Does my open brain look OK?

[cj7jeep81]

I bought this open brain last Saturday. Since this is my first hard coral, I am obviously very new to this, and want to make sure everything is OK.
And the brain isn't as white as it is in the picture, it is kind of a flourescent light green/yellow.

[rbb213]

Not to be a smarty ***** or anything, and geez, I'm not the smartest guy in the industry, but heck, That doesnt look alive at all.

Sorry

[cj7jeep81]

I have seen the mouths open and shut, and at night very short feeder tentacles come out.
If it was dead, it would just be the skeleton. I am assuming the skeleton would just feel like live rock (since that is what live rock is), but this feels kinda "slimy", which I assume is the flesh???

[rbb213]

Id leave it alone, and see's what happens. Whats your water quality?...and they do better under good lighting.

[SteveB_reefster]

You're suspicions are correct. It does not look very good. How is the water quality and flow in the tank? You should not be able to see the skeleton when the lights are on.

I have an open brain that has a skeleton measuring 4" and the tissue maximized at 8".

FWIW,

STeve

[cj7jeep81]

Last I checked, salinity 1.026, nitrites 0, nitrates ~ 5, ammonia 0.
Lighting is 440 watts of VHO.

[cj7jeep81]

Steve, how can I tell what parts are the skeleton?

As for flow, I have 2 MJ1200s for powerheads, and a precision marine HOT-1 skimmer powered by a MJ1200.

[SteveB_reefster]

The hard ridges are the skeleton.

I can send you a picture of mine this evening if you would like.

You have some tissue but this is not extended. Does your coral see much flow? Are your powerheads on any type of a wave timer?

Is the coral positioned in the sand?

Steve

[cj7jeep81]

Ok, thanks for the input, and I would appreciate it if you could send me a picture.

As for flow, the powerheads are in the back corners of the tank, pointing in towards the center (which is where the brain is) and are not on a timer. The brain is in a lower flow area (the powerheads are up fairly high), and is in the sand. Either its skeleton or a rock it is attached to (not sure which) is buried in the sand.

[KevinM]

Well, CJ....
I don't actually see any bare skeleton, but it is VERY withdrawn. That brain has been through MUCH stress. It will recover, given good, stable water conditions, and time...lotsa time. Don't even try to feed it at this point, it probably won't eat. Over the next few weeks, it should start to expand some. I've recovered more than one brain that started in a lot worse shape than that one. They key, at this point, is to just leave it be. Don't move it, no heavy current, and most importantly....NO TOUCHING (you said it feels slimy?). Everytime you touch it, it will do its slime thing, and producing mucous costs alot of energy that it doesn't have to spare right now.
Once it starts to expand a bit, try feeding it small pieces of meat by just sticking it to the feeding tentacles, again, no touching!! :))

Go easy acclimating it to the light as well, it's almost completely bleached.

Keep us posted!!
Good luck,
Kev

[Kara]

I'd have to agree that your brain doesn't look so happy. Do you feed it? I feed mine every other night. It eats chunks of; silversides, prawn, sea scallop, shrimp, prime reef cubes. I soak all foods in selcon (50% selcon, 50% RO/DI water) overnight (in the fridge) before feeding.

Picture of my Open Brain eating 1/2 a cube of Prime Reef and a piece of prawn.
http://www.karaquarium.com/4_03_brain_eating.jpg

My brain is in the same place in my tank as it is in yours. I placed mine in the sand directly under the 175w MH pendant. Between the feedings and light, it has doubled in size since I got it a few months ago.

Picture of Brain in tank (lower center in the sand)
http://www.karaquarium.com/4_03_tank.jpg

I don't know if you can revive your brain coral, but if it extends it's tenticles than it just may possibly accept food. I think Kevin's advice is sound. If you do see it extend it's tenticles, you might try placing a small piece of meaty something gently on a tenticle. (don't touch the brain with your fingers, and be ultra gentle) If the brain doesn't feel like eating, it will release the food.

[pi]

I think you have received some sound advice. However, I would attempt to feed it, especially if you are seeing the sweeper tentacles at night. These corals are voracious eaters and should be fed often.

Mine would accept anything meaty including re-hydrated krill soaked in selcon.

Paul

[cj7jeep81]

Thanks for all the replies!!
Kevin, the only time I have touched it was after I acclimated it and was placing it on the sand bed. I haven't touched it since.

I will continue to leave it alone, and keep an eye on my water params. My tank is pretty stable (been up for going on two years), so the parameters shouldn't be changing much on me.
I really didn't acclimate it to my lights too much (basically put it in when the lights were out, left them off for an hour or two, then turned them on and left them on for the rest of the day (maybe 5 hours). Since then I have left the lights on like normal (usually on around 7 am and off aroun 9 pm). It has been in this cycle since Sunday. Should I cut back my photoperiod, or is it too late to acclimate to the stronger lights (at the pet store, it was under 1 or 2 VHO bulbs).

Again, thanks a lot for all the help! I will watch it at night and decide if I should try to feed it or not.

[Jamesurq]

14 hours of light is a little much. My green open brain did this and has begun it's road to recovery. It eats like a champ and the color is coming back in spots around the edges. It's taken about 3 months to start perking back up.

[dendronepthya]

It looks very bleached. Probably a result of too much light exposure. I agree with the recommendation to lower the lighting level and also feed it when possible.

[cj7jeep81]

How much should I reduce the photoperiod by? Down to 12 hours? 10?

[Jamesurq]

I run my MH for 11.5 and PC for 12. They get 15 minutes of dusk/dawn. Hardly seems worth it, but it's amazing how quickly the corals realize it's going to be nightime soon and start to switch...

I'd say go with 12

[cj7jeep81]

I will reduce it down to 12 starting today and see what happens. I will try to feed it either a small sliver of shrimp or some frozen cube (either formula one (or two, whichever is the orangish red one) or some krill).

[Jamesurq]

But just to clarify something. Mine did the same thing and I got differing opinions on what to do.

Here's a sampling of the responses. I'd post a link, but the site in question doesn't allow direct linking.::

"Your's seems more on the green/yellow side, maybe try moving it up." (needs more light)

I was told that it was due to the coral not getting enough light. However I did elevate the coral higher the end result was the same.

[cj7jeep81]

Well, the color of mine has is definitaly a greenish yellow (mostly yellow with flourescent green spots). However, some spots are turning a brownish, which I think I read was due to too much light.

[SteveB_reefster]

I would recommend getting a timer for the powerheads. Set this up so that the flow swithes from the left side of the coral to the right, IMO.

Steve

[XxAngelzDustxX]

oops i meant to start a new thread


:rollface:

[cj7jeep81]

Any tips on how to best feed it? The last few nights I have tried, but I don't think it has taken the food. I turn off the powerheads, and thaw out either some krill or formula one in tank water. After it is thawed, I mash it all up and put it into a turkey baster. I gently blow some of the food onto the mouths, and then leave the powerheads off for 15-20 minutes. I don't see it eat anything, but I may be missing it.

Is there a better way.

[ri]

When I feed my LPS corals, I cut up krill into small chunks, maybe 1/4 inch. I place the krill on the coral, at the mouth Since most of the fish in my tank like krill and are MUCH faster eaters than the coral, I place a plastic strawberry basket over the coral. Once the krill is gone, I remove the plastic basket and more to the next coral. (I place a rock on the basket to keep it from floating away.)

Good luck!

ri

[cj7jeep81]

Thanks for all the replies, but unfortunately, I think the brain is about dead :( .
It has lost most of what little color it started with, and the skeleton is becoming more obvious.
Thanks for all the help.

[SteveB_reefster]

I am not suprised. I have not seen these corals improve when they looked like yours. My recommendation for the future is to improve the flow conditions of this spot (if necessary), get a healthy coral and feed it regularly. They are pretty easy corals to keep and the world is not in short supply.

FWIW,

Steve

[john rochon]

I find they aren't to keen on large amounts of light. Mine is on the bottom with VHO

[willra]

I have a slightly different problem with my brain. I have had it for about 8 months. I bought it when it was about 3'' and it got up to about 6'' for a while, and loked very healthy. In the last couple weeks he hasn't really been opening up. He is still staying a nice green color. I try to feed him krill, brine and mysis shrimp but he doesn't seem to want it. Now he is about 4'' and is under 2x96 PCs + 40 watt NO on the substrate. My yellow tang always seems to be grazing and picking on him on him for food (espesially when I try to feed the brain - the tang now just kinda hangs around there alot.) He just kinda stays smally. Do you think that the tang is stressing him out (or hurting him?) so now he won't really open up?

[gregr]

yeah- i'd guess he's stressed from the tang. how long has the tang been in the tank? is this "grazing and picking on him on him for food" new? if not then it may be a water quality issue- or perhaps your light bulbs need to be replaced- how long have they been in use?
greg

[willra]

Yeah, he's been doing it more recently that I have noticed. I've had the tang for about 10 months. The PC's are 9 months old. I'm going to check up on my water tommorow. Do you think I should try putting him higher in the tank for more light. I am soon to upgrade to mh and not sure if lighting is the problem for the brain. Thanks gregr.

[gregr]

i've only had one open brain coral so i can only speak from that experience- take it for what it's worth. mine is on the bottom of a 100g tank, which is about 24" from 2x175 10k mh's and 300 watts of actinic pc light. it's been there for about 10 months and has tripled in size. i feed it about 3 times a month (krill, mysis, market shrimp etc).
hope this helps,
greg

[SteveB_reefster]

Willra,

Open brains belong in the sand in the bottom of the tank. How much flow do you have down there? I would expcect that loss in intensity of lighting and spectrum of the PC bulbs as well as limited flow is hindering growth. I would upgrade your lighting system and do not overfeed.

FWIW,

Steve

[cj7jeep81]

Another thing you can try is covering the brain when you feed it. It was suggested to me by someone else on the board, and it works really well. Cut a clean two liter bottle in half. Place the food on the brain, and then place the bottle half over the brain. This will keep the tang and anything else from bothering it while it eats.

[lesd]

FWIW,

I had some peppermint shrimp eat one of my open brain corals several years ago. I've also found that they are the first corals that any angelfish (dwarf or otherwise) will go after.

-- Leslie

[pete_ra]

Thanks for all the input. I can't can't wait to upgrade my lighting (planing on 2x250 10k mh + 2x96 pc actinic). Even though I know that brains do not require that much light, 2x96 24'' away is kinda low. BTW, should I replace both of the pc bulbs when I get the actinic bulb (currently one is 10k and the other actinic 03) and I've had them for 9 mos. Also, I just set up my overflow (tidepool SOS external w/ mag 5 return) so there is not that much flow down there - only the return at the top. I'm setting up a maxi-jet 1200 this week. And I will also cut a two liter bottle to cover him the first chance I get. I've noticed that my fish and inverts are pretty agressive with food around the brain, my hermits even walk all overhim. I'm sorry about your brain leslie, I hope it doesn't happen to my brain :eek2: Thanks. -willra

[cj7jeep81]

Originally posted by lesd
FWIW,

I had some peppermint shrimp eat one of my open brain corals several years ago. I've also found that they are the first corals that any angelfish (dwarf or otherwise) will go after.

-- Leslie

I have a coral beauty angel in my tank, and it has never showed any interest in my open brain, or in any of my corals for that matter.