Green Brain Corals Peeling Back..

Hello everyone,

Sorry to make my introdcution in the form of a cry for help.. but desperate times call for action..

Tank:

I have a 46 Gallon bowfront tank, 70 gal filter, powerhead, uv light, and protien skimmer/skilter. The skilter is the newest edition (friends influence). I have been running the tank for a little over a year, started with fish, and converted to coral 7-10 months ago. I use 2 tube flouro's, Power glow and Marine glow, each 30 watts. I feed microvert and calcium every other day, in addition to blood worms/cyclops/plankton/krill that i put in for other critters in the tank (gobies, crabs, serpant stars, clown, snails, cucumber, ect) I also have some feather dusters, zooanthids, and polyps. Temp constant 76.

Problem: I have two brain corals, one is a green open brain, the other is (i'm actually not sure its technical name, but it looks like a "closed" brain) The open brain seems to be peeling back, revealing what looks like a skeleton underneath.. Very sad, I have had this piece for a while, I think it was my first coral.
The "closed" brain seems to be turning white around the edges, and receding.

I am affraid for them both, but the water is good, I have done a recent full tank cleaning with no improvements..

any ideas could be life saving.. Appreciate feedback..

Thanks,

-Bill

 

Sorry to hear about your problem, I'm sure someone that knows more then I will help you..

I just wanted to ask... I feed microvert and calcium every other day

Calcium should be around 440 ... You have to add it every other day to maintain 440 ??

Is that enough light..??

Or did I read your post wrong..??

Good Luck, Larry

Welcome to 3Reef.. There's ALOT of good info here..

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Thats what i was thinking. You don't need to feed it calcium. Just have to maintain proper level of calcium in the tank.

What is your pH,Salinity and Alkalinity? What kind of Test kits do you use?

How often do you do water changes and what kind of salt and water do you use?

Im thinking your pH is probably very low and you are overdosing calcium.

For my tank, lighting makes a HUGE difference in maintaining proper water chemistry (pH).

Your lights just won't cut it. You will have to upgrade to T5's atleast to maintain proper balance in a coral tank. JMO

 

i would check all the above that was said. if i was to guess i would say lighting then water parameters problems. but, who am i. please post back and keep us informed

 

Hello everyone, thanks a lot for the replies.

I follow the directions on the calcium, which actually say to feed daily (I go every other day because that is what the fish store owner suggested). I followed the same routine for at least the past half of a year, with a few additions here and there (skilter).

I have the fish store test my water, and they assure all params are good.

My lights are about a year old and probably ready for a switch, and I did want to upgrade to mh or at least t-5..

I will try to get some pictures up, I really appreciate all advice.

-Bill

 

to help you out a bit, you don't "feed" calcium to anything, you dose calcium so the corals can use it for their skeletons and for algae to grow as well. your calcium level in your reef tank should be anywhere from 400 to 450 ppm, with a heavily stocked tank you might want it a bit higher. Too much calcium will harm or even kill your coral. what are the people testing your water saying the params are? have you ever asked them??? saying "good" is not good enough, you need to know the exact numbers so you can fix accordingly.