Favia desintegrating, bubble coral getting smaller.. what's happening?

Discussion in 'Coral Health' started by GSUBiology, May 3, 2013.

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  1. GSUBiology

    GSUBiology Feather Duster

    Joined:
    Apr 4, 2012
    Messages:
    226
    Hey guys, I'm having issues with 2 corals. My favia brain seems to be desintegrating and I am not sure how to fix it. It's been less than a week and it's already half its original size. It's dying pretty fast. I tried lowering it in the tank because I though it maybe was too much light, I also tried to putting it on the shade but it didnt help. I am not sure what's wrong.

    My bubble coral seems to also be reducing in size. I noticed a hole in my toadstool as well but I've seen that happen in my toadstool at home and it seems to always get better but I'm not sure if I should also pay attention to this.

    I dip ALL my corals in coral RX before adding them to the tank except the first 2 corals because I did not have the Dip at the time. They all came from LA.

    Ammonia 0
    Nitrate 0
    Nitrite 0
    PH 8.4
    Calcium 440
    Magnesium ~1400
    Salinity 1.0025

    I don't feed much. I have my skimmer turned on all the time, and I run carbon and phosphate remover as well. Not sure if that might be detrimental without any fish in the tank?

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    This is how the bubble and the favia looked before
    [​IMG]
     
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  3. GSUBiology

    GSUBiology Feather Duster

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    *NOTE that those pictures are from 3 days ago. Today I didnt take any pictures but it is in fact worse than the pictures taken. I can see the flesh just falling off the parts where it's dying. What could cause such a rapid death??
     
  4. Mr. Bill

    Mr. Bill Native Floridian

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    Are they as close together as they appear in the FTS? IIRC, both have relatively long sweeper tentacles that they extend at night to protect their territory. They may actually be stinging each other, and to be honest, that's what the damage appears to be, as well. They should be at least 6 inches from any other coral.
     
  5. reefer Bob

    reefer Bob Montipora Digitata

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    Looks like your frogspawn/hammer could of been really close to the favia also. They put out long sweepers at night also. I never had much luck saving a coral after its been stung. It seems to really stress the coral. I had a large chunk of blasto's got knocked over somehow near my frogspawn overnight. And half was damaged but ended up losing the entire colony.
     
  6. GSUBiology

    GSUBiology Feather Duster

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    They were not 6inches apart but they were in my opinion fairly far away from each other.
    If for some reason they were stung, is there a way to save them?
     
  7. Moxtrain

    Moxtrain Peppermint Shrimp

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    Boise, Id
    Stop further stings and don't stress them any more than they have been. If they are strong enough they will pull through. I have a favia that has been stung very badly by the neighboring platygyra. The dead area is still getting swept as I have no way to separate the two short of cutting a major rock in two (Early mistakes i'm paying for down the line). Looks similar to yours everywhere the platy reached it and now theres a one inch band of skeleton between the two. The favia is still growing in the other directions but no longer towards the platygyra. Have hope! It can still survive.
     
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  9. ingtar_shinowa

    ingtar_shinowa Giant Squid

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    Why didn't you test alk?