Help Brain dying again

syilk1 · #1 05/15/2007, 09:32 PM

I cannot seem to keep a brain coral but seem to do well with other hardy species. Can someone tell me what I may be doing wrong.

Water param

SG 1.028
Nitrate 1-2
Temp 81
Ammonia 0
Lighting Aquatininc T5's
Kh 9
Calc 380

Here is pictures

It use to be huge 3x the size when I bought. Has shrinked down to this for a month now.

IMG]http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m208/syilk1/IMG_1214.jpg[/IMG]

Last picture position in tank.

internetreefer · #2 05/15/2007, 09:36 PM

What so you use to feed the brain? They need food

syilk1 · #3 05/15/2007, 09:41 PM

Every LPS forum said they dont need to be fed and use photosynthesis along with coral books say feeding not necessary. Am I wrong?

zma21 · #4 05/15/2007, 09:45 PM

They need food! Place some mysis shrimp down and spot feed him. Use a two liter bottle and place over him for the spot feeding.

FLReefGirl · #5 05/15/2007, 10:03 PM

I have one too. It's doing very well and growing.
My params are...
SG 1.025
Temp 82
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 5-10
Amm 0
Phos 0
PH 8.1
Alk 3.5 meq/L
Ca 425
T5 lights 10 hrs/day
Feed mysis 2 x week

Try lowering your SG a little, increasing CA, and feed it. I hope this helps.

syilk1 · #6 05/15/2007, 10:06 PM

When do you feed it? AT night or during the day

FLReefGirl · #7 05/15/2007, 10:22 PM

I spot feed it at night(Wed & Sat). About and hour after light out. I use a turkey baster and quirt mysis & marine snow right on the tentacles and around the mouth. It also knows when I feed the tank in the mornings. Once I put the food in it starts to put out its tentacles to join in the fun.

seapug · #8 05/15/2007, 10:43 PM

Could also be that plate coral sitting next to it. I have a Fungia near a couple LPS and haven't had problems but i've heard they are capable of "sliming" neighbors with toxic mucus. Just a thought...

slider162 · #9 05/16/2007, 08:20 AM

Just a thought, but my Xenia start wigging out when my SG gets that high.

FLReefGirl · #10 05/16/2007, 09:55 AM

natural sea water is 1.026
one time i over diluted my water w/ top offs and the SG got down to 1.021. my open brain shrunk and the skin looked like it was melting or sliding off. i brought the SG back to 1.025 and a couple days later it was fine, no tissue loss. if the brain didn't do that I wouldn't have know anything was wrong for a week. maybe you're having the same issues but w/ high SG. you still need to start feeding and increase CA to 425ish. the range is 380-450.