Green, some brown Algae. Dead Duncan Coral???

Thanks for takin your time to give your advice on my situation. First off i have a 29g reef tank set up for 2 months. well its going to be a reef tank eventually lol. i have 2 clowns 2 mushroom frags, a bubble coral, a large cleaner maintenance crew of algae eaters, 2 power heads, and a third that controls my protein skimmer. heater HOB filtration and a dual t5 bulb. ALong with a fairly new duncan coral thats retracted and may be dead. First thing the algae, i changed my water monday night ....about 9 gallons. Water tests fine, 1.025, no nitrates and about 8.1 ph. I recently have had my light on in the day while i was at work for roughly 9-11 hrs? Not sure and ya my bad on that one. I got a timer now, what do you recommend? Even after the water change my tank looked clean tuesday morning and when I got home from work it boomed with green algae. I couldnt believe how much in just 8 hrs...i did the same thing the next day and boom...more algae. Any ideas? My tank is in my living room where there are alot of windows and glass sliding doors, i completly closed all the blinds today and had the t5 light off all day. when i got home from work the tank was nice and clean still because i cleaned up the new algae. I turned the light on now and prob goona run for 6 hrs. Recommendations on that? The duncan coral seems to be struggling as posted in the picture. Im not sure what to do with him. he was fully extended the first 2 days now hes retracted, how often do you feed them? Is he dead? Thaks again.

 

Hi ;D

He is not dead. Try feeding him some mysid, or other meaty fish food. You can try a turkey baster.

Duncans should go lower in the tank, with low to medium flow, and bi-weekly feedings. IMO

 

thanks, ya hes pretty low and my light has legs that elevates it even farther from it.....I tried rods food and krill and mysis shrimp. idk what his deal is but he looked amazing in the store, then after acclimation he looked healthy as well. I believe he ate a chunk of rods than 2 days ago he he went into stealth mode. He doesnt look dead, and people on here are describing the dead ones to look like skeletons.

 

If all parameters are in check he should pull through. Mine have refused to open when the SG was too high or the current too strong. Is the bubble coral next to it ?

Good luck and keep us updated please.

 

I have had my duncans close for as long as 3 and a half weeks straight so I wouldn't worry about it. As far as the algae, your tank is fairly new and your just going through all of the algae blooms. Give your tank time to mature it will eventually go away.

 

thanks for the advice again, the duncan look a bit different today like he might have come out earleier but i missed him. as for the algae it seems to have subsided, im only leaving the light on for about 6-7, the room is well lit from sun light the I make sure the blinds are closed all day. The bubble is on the opposite side of the tank, is that ok? I picked up a xenia coral today at my LFS, should I position that away from the bubble coral also? I am acclimating it right now and i usually putty all my corals down a day or two after acclimation.

 

Hes Alive!! he opened up today, than closed when i turned off the light. Do you think he was looking for food?

 

Yes try to feed the coral when you see it open. ;D

 

Don't add any more corals or fish until your tank stabilizes. Your algae blooms are because you have a lot of excess nutrients. You can not have an algae bloom without nutrients. The nutrients will also affect your Duncan. If you don't get it under control you will end up with brown jelly disease on the Duncan which will kill it. Take it from someone who's been there. Look at him closely. If you see any brown fluffy gelatinous areas either on the stalk or the head, syphon it off, give him a dip in an iodine coral dip and put him in a quarantine tank. This is brown jelly disease and it can spread to your bubble coral. Repeat the dip every other day for at least 2 weeks and he might live.

I'd bet you even money you have too much ammonia, or nitrites, and/or phosphates. Don't feed your Duncan until you are sure you have your nutrients down. He won't hurt for several weeks as long as he's getting 5 or 6 hours a day of good light. Make sure you have good water flow around your Duncan. This is vital! If he is still not looking good by tomorrow, I would give him a dip in an iodine based coral dip whether I see an obvious problem or not.

Duncans and LPSs in general are very sensitive to damage also. Even a small bump on his fleshy areas can result in an infection which can kill him in a very short amount of time (hours to days, not weeks). An overly enthusiastic lawnmower blenny caused a tiny injury to mine that resulted in Brown Jelly Disease infection. I have been treating for 2 weeks and the best I can say is he may live. My first indication that I had a problem was that he didn't open up for a couple of days.

Good luck

 

thanks, i was at my LFS 2 days with a water sample and everything tested fine, amonia nitrates phosphate and calcium. I have a a 29 g tank with a 100 g skimmer on it, 2 more power heads and i feed very sparingly and keep my tank clean so i dont think its my water quality. The algae bloom im thinking came from the skimmer do to the new plastic being in the water? ever heard that one? The duncan seems fine, he opened up yesterday but then closed again when I turned the lights off. I shud prob. try feeding him next time hes out.