Urgent Brain Coral Showing Skeleton!! Help!

So recently I purchased a beautiful trachy open brain coral. Doing very well in the tank. No one has even touched the coral for inhabitants. Recently I added some sand to the tank, and Had removed the coral in a pail of water so it wouldn't get hurt by the sand. This morning turned my lights on, clipped up a sheet of nori for my tangs and then headed off to work. The Brain coral looked normal, Fully open by the time I left, Looked like it did at the store and prior days in the tank. Then I come home to this...:


The tank is a 120g 4x2x2, mechanical filtration. I tested my water last night and today. The params are the same. as the other day.

Is the coral savable or am i at a loss and remove it? All the other corals in the tank are open and doing well, Zoas/Ricordeas/Shrooms/Acans/Sun Coral.

As for Params:
Temperature: 79.1
PH: 8.1 (dropped a bit after the sand was added..., Was suggested from others that It was from not having lights on.)
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: .25ppm (raised a bit after the sand addition)
Nitrate: 5ppm (raised a bit after the sand addition)
Salinity: 1.024
dKH/KH/Alkalinity: 12KH
Magnesium: Dont have a test sorry.
Calcium: 420
Phosphate: 0
Test kits you own: all of the above cept Magnesium
Liquid or Strips: Liquid
Brand Name: API
Are they Expired?: No

Lighting I run 3x 54 watt 10,000k Daylights and 3 x 54 watt Actinics.

 

ill give ya a bump, hope someone can help

 

My brain has occasionally deflated like that, but seems to come back happier than ever. I wouldn't remove it just yet. Give it some time. Is there anything in the tank that might be nipping at it?

 

Im worried cause I can see its mouth open and its gaping... :|

 

I wouldn't remove it until after it's definitely just skeleton. I see no harm in leaving it in and giving it a chance to recover. Your timelines are kind of vague but I would suspect something happened during the process of removing it when you put the sand bed in. I would give it a few days, unless it really starts getting worse and starts exposing a lot more skeleton, then maybe an anti-bacterial dip, iodine etc.

If you're showing nitrites (and you've doublechecked it) for some reason that might be an indication of a problem somewhere, something is causing a mini cycle.

It looks like the sand is brand new, was it? Was it "live" sand?

Did something else big die recently?

Is it possible something nasty got stirred up during the process of adding the sandbed? Did you disturb a lot of rock or something?

Have you added a lot of new fish lately or have you started feeding more heavily for any reason?

 

Sorry, got the coral Sat... Added the sand monday... New sand, not live. I dont believe I disturbed to much rock. Nothing died recently.. I made sure not to burry anything when adding the sand. Feeding less. and the Last fish added was my achilles tang back in the beginning of november... 11/03.
All thats been added the last few months was zoa's ricordeas, monti caps, acans and sun coral. all of which are doing good right now. even in the current params.

 

Well I'm not sure what kicked off the mini-cycle, unless your test kit is misreading nitrites. I would just wait it out, your tank should be well-enough established to handle it pretty well, just give it a few days.

 

I did use a baster to brush the sand off the corals that are epoxied down... Do you think I could have caused the mini cycle by hitting the rockwork around where the corals are in?

Edit: Come to think of it My Urchin is MIA... I know I didnt burry him cause he was out and about this morning... I cant find him anywhere right now though.

 

I think it's just stressed from everything that had happened. He was new to your tank and 2 days later a huge change occurred, might take a little bit for him to adjust.

BTW your new sand looks FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks Tom, My achilles tang is freaking me out today with the new sand, He likes to dig in his den area... and push sand around alot... Keeps coming out covered in white specks.. I think he has ick then a minute or two later he goes up to the powerhead and blows the sand off :

Hopefully The coral is just annoyed with me right now and bounces back.