I need just a little ressuarnce

[Jon]

Yesterday at the meeting I bought some zoas, mushrooms, kenya tree and a tyree leather toadstool. My tank is 7 weeks old with new coraline algae already growing on the magnet cleaner and liver rock. I have 65 pounds of very stable live rock (from two different established tanks) with tons of life on it and 40 lbs of live sand in the tank. The mushrooms are doing great but the zoas are so so (half are open half are closed) and the leather / kenya trees look bad. The leather has shriveled up and the skin is very tight on it. The kenya trees are slouched all the way over and look really bad. I have had leathers before and have seen them wax many times before. I think that this is what is beginning to happen but I don't know about the kenya trees. I hope that my assumption is right and that I didn't introduce them to early in the tank. Does anyone agree???

Jon

 

[blange3]

Hang in there Jon, only Phyl can kill Kenya Trees!

That's a lot of new softies in the tank and they are all adjusting to their new environment and probably sending out a lot of their defensive chemicals.

Keep your water quality up and if you aren't running carbon, I would start.

Light acclimation may also be an issue. Tell us a little about your setup.

 

[Phyl]

Pretty early in the cycle. Hopefully all your bad numbers are 0 (Ammo, trite & trate). Leathers and Kenyas as you already know react like this to stressors. I'd say give them all a week or so, make sure the flesh stays tight on them (and they don't get mushy) and see how they do. If they start to get mushy or fall apart take them out of the system so that they don't foul the water too badly.

Only time will tell. If your water parameters are all good then everything has a good chance!

LOL, Bill. I actually have a refugee that is still alive. I have no idea how!

 

[Jon]

My tank is a 58 gallon oceanic rr
Oceanic model 1 sump with 30 lbs of live rock, 20 lbs of live sand and cheato
T5 Tek Light 6 bulb 234 watts
Geiseman bulbs: 2 true actinic, 2 aqua blue, 2 miday 6500
Mag 9.5 return pump
Hydor Karalia 2 powerhead
Protein skimmer is a piece of junk (soon to be replaced)

My water levels are:
PH 8.3
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate .08
Phospate 0
Calcium 460
AK 11 (it was 11 yesterday dropped to 8 today but I dosed it back to 11)

IMO my water levels are pretty good so that is why I think they are stressed.

 

[calaxa]

Jon,

Patience. They're probably just reacting to the move. The only success I had in killing kenya tree was physical removal. I dug up my sand a bit and there was a kenya dropping still alive from about 3 months ago and it was growing. You can try feeding the zoas but they're probably still adjusting to the lights/flow/etc.

 

[mkreef]

I would say, dont worry about the Kenya Trees. They will come back after some time. But dont fret. If they dont make it, I can help you out with more kenya trees no problem. I got plenty.

 

[Jon]

As of today the Kenya trees are officially dead, are out of the tank and in the trash (found them melted to the sand this afternoon). The zoas are still holding on fairly well and the leather coral is shedding it skin just like it would after a good wax. I adjusted my return nozzle to blow on it to try and peel the skin off a little faster. I am trying to remain optomistic about the leather becase the skin is still fairly tight and you can still see the shape of the crown on it. At this point all that I am going to do is continue to test my water daily and cross my fingers.
Jon

 

[calaxa]

Jon,

You're welcome to some kenya tree from me if you want to try again. I have two types. Will try to get pictures of it if you are interested.

Nathan

 

[Jon]

Ok it has been about five days and I am still keeping my fingers crossed...

My toadstool wen through his waxing stage and yesterday showed some of his green polyps beginning to come out. I thought that this meant we were making a turn in the right direction. But this morning when I woke up the leather had a brown film growing on his skin. I wipe the brown stuff off and am holding out hope. The leather is still keeping the crown shape form but is still shriveled up very small. I don't think that he is dead but seems to be pretty weak.

The zoas who once were doing the best have not opened up in three days. Occasionally they will try to open up but they never get very far. This morning one of the zoas is leaking a puss out and seems to have a cut or something on him. I'm not sure what is going on since I have not touched them and or moved them since Sunday.

The mushrooms are doing great and cant look any better.

I am very puzzled by all of this. I have a chunk of pulsing xenia (hitch hiker) in my tank for about a month and he is doing great. I also have many pink sponges (hitchhikers as well) on my live rock that have continued to live through my cycling stage and also look great. If these corals all can be in a tank that is only a month old and look good why can the zoas and leather survive in a tank that is almost two months old??? Also the xenia and sponges were out of water for about four hours from when the rock was transported to me. My water levels are strong and I continue to check them everyday. Is there anything else that I can do??? I am running carbon in the tank to keep everything as clean as possible.. I just did a 30% water change the day before I bought the coral and need some more advice. Please help if you can.

 

[calaxa]

Toadstool sounds normal. It just shed one layer. It does this occasionally to grow, react to stress, etc. As long as he is not melting away and retains stiffness, he is fine. Mine has not opened since Columbus day. Still peeved at me for breaking down the tank. Not sure what's happening with the zoas. Did feeding them help?

 

[blange3]

How about a picture of the full tank and some close-ups of the stressed corals.

For what it's worth "almost two months old" is far from a mature stable environment.

Did you dip the zoas when you got them? Cuts and puss aren't good signs.

 

[Jon]

Here is a new update...

The toadstool started decaying and I got rid of it.

Since than the zoas are slowly starting to come back. My kryptonite finally opened all of it heads today and my other two zoas are beginning to open up an extra head each day the last couple of days.

My fingers are still crossed.

One thought I have, which I think might have went wrong, is that maybe I had a little chemical warfare going on??? I'm not really sure but once I tossed the toadstool my tank has started to get better slowly and hopefully surely.

 

[calaxa]

Jon, as the toadstool decays, it is emitting very nasty chemicals no one else in the tank likes. At least that explains why the others were unhappy. As to why it was dying, I can't say. Perhaps you had a bad specimen. Perhaps your tank is still too new.

 

[blange3]

One thought I have, which I think might have went wrong, is that maybe I had a little chemical warfare going on??? I'm not really sure but once I tossed the toadstool my tank has started to get better slowly and hopefully surely.

That's what I was refering to here:

That's a lot of new softies in the tank and they are all adjusting to their new environment and probably sending out a lot of their defensive chemicals.

Keep your water quality up and if you aren't running carbon, I would start.

Keep up with carbon and water changes and you should be good.

Instead of tossing a dying coral you can frag it by cutting out sections of good tissue. Keep some Lugols solution handy to dip the freshly cut pieces and you can regrow the coral in time.

 

[Candi]

Jon so sorry to hear you lost the toadstool, and extremely surprised. They have proven to be extremely hardly for me and I haven't heard of anyone else who got one having any issues other then growing to fast since they were far from being fresh frags (ie were fragged months and months ago). If you're ever up here let me know and I'll try to get you at least a small frag.

 

[calaxa]

Yep, those things are extremely resilent. I broke my gold one trying to move it and a small speck remained. Yesterday I saw what I thought was a kenya tree dropping but upon closer inspection, it was the tiny speck sprouting back up. I had forgotten about it as I moved it 3 months ago. Right now, it's only the size of a fingernail.

 

[Candi]

yep that's my problem (who would have thought I'd ever be calling a "fancy" coral a problem) my frags had grown attached to some rocks on the sides, when I removed them before posting for sale some flesh remained, it's now growing new toadstools... they seem to LOVE my aquapod for some reason, don't get anywhere near the growth in my 70g.

Yep, those things are extremely resilent. I broke my gold one trying to move it and a small speck remained. Yesterday I saw what I thought was a kenya tree dropping but upon closer inspection, it was the tiny speck sprouting back up. I had forgotten about it as I moved it 3 months ago. Right now, it's only the size of a fingernail.