frogspawn wont open

[blackstrips85]

i have a frogspawn that will not open it was really nice for abot 4 months but then its stopped. it is one branch but has three semi divided polyps only the egdes of the poloyps open it. it has been like this for about two or three months . have other corals in my tank but they are fine if any one can help me i will send them a pic of the coral

[GaryP]

Hello and welcome to MAAST.

I'm guessing this might be a water quality issue. Frogspawn is generally a very hardy and tolerant coral. A series of 20-25% water changes, running carbon, and skimming hard is probably called for.

What else is in the tank with it that might be causing a toxicity problem? Lethers, zoos, and palythoa all could be putting some toxins in the water that is causing this problem. Have you tested your water lately? Ammonia, pH, alkalinity, calcium, and nitrates?
Remember that even if these numbers are within acceptable limits, that they only represent a small portion of the total water chemistry. Some toxins can act at very low levels. There is no practical way to test for these compounds unless you have a full organic chemistry lab stashed in your spare bedroom.

Since you are new to MAAST, a fuller description of your system and any other details about the tank is probably necessary for us to help you much more then making a few wild guesses.

[blackstrips85]

well thats for relpying to my message oky well my tank is a 46 gal bow front it has been set up for a good 8 months . have about 60lbs. of LR and 60lb of sand

fish
1-neno gobie
1-canray wrasse
1-small yellow tang
1-panda clown fish( saddle back clown fish)

Corals
green star polyps
green button polyps
a torch coral
2 bubble corals
a white spagetti finger leather coral
a small flower pot coral

Invertebrates
4 hermt crabs
1sand sifting star fish
1 red sea star
a coco worm
2 feather dusters

that is every thing that i have in my tank .my protien skimmer has been off for a while because i am building a sump to put it in. i did a water test and every thing is fine so is the salt level. i have also moved the coral around to see if it is the lighting, currnet,or just the location overall i am very carefull with it and it doesnt seem to be dieing i will see if tommrow i can get a piture posted here so you can see it . thank you very much
andres g.

[hobogato]

i would guess that it has something to do with the protein skimmer not skimming. that leather coral may be a little stressed and may be releasing some toxins that wont show up in any water tests. i have heard of and had issues keeping LPS with leather corals without running carbon. are you running carbon? if not, that may help.

[GaryP]

I think its definitely the skimmer. I don't feel its a coincidence that this occured when the skimmer was down. Get it back going and run carbon. I always run carbon with leathers, especially when I had my monster Sarcophyton. A couple of pretty good sized water changes would probably help too. Are the button polyps you referred to palythoas? If so they can be very toxic too. Same advice there: a series of 20-25% water changes, carbon, and aggressive skimming.

[blackstrips85]

thanks for reloying so soon i will do the water changes soon but about how much carbon should be running, i be posting a picture of my tank and corals soon thank again.

[blackstrips85]

well here is a picture of my leather and the polopys they dont seem to be stressed but i am still going to run that carbon and here is also a picture of the frogspawn

[blackstrips85]

here is the leather

[blackstrips85]

and the poloyps

[GaryP]

Yep, those are palythoa. I would recommended at least 1 lb. of carbon and change it at least every two weeks.

[falcondob]

Gary, not that it matters to his situation, but aren't they protopalythoa? Nice picture of the palythoa (protopalythoa, whatever...) What camera and lens did you use?
John

[GaryP]

John,

You may be right, not sure. I'm not a zoa guy. You're also right that it doesn't matter in reference to this discussion, both can pump a lot of toxins into a tank. I think Paletta mentined that when he was here, either in his talk or in some informal discussions I was involved with with him. I know he mentioned the problem with keeping palys with SPS.

[blackstrips85]

oky well today am going to go out to buy the carbon any suggestion on which one i should buy or better brand, and about the the lens that i am using will its the one on my digital camra noting special but it some times hard to get a good pic with the bend in the glass.

[bluelinkia]

its not his digital camera. I think I saw that picture on liveaquaria....LOL