Kenya tree/colt not looking good

Hey all,


I have a Kenya tree/Colt coral in my tank and for the last few days he hasn't been looking too good. He is usually about... 5-6" tall and all spready out, about the size of a baseball, but for the last 2 days, he has been shrunken down to about 2" tall and is a grey color, as opposed to his natural color of light pink/peach.

I have 2 other kenya tree frags in the tank (grew themselves) and they seem to be doing fine.


This kenya tree was doing fine a few days ago, but I remember seeing my starfish's tentacles kind of touch/wrap around it for a minute and that's when he "shrunk"


I'm not so worried about whether or not the coral is going to make it (not to sound mean, but I have 2 in there besides him, plus i've already traded 2 in to my LFS) but I just want to make sure he doesn't die and kill/poison the rest of my corals.


BTW - searched the forums and found a few tidbits of info, but nothing stating whether or not this will be a major issue

 

What are your params? maybe something is off with those?

 

I'll check again.. .but as of a few days ago everything was fine.


PH was a little low @ 7.9 - put in some buffer

Salinity 1.023

Temp: 78-82

Nitrites/Nitrites all good, Ammonia a little high



Besides that... everything else in the tank is looking good, even the other 2 kenya trees

 

what about cal/mag/alk...

did you say ammonia a little high? that's not good!

 

I had the same thing a few weeks ago, did 20% weekly water changes, stopped all additives (Calcium, buffer, etc), tested params weekly, and within 2 weeks my colt has come back up and colored up. It's doesn't seem as tall as it was before, but my pH was low, ALK high normal, calcium slightly low- now with the water changes it's all back up to normal. I'm continuing just to watch and wait.

 

Find out why the ammonia is high. Amberj, I see nothing in your profile. Ammonia is a result of decay, primarily, something is happening. Something died off, weather you see it or not. Corals are real sensitive to Ammonia and Nitrite. Colts are finicky. If the star fish used it's suction to check out the Colt that would irritate the Colt and cause it to retract. May take a day or two to stop "sulking". Address that Ammonia though.

 

My kenya trees/colts do this as well; one of them will close up for a couple of days and then come back fine. I don't know if its natural or not, but they don't seem any worse for the wear.

In a reef tank, ammonia "a little high" is actually extremely dangerously high. I don't know if that was the cause/effect of the colt/tree closeup but something really should be done about it (water changes are the only thing that comes to mind right now).

 

i dont know if Kenya trees or colts shed but leathers do and they look like they are dying when it happens...maybe he felt some algae growing on him and decided to peel???

 

also did u add any new live rock???? i have the same problemo goin on now...added a couple pieces of not very cured rock and everything spiked...do your self a favor and grab a poly-filter from your LFS and stuff it in your filter...does wonders on ammonia...also grab some Prime while your at it;D;D;D

 

Whats a Poly filter and what is "Prime"?


No new liverock