Please Help My Colt Coral...

[dknape]

I am in need of advice for my colt coral.

I purchased a small Colt coral from a LFS shortly after it arrived. In their tanks it was approximately 2" tall and about the same width while completely withdrawn to itself.

It has been in my tank for close to a month and a half now and looks pretty much the same as it did when I purchased it. I have never seen it expanded in my tank and am not sure what I should be doing with it to make it happy.

My photos are not turning out very well, so I will describe it the best I can. It is tightly withdrawn to itself w/ no change during the day. It is white colored with purple dots that barely protrude from its surface. I have relocated him to 2 or 3 locations in the tank alowing a couple of weeks in between moves. No change has ever been noticed.

I dose about 2ml of Kent Iodine once each week and Combo-Vital once each week as well, and am now reducing that to once every month or two to see what the results will be.

I currently have in this tank a branching hammer;a large toadstool; candy-cane; pulsing xenia; red xenia; mushrooms; many polyps including several on the same piece of rock as the colt; and an acropora. The above corals which are located near the Colt are the polyps of course along with the hammer; and acropora. All corals are opening big during the day and are splitting frequently and or growing quickly. The other fish in the tank are a Coral Beauty and two F. Percs. None bother this coral.

All of these are in a 29g with a 10g refugium. I have 2 MaxiJet 1200, one in each upper corner of the tank, and a return pumping about 300-gallons per hour. The Colt is approximately 8" away in the path of water current of one of the MaxiJets mentioned earlier. It is between 8" to 10" below two 55w PC lights.

I have not tested calcium lately, however the coraline is spreading quickly. All other tests are in the green. I topoff with RO/DI water when needed. My water temp remains close to 78-degrees right now, but is fluctuating a little right now due to the heat outside, however, it has been in the same condition for much longer then the heat.

ANY HELP OR ADVICE IS APPRECIATED.

[melev]

Hi Dustin,

What can I say? Your setup is very similar to mine. I'd check your alkalinity for one. I've been watching mine reduce in size for the past week I guess, and I tested my alk (14 dKH!), Ca (470ppm), sg 1.027..... So I did a small 5g water change, and got my salinity down to 1.025 (Sg), and stopped adding B-Ionic for a few days.

Is there any chance some of your neighboring corals are bothering it? It should extend polyps at some point, to eat.

One last thought crosses my mind. I have a colt frag in my 55g (from the 29g) as well, and for about a month, I stopped feeding any phytoplankton and the colt (along with all my softies) looked miserable. I decided to dose Phyto again, and the entire tank perked up. It is my personal belief that soft corals do consume something in the phyto, because mushrooms, palythoa, the colt and more all showed vast improvement in thickness as well as by opening up far more.

[outprowllin]

well im sorry for your misfortune with the colt coral...i have two which can be seen in my gallery or web site ....the only thing i can tell you as far as what you have discribed is to move the colt out of the current from the power head.my colts open up nicely and they are in an area of relativly calm water.(water movment is about 1 inch per second.) also have you observed the coral at night after lights out to see if some thing is coming out of the rocks and harr***ing this coral.......i had a leather coral a being eaten by a worm in an old reef about ten years ago. once i got rid of the worm the leather came back to health after a short time if i remember right......well i hope this helps .....good luck.....jaime

[pathos]

sounds like it could be a dendronepthea, in which case they are almost impossible to keep. try pointing one of those maxi jets toward it (but not too much flow), and cross your fingers.

pathos

[dknape]

What are you using for Phyto? I have never fed phyto to this tank and I do not want to lose the Colt.

I will test alk tonight. My Pulsing Xenia was sad over the weekend, but I am contributing that to fluctuating temperatures. They are looking a little better each day. Hopefully smiling in the next day or two.

Thanks Marc.

[melev]

I was feeding DT's every other day up until two months ago. Then I started growing my own nanochloropsus (sp?) instead, which is waaaay cheaper. It is half way down this page:

http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/tank/extras_page.html

When Xenia look bad, I know something is amiss in my water, and I test everything.

[dknape]

outprowllin
also have you observed the coral at night after lights out to see if some thing is coming out of the rocks and harr***ing this coral
I often "stare" at the tank at night for long periods of time and have never seen any other critters other than the copeopods and those little purple & pink bristtle worms come out. I do have an Emerald crab although he does not come out frequently.

pathos
try pointing one of those maxi jets toward it (but not too much flow), and cross your fingers.
He is pretty much right in the line of current from one of the powerheads right now. I think I will try moving him down lower and see what happens.

I know colts can sometimes take a while to respond. Any ideas from other Colt keepers how long until improvement may be seen?

melev
Is there any chance some of your neighboring corals are bothering it? It should extend polyps at some point, to eat.
I do not believe he is withing reach of any coral extensions yet, as he is about 5" away from the nearest coral (the hammer) other than the polyps that are on the same rock and to which they are actualy touching each other. Will brown button polyps bother a colt? :confused:

Thanks for all the advice thus far.

[dknape]

Colt Coral (http://www.iowareefclub.com/members/dustin/tank/corals/ColtCoral01.jpg)

Xenia that is not doing so good (http://www.iowareefclub.com/members/dustin/tank/corals/Xenia01.jpg)

I moved the colt to the sandbed and it is looking "slightly" better 20 hours later.

Any advice to save the coral???

[Sally]

Are you sure that is a colt coral? Doesn't look like one to me at all....perhaps a different type?

[beefcake]

I was thinking the same thing sally. Whats wrong with the Xenia? It looks ok to me.

[dknape]

I updated the photos two posts up. Please look...

[dknape]

This came from a friend who sent me an email directly. What does everyone else think of his suggestions?

well dustin from what i can see it looks like it is really stressed out.. i think if you would move it higher to the top and maybe try HBH blocks it might see a difference, HBH blocks have 71 trace elements including iodine and calcuim. i would definitely check your calcuim level before you add HBH.. but seriously HBH blocks really really help a lot, and colt corals don't need much current as much as they need light. and i would also make sure your angel fish isnt picking on it.. cus most of the time angels will pick on soft corals in a reef tank, they are known to pick on soft corals and eat xenia. But when you move it dont move it by the hammer coral cus i think hammers are a semi aggressive coral, i think.. don't quote me on that but im pretty sure they will sting other corals. well try that and if that doesn't work let me know, and i will think of something else to try. but definitely check the cal. levels cus that may cus some problems if it is to high

[melev]

Hey Dustin,

I'm not sure what the above quote is explaining, but I wanted to add to the other comments that I don't believe that is a Colt.

Could you get a really good closeup of it by any chance? I was wondering to myself if perhaps it is a fully retracted dendronephthya perhaps? If it has spicules in the skin (half moons the shape of fingernail clippings), it might very well be one.

[dknape]

Melev If it has spicules in the skin (half moons the shape of fingernail clippings), it might very well be one.
The following is the best closeup picture I could get sorry. I for some reason did not have Macro vision in mind when picking out my camera... although it will be on my next one. :D

CAUTION DIAL-UP USERS - Photo is 612k
Unidentified Species Photo (http://www.iowareefclub.com/members/dustin/tank/corals/coltCloseup.jpg)

[dknape]

I personally don't see any resmeblance to Dendronephthya.

.jpg]Dendronephthya (http://www.iowareefclub.com/members/dustin/tank/corals/CLV00158[1)

[torrid]

DK, it doesnt appear to me to be a colt coral, if a colt coral dies they usually melt, there tissue gets strigylike. It looks to be a leather IMO. I have a leather that looks like that, and when i got it it took about 4 weeks for it to perk up. If it is a colt try puuting it in the corner of the tank on the ground, where it eill get plenty of light but not a ton of water flow, there tissue is very sensitive. You have alot of flow in there. I also know that colts are very aggressive and if to close to any other coral they will wage a chemicle like warfare to keep there space so placement is crucial. As far as the xenia goes mine grew like wild fire I had to get rid of it. They usually get like that when they are getting ready to split or branch off, But keep a eye on the coral beauty, I had one and she had to go in my opinion they are not reef safe.

[dknape]

torrid

Thanks. I can see it being a leather. Although the tissue does not look 'real' health IMO, it is not getting stringy like a colt would. The leather in my tank looked pretty sad for about 3 months and then in a weeks time, it trippled in size and grew 1"+ extensions.

I will consider moving the coral to a corner of the tank, I just worry about moving him too much, too frequently.

RE: the xenia, it has been growing/splitting like wildfire. I am wondering if the looks could be related to some temp changes here in Iowa. 80-degrees one day and the next 95-degrees with what seemed like 200% humidity. The weather now is more stable and the house A/C is keeping everything about the same. At the same time, most of the xenia is looking much better with the exception of one stalk hanging it's head down low. We shall see what happens.

The Coral Beauty, I have never seen nip at anything other than copeopods in the tank.

[melev]

Originally posted by dknape
Melev
The following is the best closeup picture I could get sorry. I for some reason did not have Macro vision in mind when picking out my camera... although it will be on my next one. :D

CAUTION DIAL-UP USERS - Photo is 612k
Unidentified Species Photo (http://www.iowareefclub.com/members/dustin/tank/corals/coltCloseup.jpg)

Well, it is blurry unfortunately, but I doubt it is a dendro now. I was just taking a guess, due to the red dots. I've never seen a dendro that was retracted, so it was a WAG. ;)

If you can move the coral without touching it, using a tool or gloves, that might not be too hard on your coral. Hope it perks up!

[Kara]

I'm thinking it might be some type of leather also.

[john rochon]

I have the exact same coral. When it expands[slightly] during the day it looks like a COLT not a LEATHER. In fact it is a COLT but yours looks unhappy just like mine. I can't for the life of me figure out why this coral will not do good in my tank as everything else is happy. I've try'd many locations and now the COLT is even losing some of its color.

[Palmetto]

It certainly does not look like a Colt to me.
(although "Colt" has become one of those semi-useless common names the way it is tossed around wholesalers and LFS!)

There is no way to tell what it is without an open picture, and of course if it was open you would not have posted anything!

;)

It actually could be Nepthea, Dendronepthea, Alcyonium, Lobophyton, Sinularia, or a long list of various "tree", "carnation", or "finger leather" corals.

It does not appear to be Klyxum, which is what the traditional "Colt" coral has now come to be identified as.

Just for fun, try putting it in the shade for a day and then observe it at night with a flashlight. It is quite possible that it belongs to a group of non-photosynthetic softies, and may even be accustomed to hanging upside-down in the wild and not supporting its own weight at all.

[Palmetto]

Oh, and, YES. Brown button polyps WILL sting a colt.

I missed that earlier!