my birds nest coral

hi all,i bought a small birds nest coral about 4 weeks ago,it came with a small crap that lives in it.during the last week the birds nest started to turn white,now almost the entire coral is white?the crab still resides in it.when i acclimated it i took my time,all water parameters were and still are ok.all other corals doing fine. what do i do?leave it?what about the tiny crab?
all help would be appreciated.
thanks in advance,,Hans Saul

 

hahaha "small crap living in it" ok sorry.

Bird's Nest Coral (Seriatopora sp.)

are its needs met? what lighting was it under at the shop/ what lighting is it under you.

best of luck with her. regarding the crab what does it look like? any pics? might not be a coral dependant crab and will find a happy home in your live rock

 

pic

i will post a picture.it had led lighting at the store,,same here.not sure what kind of crab,but when i bought it ,the store owner showed me that it came with this crab,,one reason i bought it.

 

pics of birdsnest

here are 2 pictures,also,first ive seen,,the crab shed its skin,,can anyone inentify from the pic?

 

I'm going to take a wild guess here, but I'm leaning more towards satisfying the corals requirements, rather than the crab. It doesn't appear bleached, but rather, dead. The only polyps that I do see, have color. Seeing as you have Euphyllia just to the right of the Birdsnest, would indicate to me that it is likely in a low->moderately low flow area. This also doesn't take into factor possible poor water parameters.

 

birdsnest

ok,so if its dead,what do i do?take it out,leave the crab???????/buy another and put the crab in it?lol what?

 

You really need to post parameters of your system as well as what lighting it is under and how much flow you have in order for us to be able to help you out. Also is this your first SPS coral?

 

From the looks, it appears you have a decent amount of algae/hair algae growing in the surrounding areas? If my observation is correct, this would indicate traces of Phosphates. SPS do not take kindly to a combination of things, Phosphates are one of them.

I wouldn't run out and purchase more pieces of hard coral. I would suggest more research to successfully support and thrive the corals prior to purchasing any more. You need to understand the corals demands:

1. Amount of Flow
2. Lighting Requirements
3. Nitrates
4. Phosphates
5. Calcium demands and requirements
6. Alkalinity demands and requirements
7. Magnesium demands and requirements

Here is a decent starting point to learn more about the coral that you purchased.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=597 1492 2294 1677&pcatid=1677

 

birds nest

hi,i tested my water,seems a few things were slightly out of wack,i did a 30% water change.ph=8.1,,amonia=0.25,,nitrite=0,,nitrate=5.0,,sg=1.022,,phos=2.5,,cal=500.my lighting consists of a coralife unit with 2 bulbs,,actinic f14-t5 and a 10,000k bulb,,,i also have 2 30 led units"not sure of the output".there is lots ow water movement,one of my aquaclear outside units flows right over the birdsnest coral.btw i have 2 torch corals ,1 finger leather,2 brown mushroom,2 kenya trees,they are all doinfg fine.sooo,not sure why the birdsnest died,i was told by my prt guy that it wont hurt to leave it in the tank,,other things may grow on the skelton,and the crab still has a home.maybe ill try another some day.

 

You really need to get your SG up to at least 1.025 (1.026 if better) to keep sps. The current value would probably kill a lot of sps not slowly acclimated to that value.