My stuff is dying

[Europhyllia]

Just three weeks ago my suns and dendros looked like this:
http://www.dominopads.com/pink.jpg

http://www.dominopads.com/sunpink.jpg

http://www.dominopads.com/sunflame.jpg

http://www.dominopads.com/sunfuzzy.jpg

http://www.dominopads.com/sunshorty.jpg

http://www.dominopads.com/sunyellowface.jpg

Now it looks like this:

http://www.dominopads.com/sundown1.jpg

http://www.dominopads.com/sundown2.jpg

http://www.dominopads.com/sundown3.jpg

Some of the colonies I had for almost a year. Some are fairly new. The common thing I can see is little yellow dots on the sick corals.
Are the yellow dots a symptom of decline? Or the cause of decline? (in other words are the yellow dots just bits of dying tissue or are they parasites or pahtogens and I need to remove the affected ones immediately to save the rest?)

A few things have been going on within those last 3 weeks:
I was having trouble keeping up with caulerpa racemosa and rather than Keep fighting it back I decided to take out the 3 large rocks that it was on.
This started a major diatom outbreak.
I hooked up a new phosban reactor with GFO to help because I figured I probably lost quite a bit of good bacteria by removing the large rocks.
I also started biopellets just a few days ago.
I usually never use hand lotion but have been using lotion a few times (not sure how well it washes off) but especially during the large rock rearranging some lotion could have entered the water.
The corals haven't been as perky for a week or so but noticeable decline occured during the last few days.

I've been doing daily 5% water changes for the last few days just in case.

So what are the yellow dots on the dying corals? What should I do?

[allan]

Wow, I hope they recover.

What do they look like in the dead of night? I'm asking because mine usually come out at night. Of course during the day they're drawn up nice and tight.

Yours almost look like they have a belly ache.

[Mr Cob]

How about dipping them in some Lugol's Iodide? That may stimulate them and possible knock any pests off.

Sorry to hear about the trouble...you have such a nice collection of sun corals.

[Europhyllia]

allan they look the same day and night. They're used to feeding round the clock so they didn't really show much difference anymore in regards to opening day or night.

I'll have to read up on lugols and suns. I just wish I knew more about the yellow dots.
I am really bummed out by this big time. Should have quit while I as ahead and kept picking at that stupid caulerpa. At least the tank was lush then : with caulerpa AND sun corals. If the decline continues as rapidly I will have neither: suns or caulerpa...

[Mr Cob]

Can you pick them off or are they the coral's tissue? Hard to tell from the pic.

If you can pick them off...then they could be Nudis...

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/MolluscPIX/Gastropods/Opistobranchs%20Sea%20Slugs/Nudibranchs/Nudi%20IDs/DSC00717%5B1%5D%20Tri...%20nudi.JPG

[Kristy]

Karin,
So sorry to hear this. Can you point out the little yellow dots in your photos?

[allan]

I'm thinking if it was because of the bacterial decimation caused by pulling out the rocks that you should see a swing in your parameters and that slowly your corals will rebound.

[Kristy]

You know, that second photo of decline almost looks like the frilly nudi in Rob's pic.

[allan]

Karin,
So sorry to hear this. Can you point out the little yellow dots in your photos?


If it's what I think it is, it's those little yellow arms that look like another track of tentacles about midway down the body of the coral. Right?

[RayAllen]

Karin in constantly seems like your hands are in the tank either adding something new or moving things around. This can lead to problems without you even realizing it.

You could have possible introduced something problematic to the tank without knowing, or they can simply be stressed from the constant changes.

[RayAllen]

I too agree that it could be the above nudi.

[Europhyllia]

RayAllen,

that was exactly what I was trying to remedy: always having to stick my hands in there to trim back the caulerpa so removing the rocks seemed like a good idea
The dots are so small I can't tell if their nudis. Without the super macros setting on the camera I wouldn't have known that they're kind of frilly.
Allan is right: the dots looks like a second collar of tentacles only it's halfway down the polyp.
The weird thing is that they hang on tight even with the Vortech blowing on it so that's unusual for dying tissue. I'd think dying tissue would blow off more easily.

[Mr Cob]

Karin, take one out and use some tweezers to try and pull one of the spots off. It's either tissue or a nudi IMO, and you need to know in order to know what to do next.

[Mr Cob]

A dip would help the coral heal if it's tissue or hopefully knock the pest off if the spots are pests.

That's another option.

[ErikH]

Dip and see as Rob suggested. Best quick thing to test

[ErikH]

NUDIS! Those are nudis for sure

[hobogato]

i agree, i bet they are parasitic nudis

[RayAllen]

Now to kill them and find the source.

[Europhyllia]

The only thing I added in that time frame is some beautiful blastos. Wouldn't nudis be sun coral specific?
I was thinking of doing a freshwater dip (pH and temp adjusted) since that's the surest thing to kill the nudis. I know freshwater dips can be a danger to corals because of the zooanthalate (sp?) but obviously sun corals don't have that anyway, right?

[Mr Cob]

Karin, for reference I found that image here, about a quarter down the page:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/nudicompfaqs.htm

The person had the nudis on his/her leathers. They could be all over the place in your tank and they obviously hatched in your tank considering the size and amount I see in the pics. So....you could still have more eggs.

[CoryDude]

Lugol's dip worked on monti eating nudis I had a while back. The corals don't like it too much, but they recover after a few days.

You probably did right by removing the culerpa covered rocks. I doubt that would affect your corals. You're gaining bacteria with the NP pellets anyways.

So unless your parameters are swinging the wrong way, I'd agree with everyone else's diagnosis of nudis.

[Mr Cob]

Wet Web Media guys reference this link: (more info about the type of nudi in the pic)

http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=Triteleg

[txg8gxp]

Sorry karin, that sucks. I hope this is a faily easy fix...Now I'm nervous, and it's not my tank.

[CoryDude]

Mr. Cob is 100% correct on the eggs. Even if you dip, you'll most likely have problems for a while. :cry_smile: I didn't put any monti's back into my tank for almost 8 months.

You may want to qt the effected corals and keep them out of the tank for a while.

[Europhyllia]

Well I dipped and it looks bad.
I even dipped the new black sun coral and it released lots of green dye.

The little dendros look seriously miserable now.
The sun corals had interesting responses.
Some just shriveled a bit but stayed pretty much the same.
Others expelled gazillions of the little yellow things that now look like tiny yellow worm things.
Here's a shocking after the dip picture:
http://www.dominopads.com/postdip.jpg

no tentacles are showing. All of the yellow stuff you see is yellow stuff that has been expelled after dipping.

sorry for the blurry pic the glass in my quarantine tank isn't very clean...

[RayAllen]

I know situations like this can be crushing Karin hang in there and hope for the best. You did the right thing, quick action usually helps.

[Europhyllia]

I just want to fast forward it a couple of month and for it to be over one way or another.
I want the diatom bloom to be gone. And I want to see what I'll be left with.
Whatever I am left with I'll just be happy to have.
I have nice fish. If most of my corals will be gone I can still enjoy awesome fish.
But I hate watching the process of decline. That really sucks.
It was so perfect and beautiful just a few weeks ago.
Can't believe how quickly it went down...

[hobogato]

is it possible that you have a fish/crab/shimp that is nipping at the coral and the corals are exuding those strands as a stinging defense?

[Mr Cob]

I feel for you Karin. While my 50 scenarios were different...they were all the same...depressing!

Hang in there. Keep a close eye on everything and if more dips are required be sure to not leave the coral in the dip for longer than 10 or 15 minutes. Also it's good practice to dip them in clean water before heading back to the tank.

I'm more concerned with what's still in the tank.

Can you comment or confirm that it was nudis>? Did the little dudes fall off in the dip?

[Mr Cob]

See....here's a problem I see. In the last pic above....it looks as though all that nasty stuff is the same as what we see in your first set but just less.

You really need to confirm if you had nudis or not.

Compare these pics:

http://www.dominopads.com/sundown1.jpg

http://www.dominopads.com/postdip.jpg

[Europhyllia]

Could not confirm what the yellow things are. The yellow stringy things are just too tiny to see what they are.
They did not fall off in fact more of the yellow things came out of the coral (see picture above)

I don't really have anything picking on corals. The mandarins sometimes steal food from them but otherwise not interested in the coral itself.

The little yellow stringy things never appeared like this before the dip I just did with them, Ace. Before that they just looked like little yellow specks here and there. Very small, very close to the coral. I don't see how it could protect them in any way.

Plus remember I have the yellow specks on the dendro as well as the tubastrea.

[Mr Cob]

Did you see my latest post comparing the two pics? Post #30.

I think it's the same stuff in both pics. Especially if you can't confirm Nudis.

[Mr Cob]

Also...did you dip Iodine or Iodide?

[Europhyllia]

freshwater dip.
Rob I think I need to label what's what in the pics.
The fist pics shows a lot of coral tentacles and just very few yellow speck things.
The last pic shows NO coral tentacles at all. The coral completely retracted the tentacles completely in response to removing it from the water and dipping it.
It's kind of a bummer that the coral's own tentacles has the same color as the yellow specks.
Basically the post dip picture shows that about 20 times more yellow speck stuff was expelled in response to the dip.
The after picture has gazillions more yellow speck things than the before.
They're just too tiny to even tweezer them!

[ShAgMaN]

Will they blow or rub off?

[Mr Cob]

I know, I can tell the difference of what's a tentacle or not. I'm saying the small spots look like small releases of the same stuff from the second pic (last pic).

Perhaps you never had spots, or dead tissue or nudis but that it's just been releasing stuff. Which is what happens when a sun coral is dying or threatened.

If it was spots or dead tissue then we would see it in every pic....if it were nudis then you could pick them up and examine them....so that tells me that the "spots" as you call them are not actually spots but the same stuff seen in the last pic but just less of it.

[Europhyllia]

pre dip:
http://www.dominopads.com/sundown1words.jpg

post dip:
http://www.dominopads.com/postdipwords.jpg

[Europhyllia]

yes totally possible. it's releasing stuff and it's dying. More so now that it's been dipped but probably inevitable either way

[Mr Cob]

EXACTLY! All of the yellow specks are the same.

They are not specks, they are not spots, they are not nudis....they are toxins that the coral is releasing. The first pic is just less of them.

[Mr Cob]

yes totally possible. it's releasing stuff and it's dying. More so now that it's been dipped but probably inevitable either way


Well, you had to find out if it was nudis or not.

[Europhyllia]

so now what? why are they dying and can I do anything about it?
SHould I put the ones that aren't releasing anything back into the display and let the others die in the quarantine tank?

[Mr Cob]

DO you have anemones or something else releasing toxins that might be more powerful than a peaceful sun coral?

I would run some fresh carbon to help with the toxins.

Also, I was suggesting a light Iodide dipping to help stimulate the coral which would have given you an opportunity to examine for pests...not a freshwater dip only for pests.

I wouldn't do anything else with the coral at the moment since it's very stressed.

[Mr Cob]

Things that could cause this:

Too much light
Too much flow
Not enough flow
pests - looks like we ruled this one out....still a small chance though
other toxins from softies/LPS
nippers
starving - doubt that's the case in your tank
pollutants in the tank - should effect more than just dendros and sun corals though

[Europhyllia]

I am going to put in a fresh poly filter (in my experience more effective than carbon) and some carbon...

how about food poisoning? Is that possible? I just fed one of the new dendros and it was doing gret before. Now it looks just as miserable as the ones in the QT tank.
Something contaminating my sea squirt tool perhaps?

[Europhyllia]

no I don't have any aggressive corals. No leathers other than a nepthea. Some LPS but mostly sweepers as far as I know -not toxin releasing...

nevermind gorgos can release toxins...

[Mr Cob]

you said you just fed it. Well, perhaps it's just expelling waste? How long have they been like this?

[Europhyllia]

the sick ones haven't been opening up enough to eat. the sick ones don't have any waste because they've stayed closed for about a week or so. Also remember that the yellow specks come out of the side of the coral. That seems like a weird place to take anything in or out. I'd be expecting that more from the mouth.

[Mr Cob]

I'm out of ideas. Good luck Karin. Hope another member has some more info for you or a similar experience.

At least we narrowed it down to what it is.

Now.... Why?

[Europhyllia]

I am packing the kids in the car and heading to the LFS. My little one has been playing with the sea squirt. Maybe it got contaminated with something.
Will buy some Iodine dip as well.
Anything else? I already added the carbon and the poly filter...

[ErikH]

Phosphates causing some kind of necrosis on the sides of the tube?

Have you sprayed anything in the air in your house lately?
How have your temps been at night with the recent swings?

[Europhyllia]

got a phosphate reaactor freshly loaded. No swinging at my house either. (monitoring digitally - 78 by night, 79 by day)

[Mr Cob]

I am packing the kids in the car and heading to the LFS. My little one has been playing with the sea squirt. Maybe it got contaminated with something.
Will buy some Iodine dip as well.
Anything else? I already added the carbon and the poly filter...

Iodide. NOT iodine.

[Europhyllia]

got the reef dip by seachem. whatever is in there that's what it is.

[Gseclipse02]

wow sorry to hear karin hope everything makes it


good luck

[Europhyllia]

okay I just saw a yellow speck on a third coral (different kind of dendro). I still think it's very weird that 3 different kinds of corals (although similar but still different) have the same curly yellow specks. Maybe it is some kind of very tiny parasite rather than just tissue being expelled?

[CoryDude]

Gotta agree with Mr. Cob on the freshwater dip. That's pretty harsh on most corals.

Personally, you should run the filter pads and some carbon and just keep going status quo. I know it's hard not to rush and do all these things. But, sometimes if you just let it go for a few days (even a week), and leave the tank alone, you may see some recovery.

[Europhyllia]

Gotta agree with Mr. Cob on the freshwater dip. That's pretty harsh on most corals.


I did read up on the different dips and read that the freshwater dip is hard on the corals because it also destroys the zooanthelate in addition to the pests. Sun corals of course don't depend on zooanthelate so I figured it would be okay.

Anyway. I also posted the pics and question on a non photosynthetic corals forum and the people that replied said the yellow dots are nudis and to treat immeditely.

The corals actually seem to have bounced back from the dip and appear a little better. Time will tell. At least I tried.

[CoryDude]

Definitely just wait and observe from this point. I wasn't try to sound like I was on a high horse. I did the same thing when I switched my tank to sps. I would freak at anything and start getting the hands and elbows wet.

I see some decline in my corals here and there, but they usually recover. Sometimes there's no clear answer as to why.

If you keep your tank in good condition, I bet some/most of those corals will recover nicely.

Wow, 50+ posts on this emergency! You're pretty well loved around here.

[Europhyllia]

I am sure 30 are from myself. ;)
Somebody on the azoo forum mentioned they think the curly thinsg are mesofilaments - not pests.
So either way. It is what it is. I hope they make it. The dendros and suns are really my main thing. I'll hate it if they crash.
On the plus site when I went to get the dip I bought a mag 3 for the pellet reactor and the pellets already have bacteria strings!
Safe me, pellets! Safe me!

[ShAgMaN]

I think you've done a good job Karin...now just try to keep your hands out. It's not going to be easy.

[Mr Cob]

Hey....just saw your post on Reef Central...

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1803976

Glad you are getting some help there too.

[Europhyllia]

yes I figured somebody must have seen that exact thing before on the non photosynthetic forum. Sun coral has got to be the most common NPS, right!?

[Europhyllia]

Oh and guess which sun coral is munching away happy as ever? The solid yellow I got from you, Mr Cob. They're now up to 5 polyps. :)
My oldest colony is eating now as well.
The newer ones aren't open but back to puffy. I think the black may not bounce back.
My last worry are the dendros -especially my new jumbos...

[txg8gxp]

Good to hear most everything is looking better already.

[stoneroller]

I think it's the innards.

[stoneroller]

Your alk is 13 dKH? That's pretty high and could be the source of woes. Is that accurate? Do you always keep it that high?

[Big_Pun]

all my stuff is doin good that I got from you even the ballno is doing good

[Europhyllia]

Chris, the balanos seemed to be unaffected by this and since I was the one that fragged them I tried to give you the 'better' halves of each piece too. :)

stoneroller, no of course I don't intent to keep alk that high. That's why I said, 'everything looks good, except alk which is high' ;) However with 8-12 dkh being considered ideal I don't think 13 would make them all that miserable. My main concern with high alk at 13 would be the imbalance with calc and precipitation.

At this point I'd say I am 90% sure the yellow strings are the filaments/innards too.

My gut feeling is that it was something in the water (most likely lotion) and that the PolyFilter is helping to pull it out. Hopefully it will be enough to give them a chance to bounce back.

[greatwhite@AlamoAquatics]

hey karin , hope everything gets better i didnt even know this was goin on. lmk if i can help in any way.. good luck

[Europhyllia]

Thanks Ed. The variety of suns I got from you included some of my favorites! In fact when they looked the worst I thought if it all goes to **** I'll wait till summer and then have you order me 10 or 15 of them and just load that 125g up with them.

However this morning all but one look like they are recovering fine.

I sure love that PolyFilter stuff. It saved some of my corals before.

Seems like the worst is over already. :)

[txg8gxp]

I'm glad almost everything is looking good this morning.

[hobogato]

that's great news karin!




Seems like the worst is over already. :)

[SKNR]

Glad to hear things are getting better

[Mr Cob]

Great news Karin! You have a very unique tank and I would hate to see you lose the drive.

[Europhyllia]

Great news Karin! You have a very unique tank and I would hate to see you lose the drive.
I was considering fish only with puffers yesterday... as long as the mandarins and the blenny live that won't happen though. ;)

[Elijaher]

I glad things turn out ok. Happy reefing.

[kkiel02]

Karin I hope everything continues to go well.

[txg8gxp]

Nooo.... don't leave behind the NPS. Just remember, the sun corals love you...



I was considering fish only with puffers yesterday... as long as the mandarins and the blenny live that won't happen though. ;)

[Europhyllia]

looks like I might be loosing my female Mandarin. :( Wish I had never messed with everything. It's all gone to pits...

[txg8gxp]

Its all part of the hobby, as long as you learned something from this. Learning something will always cost money one way or the other.

[Kristy]

looks like I might be loosing my female Mandarin. :( Wish I had never messed with everything. It's all gone to pits...

Karin! Oh no, what is wrong with your mandarin? What could possibly have happened? I wonder if you need to do some water changing?

I hope she is okay... I know how special those mandarins are to you. Please keep us posted and in the meantime, you'll be in my thoughts.

[Europhyllia]

Stephen the corals I can replace. The pair of mandarins is priceless to me however. It took me MONTHS to find a female and another few months before they became the way they are today.
The par of mandarins is my center piece. I feel like I have a realationship with them. All the rest is just decoration.
If I lose her then the main part is gone

[Europhyllia]

Kristy I have been doing daily water changes for a week now. I am sick of water changes. All parameters are okay.
After I took out those big rocks with the caulerpa on it it started an awful cycle. I am in diatom hell.
I blow it off the gorgos to avoid tissue loss about 6 times a day.
I thought it was getting better but I missed the daily siphoning off/water change today because if the meeting and came back to a terrible looking tank.
Because I apparently lost a big part of my filtration and do lessen the cycle more I cut back on feeding a bit. Which then caused some aggression between the mandarins.
The female got injured and I am afraid she is getting an infection.
I set up a QT for her but the only meds I had were Melafix.
If she's still alive tomorrow I'll have to wait for the fish stores to open and get some real meds. But she's barely moving and I won't be surprised if she passes before morning.
All because I was too lazy to prune macro in the DT...

[txg8gxp]

I understand, for me its the other way around. I forgot you had a pair, that is different.





Stephen the corals I can replace. The pair of mandarins is priceless to me however. It took me MONTHS to find a female and another few months before they became the way they are today.
The par of mandarins is my center piece. I feel like I have a realationship with them. All the rest is just decoration.
If I lose her then the main part is gone

[aquasport24]

Hope she going to be ok. You can place an egg crate in there as a divider to isolate her for a while. I think you stirred up the sand bed when you removed the big rock.

[Europhyllia]

bob passed away.
the little yellow specks turned out to be planula -turning into tiny sun corals.
I am sure it's stress related kind of like when carnation corals drop lots of babies before they die but at least it's not a parasite...

[Kristy]

The heartaches this hobby puts us through! Better days are coming (they would pretty much HAVE to be!)

[Jarob]

Oh man I just read through all 9 pages! Im SO sorry!! Nothing gets to me like losing a coral or even worse a fish you love! Good luck with the upturn!

[HoppyBunny]

Awwww Karin, I am so sorry. What a bummer of a week (or two)! I really hope things settle down for you soon.

[Europhyllia]

Diatom hell... how long can this go on?

[aquasport24]

Need to run a reactor w/ GFO and alot of WC, since you did alot WC already. Then just run GFO.

[aquasport24]

and carbon too.

[Europhyllia]

already got that too - carbon and GFO :(

I'll get some more: seagel

[Mr Cob]

bob passed away.
the little yellow specks turned out to be planula -turning into tiny sun corals.
I am sure it's stress related kind of like when carnation corals drop lots of babies before they die but at least it's not a parasite...

Again, sorry about Bob.

Interesting that you said it turned out to be spawning. Not to question you, but I'm curious about this...because it's pretty cool! Could you provide more details as to why you think it is/was spawning...like, how do you know? I'm sure many of the other members would be interested in hearing more too.

I found a good article that talks briefly about it:
http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/showthread.php?t=195870

[aquasport24]

ok, then seahare and alot of Mexican turbos. I have about ten MT right now that you can have.They've done their job here.I don't need them anymore.

[FireWater]

Karin, first I was so sorry to hear of the troubles and then worried because the blastos came from my tank. Glad to hear that you narrowed down the cause.

As for the diatoms - I am not sure how long it will take to balance out. You use your own RO so I am sure you stay on top of the quality. How frequent or large have you been doing the changes since the outbreak?

[FireWater]

I know you already run GFO , but what else are you running and how much? Maybe the system was semi sterile and the outbreak is just taxed the natural beneficials

[Europhyllia]

John, the funny thing about the blastos is that they looked a little sad at first but after I gave them a dip in Seachem's Reef Dip they actually are looking REALLY good. How ironic right!?

I have a TDS meter and my RO measures 0 or 1.

I don't know if seahares would eat diatoms. Don't they specialize more in hair algae type stuff?

Rob, I got the idea about planula on the NPS forum at about the same time when I noticed tiny baby corals in those areas that had the yellow specks sprouting.
I can take a pic of it maybe tomorrow. For now I just have 2 blue bulbs on in attempt to slow down the diatom bloom so not great for picture taking...

It sounds cool. And it might turn out to be cool if the stuff survives. But usually corals crank out the planula when they get stressed in an attempt to secure survival of the species.

I have been doing 5-7 gallon changes per day but today I took the day off. I am jsut getting so sick of the daily water changes and I need another group buy on Tropic Marine salt...

[FireWater]

Too much/many water changes? It might be that you are taking out too much of the good stuff and that is fueling the outbreak. I will admit I am not sure on this

[Europhyllia]

I know you already run GFO , but what else are you running and how much? Maybe the system was semi sterile and the outbreak is just taxed the natural beneficials

Well basically I tossed out about 1/4 to 1/3 of the natural beneficials. A case of panic induced action without thinking. I wanted to get rid of the racemosa so I put the large rocks into my sump. Then I freaked and took them out of the sump for fear of small pieces breaking loose and getting back into the tank.
I should have left them in the sump and just installed plastic canvas over the egg crate to contain any break offs.

Right now I have 1000ml bio pellets (only a week old -instructions say they will gear up at 2-4 weeks)
150 ml GFO (separate reactor)
regular activated carbon in a mesh bag
poly filter
will soon add 1 liter of seagel

[Europhyllia]

Too much/many water changes? It might be that you are taking out too much of the good stuff and that is fueling the outbreak. I will admit I am not sure on this
It's 5 gallons from a 160g system. That seemed kind of small. But I am wearing out so water changes are on the decline as of yesterday... ;)

[Mr Cob]

Rob, I got the idea about planula on the NPS forum at about the same time when I noticed tiny baby corals in those areas that had the yellow specks sprouting.

I can take a pic of it maybe tomorrow. For now I just have 2 blue bulbs on in attempt to slow down the diatom bloom so not great for picture taking...

It sounds cool. And it might turn out to be cool if the stuff survives. But usually corals crank out the planula when they get stressed in an attempt to secure survival of the species.



Thanks for replying...I have heard this many times....especially with anemones, however...don't always assume that it's because it's doing bad...things do have to grow....right? And...I don't think anyone feeds their corals better than you.

From the link I posted:
Reproduction

Tubastraea sp. are know to reproduce by the means of Gametes (sperm and eggs), egg – sperm packets / bundles, brooded planulae larvae (free swimming larvae), budding and polyp division. If well-fed and kept in good health, colonies will readily reproduce in their captive environments.

Both T. faulkneri and T. coccinea are reported to be hermaphroditic (each mature colony contains both male and female reproductive structures) and can reproduce by the means of planulae larvae, budding and division.

Planulae larvae is produced when a male polyp is triggered into releasing sperm, by chemical ‘messages’ given out by a female polyp. This sperm then swims into the female where it meets ‘her’ egg and the process of internal fertilisation begins.
The resulting larva is formed with-in the female (known as brooding) and when developed its released from the polyp and becomes free swimming. When the larvae, which is approximately 1.6mm long, settles upon a rock, etc, it will quickly turn into a tiny polyp (or two) and begin laying down a new skeleton. From this point the polyp is able to bud and divide, thus creating an entirely new colony.

[FireWater]

I wish I had a definite answer for you, but I don't. Sorry

[Europhyllia]

I really can't wait till the diatoms are gone and hair algae starts sprouting!
Come on hair algae!!!

[Europhyllia]

I dared to turn on the main lights after two days with jsut the two blue bulbs and things are looking a lot better. I even have some green algae starting.
I am hoping this means the worst is over.
I guess I'll know tomorrow with a regular light cycle. Wish me luck!

[justahobby]

I'm glad to hear you might be on the rebound from tank troubles. One random comment that popped in my head while reading others' suggestions: How often/well do you clean the pores of your rocks? I don't hear people talk of it often and it doesn't seem too bad until you take a turkey baster and blow out the pores until your tank looks like an over zealous snow globe (nope I am not speaking from exp...... lol).

[Kristy]

Oh... been there. It's pretty crazy what you can stir up!

[justahobby]

I have one rock that is constantly FULL or detritus. It's also directly under my overflow where the least amount of flow is. I equate that to being settled food and poo which I also equate to undesirable amounts of phosphates. Emptying out the pores not only helps prevent leaching but allows for anaerobic bacteria to burrow deeper and do its job.

[txg8gxp]

Any updates? Hopefully everything is looking better.

[Europhyllia]

yes, much less diatom. everything is looking better.

btw: the acans never bothered looking bad. yours stayed colored up nicely. Maybe I'll do an all acan tank next. lol

[txg8gxp]

This tank has me rethinking my plans...
http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/59-tank-of-the-month

[Europhyllia]

love it. do it. (and then sell me some frags. lol)

[txg8gxp]

hahahaha I'm on it..


love it. do it. (and then sell me some frags. lol)

[hobogato]

WOW! that is definitely not the norm for RC totm

[Europhyllia]

The dust has settled. The worst is over. Things are starting to come back.

However I did lose quite a bit:
1 female mandarin :(
1 clam
1 seastar
1 sun coral
2 gorgonians

still in limbo:
1 regular dendros
1 black sun coral
1 gorgonian
1 duncan colony (could have been bothere by the clowns?)

I had to frag my big euphyllia hybrid. Half of it was doing very poorly. The frags however are looking very good now.

[BSJF]

Glad everything is getting happy again.



This tank has me rethinking my plans...
http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index....k-of-the-month (http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/59-tank-of-the-month)


There is a tank in SL that I saw very similar to this but on a smaller 65g scale. I loved it and hence my new passion with my 150g.

[BSJF]

Yikes, I just saw my name associated with the title "My Stuff Is Dying" and I freaked out! Had to go check :whew: