Help, Anchor/Ridge Coral?

[Craig Manoukian]

I have had a Green Anchor Coral for almost two weeks. It was my first coral. I have placed it on my LR 12 inches from the MHs and 4 inches below the flow of an 802 power head. It came out very nicely with fully elongated and engorged tentacles. I fed it small pieces of halibut twice per week with a pair of tongs.

About a week ago I noticed that a part of it was dying in the area that I fed it with tongs. The animal is approximately 10 inches across and the tentacles began disappearing left to right, and a gray slime has sloughed off the ridges. I have lost one third of the animal in the past four days. The remaing tantacles of the animal appear very healthy. I feed 6 ML of MicroVert every 3 days.

I have 350 watts of 5500k MHs with 80 watts of flourescent lighting. I've also had a Candy Cane and Bubble Coral for five days that are doing very well.

What's going on with this critter? Is there anything I could be doing to help it? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Specific Gravity 1.025
Temp 78- 80 degrees
Amon 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 0
PH 8.2-8.4


:( :confused:

[Frick-n-Frags]

Not knowing how old your tank is and noting this was your first coral, I would guess your tank isn't stabilized/aged enough. There is a chance it isn't ready to grow corals yet, ESPECIALLY wall Euphyllias, which are touchy.

I think that after a month or more, if the coral looks like it is not losing size, then you have a chance of it making it. You can keep a coral in the dark for a week and it won't die, but it will eventually. So, 5 days isn't squat timewise.

In an emergency, drop it down to lower light and leave it alone. Do massive water changes and quit all additives and feeding for a week to help the water quality. See the "How do I frag an elegance post" to determine IF you should bother attempting to frag it and then there are several suggestions on how to optimize your chances for the animal's survival.(so I don't get the elegance police on my tail again :D)

People rush animal introductions into their new reefs way too fast. IMO a year isn't to long to wait before trying touchy corals (also helps to know something about the animals you buy before you buy them) I think you will find that the price of tuition to "Wall Euphyllia 101" will be the cost that you paid for your soon to be dead Euphyllia.

ps, do you have any actinic frequency(whole other subject)? Those deepwater corals live in the blue light which is perfectly emulated by flourescent actinic lights, in fact my frogspawns all hang under VHO actinics only and they have increased from 8 heads to about 40 since I got it maybe 2 years ago, totally under actinics.
Hope this helps a little, but it may be too late for your anchor. :(

pps, do you check your alkalinity and do you have buffers to correct it. IMO this is the single most important parameter to watch in your tank, alkalinity. It controls pH too. Low alk kills corals really well, i learned the hard way. buy a good test kit like Salifert. You probably should monitor calcium levels too because corals need it for their skeletons.

[Craig Manoukian]

Thanks for the info, will digest and put action plan together.

Tank was started 5-6-2002. The tank cycled for over a month before adding bio load. The water quality seems very good, its crystal cear in the tank. Have'nt lost any livestock in this tank. There are two Carribean Rose Open Brain Corals that came on my LR that are growing like weeds. This indicates to me that my water is probably OK, although I know I need to test to be sure.

Am currently testing for Ammonia, Nitrates, Nitrites, and PH. Haven't tested ALK, but will get a Salifert test kit, currently using Red Sea test kit. What is the correct ALK reading I'm looking for?

I have 40 watts of actinic flourescents that are on for the entire 12 hour photo period.

I also have a Bubble Coral and Candy Cane that are doing very well. The Anchor is holding steady, no more tentacle loss, and the remainder looks very healthy.

Am I off base in assuming that these other things indicate that my tank is in decent shape? Anything you'd add to the diagnosis?

;)

[Frick-n-Frags]

Whew, that is quick to be stocking the tank. I think there is a level of microlife that has to be established which helps support the coral and it seems to take a while. The inorganic chemical parameters that we can measure are only part of the story.

Anyway, specifically, I don't think the hammer needs fragging at this point, very unneccesary trauma without a positive reason.

Red sea AND Seatest together helped me crash my tank due to alkalinity fluctuation. i let the alk go down which started a Montipora bleachfest and when I buffered up, both test kits read low and I killed most of my Montiporas and all of my big Acro heads by over alking them. When I compared my buddies Salifert, he put the whole dropper of reagent in and it still didn't change color (alk was way over 16). Stupid me, I thought two kits couldn't possibly be wrong. $1000 mistake.

Keep alk over 8 and below 12(dkh) I like mine at 10, the ocean is 8

This is totally my opinion, but I swear by VHO actinic flourescents as the primary light source for actinic frequencies and I would add some. lose those other flourescent lights and get an Icecap or hellolights VHO setup or somekind of PC with true actinic bulbs. During the heat of summer(now) my Acros only get a couple hours of MH a week, the rest is 14 hrs of VHO actinic period. They get darker but keep on growing with good polyp extension for two to three months of this low light.(but much brighter than normal output flourescent lights and it makes a difference)

Other than that I can only think of some water changes like I mentioned before to dilute anything that has built up from the cycle. Remember, there are thousands of things in the water of which we only measure a handful. Good luck with wally hammer! :)