galaxia ... apparent slow death :(

[jehudson]

I've had a galaxia in my tank for about two weeks. When I first put it in the tank there was a small section of dead coral (about 3 pods dead). The dead area has tripled in size since putting it in the tank. Any ideas

90 gal Reef ... setup over two years now.
sump with protein skimmer
approx 150 LBS Live rock (nice and purple)
Nitrate less than 5 ppm
ammonia, nitrite = 0
Alk = 8.5 (I'm increasing my b-ionic to compensate)
Calcium = 360 (I'm increasing b-ionic 2 to compensate)
PH (forgot to check but was at 8.4 last time I checked)
Lights = power compact 2.8 watts per gallon (two blues, two 50/50's)
Specific Gravity = 1.024-5

bio load:
4 damsels
1 Frogspawn (nice and fat)
5 - 7 blue mushrooms (seem happy)
1 open brain (about 4" across")
green star polyps
Galaxia

Suppliments
Chromaplex - 10 drops a day
Iodide - 25 drops a day
Coral Vite 20 ml a week (split up 4 times a week)
B-ionic 45 ml per day.
1 cube of brine shrimp per day

[CoryDude]

Tank parameters look fine. I'd try checking the coral at night to see if anything is munching on it, or if a nearby coral is attacking it.

If not, sometimes there's nothing you can do. I'd make sure on future purchases to stay away from anything fish/coral that is showing any kind of decline.

[jehudson]

Tank parameters look fine. I'd try checking the coral at night to see if anything is munching on it, or if a nearby coral is attacking it.

If not, sometimes there's nothing you can do. I'd make sure on future purchases to stay away from anything fish/coral that is showing any kind of decline.

Thanks Cory ... The galaxia is about 12 inches away from the nearest coral ... the coral death is all in the same spot, so I don't think anything's eating it, but anythings possible. I'll check it out.

[OrionN]

These guys need mod-bright light and not too much current. At night they put out filaments several inches in length that will wipe out anything it touch. Difficult coral to keep mainly because of the amount of space it need in our aquariums with limited room.

[chark]

I have our galaxia in low light and medium flow. It is doing great.

[CoryDude]

You may want to feed it some zooplankton to help it out. I've had favias degererate to a single head or two, then came back strong. So don't give up on it.

[jehudson]

Thanks for all the imput folks. I do have it at the top of the tank, right under the lights, so I hope lighting is not the issue ... I'll keep at it.

[uriah]

do you have a pic?

[jehudson]

do you have a pic?

I'll try to take one in the morning.

[jehudson]

file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Kiki/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpghttp://www.reefland.com/gallery/data/509/2049amphipod.jpg I found this runnin' around the coral this morning ... I thought these were good critters. Would this be something to worry about?

[Kristy]

Looks like a regular pod to me, those are good to have. They help clean up the tank, maybe eating the dead coral as cleanup? I doubt it is the cause of your problem, especially since you got it with a dead spot already. Some of the time once a coral starts to decline/die it spreads to the rest...