding it at night, though I have never seen it's tentacles before. And yeah my Mag the last time I got it tested was at an LFS that had a weird kit that didn't read it in dkh.

alkalinity is dkh. magnesium is in ppm.

 

[wrassefan]

my guess is not enough light and high alk

 

[STiTCH87]

So some are saying not enough light, and others are saying too much light. How would I know? I'm going to have my water tested tomorrow night and i'll post the results on Sunday morning when i'm home again.

I'll post a picture Sunday too so that you guys get a better idea of what it is i'm talking about.

 

[STiTCH87]

If I cannot pinpoint the cause of this corals unhappiness, is anyone here interested in buying it for a very low cost? Apparently my tank just loves softies and only a few forms of LPS and no SPS.

Weird because my frogspawn and candy cane are my only other SPS but they look healthier than ever.

 

[wrassefan]

I think if your brain is on the sand, it might be low lignt. You can try moving it up alittle (still on the lower 1/2 of the tank) but higher up. Your alk is still alittle high and the fluctuation during a water change might be enough to make it unhappy. My last thought is if you have a lot of softees, could it be chemical attacks? Stinging by another coral? Do you run carbon?