Lobo Emergency!

Hey All,

We just recently purchased this amazing neon green lobo last weekend. It was doing wonderfully until 2 days ago. A couple days ago I noticed that its mouths were open more then usual, so I thought it was feeding. The next day I noticed the mouths (one in particular) was opened even more and the tissue was starting to tear around the mouth. I called our LFS they told me to target feed it. That day we fed it some brine shrimp and nothing happened. Yesterday we fed it some zooplankton, and still nothing. This morning I noticed the tissue was coming off the skeleton on a couple different lobes! I have no idea why and what we should be doing differently. The waters parameters are ammonia 0 nitrates 14 nitrites 0 pH 8.0 (which were tested today), the salinity was tested by the FS when we purchased some corals, including the lobo last week and that was fine. The temp is 78-79 F and we have T5 lights (which we just changed out because the ones we had were used). We are new to this whole aquarium thing, had our tank for 3 months now and everything else is doing well. We even added all the minerals and vits that we needed. Any suggestions?? Getting desperate. Here is a picture of the lobo, hope you have some ideas.

 

is it possible the coral was damaged when purchased and you didn't notice it?

 

It looked great when we got home, however the guy did have trouble bagging it but not enough to damage it I dont think.

 

It looks like it's gone. The skeleton is showing in several places and the flesh is coming off. Did it look all puffy when you bought it or could you see the ridges of the skeleton.

 

it was puffy. It still has great color where the skeleton is not showing. I dont think it is dead, but I am new at this.

 

Wow, I am sorry about that. You may want to take it back to the LFS and see if they will work with you. In my experience (all ten months of it, yeah I know, not much), I haven't brought a coral home and had it turn out like that in such a short period of time, no matter what the species. Not even my xenia took such a turn. It's worth a shot, because that Lobo is done IMO.

And your tank params are great. Lighting is good as well. These are fairly hardy. Seems to me that it may have been on it's way out when they sold it to you. Go talk to them and see if there is anything you can work out. SW stuff doesn't have any sort of guarantee in virtually all LFS, but if you have an established relationship with them, they may make an exception for store credit or something.

 

i don't often hear much about a lobo dying.the whole deal is odd.you need to take a closer look at your water.the magnesium,ph,calcium,everything.

 

he looks just about dead. I had a red lobo like yours and had him on the sand for a while and started losing a little flesh so I moved him higher but it did not help. I think once that happens its usually downhill for them. Your params are fine but it could have been the stress of getting him in your tank.

 

This is so disappointing, I loved this little guy.

 

Can you get a picture of the Lobo without the actinics?
It looks like not only is the coral succumbing to tissue recession but also bleaching!