Why is my Colt Coral Dying

okay. as far as i know it should be but i would ask your lfs too to see what they have to say if you already havent... and please keep this updated i would like to see what happens. just bump it everyday. or i will.

 

I trust you guys more than my LFS! At this point in my walk through this hobby I am more educated than anyone at my LFS. I did ask ColoradoReef to open up a branch in TX, LOL.

 

haha then get a job there! thats wat i did!

 

Colt corals will sometimes stay closed for several days or shed a waxy film layer as part of their growing process. But, since your coral hasn't been open for several weeks, I am not sure that it is going through that process. I have found that many soft corals benefit from elevated Iodine in the tank at around 0.06ppm (if you dose iodine be sure to test regularly). Some people may disagree, but in my experience keeping elevated iodine seems to work well. If you add Iodine be sure to test for it!

 

How old and what type lighting are you using? Also, the DKH is what I think is an issue. If it fluctuates and is at 6 DKH on a random or inconsistent basis but tends to run low, this will affect some coral especially Colt.
I use Reef Builder to maintain my Dkh as my tank uses up the Alkalinity rather quickly.

 

unclejed: I just updated my signature to link back to my post in the "tank and specs" thread, I didn't realize I had taken it out. Sorry about that.... I have a JBJ CF Fixure with 4x65watt bulbs: 2 - 10,000K Daylight and 2 - Dual Daylight Actinic. I replaced the bulbs in March of '09.

yvr: I knew that pulsing xenia liked iodine but I hadn't made or assumed that iodine could be beneficial to other corals, thanks for bringing that to my attention.

 

Your lights are coming up on 1 year. Depending on the company, some bulbs will go to 18 months but that is pushing it. You may want to change out 1 daylight and 1 actinic soon (be sure to mark the new ones or date them) then one month or so later change out the others. I like that acclimation procedure and change mine that way. Be sure to get an Iodide/Iodine test.

 

I got home from work today and my colt was leaning over to the side. I wanted to know if it was going limp and soft or if he still had some substance and meat or not. I pulled him back erect in his normal position when I notice a crack at the base of the trunk about 1/4" above the rock he is mounted on. A pink smokey looking substance started oozing out of the crack that resembled an escaping soul, which I assumed could only prove that if he wasn't dying before he is damn sure gonna die now. So I grabbed a container and snatched him out of the tank before my whole system got nuked. I'm not even sure if he could nuke it but I'm not taking any chances.