Trumpet Coral 5/16/05 I have a trumpet coral that is losing some polyps. It has always made its polyps bigger than the other two colonies close by, making large bubbles in between the new growth. Lately, the large bubbles have burst, the skin falls off, and it (the skin) is making new polyps. I have researched my books, but can't find anything about it. The coral was fed regularly, and the other two Caulastrea colonies in the tank are doing fine, and look normal. Any ideas? Thanks, Mike <Nothing at all to worry about... this is well reported in aquariums. You can strategically place new substrate so that the daughter polyps can land on it and attach and grow. Best Regards. AdamC.>

Brain coral Hi I have had my brain coral for like 1 week and it won't open up.  It has some bleach marks the fish store had it for a day under metal halides.  I see it swell up just a little bit like a few quarter size pieces swell up and the base where the mouth is on swells up some.  Here  is a picture of it.  I also tried feeding it liquid food and Mysis. <Sorry my friend but the picture didn't make it.  I sounds to me like the coral may have not been healthy to start with.  You didn't mention what kind of lighting you have.  Try sending the pic again and we should be able to provide a better answer.  James (Salty Dog)>

LPS bleaching Hi Guys, <<  Blundell today. >> I have an LPS (some type of Favia) that had 'oozed' a quantity of white 'stuff' over the surrounding rock during the night. When I washed away the ooze, the polyps in that area had lost their color/flesh, and all that remains is skeleton ('damaged' area accounts for about 25% of coral). << Doesn't sound good. >> The same thing occurred a few months back with this coral, but on just a single polyp - didn't worry too much at the time as it seemed to recover OK, looked healthy enough, and was opening fully each evening. Won't bore you with all my water parameters but can't be too bad as I have quite a bit of stuff that I'm told won't possibly survive in tanks that are doing great (Goniopora, anemones, Gorgonians). Can you please explain this phenomenon? << Not really.  Could be caused by lack of water motion, as many corals slime out to remove waste products.  Increased water motion can help them. More likely a light problem (in my mind).  But if all else is doing well, then I wouldn't guess that.  Soooo, I guess I would do a small water change and wait it out. >> Cheers! <<  Blundell  >>

HELP !! Candy Cane Coral and Parasites 4/29/05 I've recently ran into a problem with a Candy Cane Coral Frag.  It has been in my tank for a few weeks now and one of the polyps was damaged when I got it.  The rest looked healthy and after a few days in my tank began developing good color and inflated polyps.  The damaged polyp even seemed to be coming back. However, about a week ago I noticed white "things" (I'll refer to them as parasites from here on) all over the damaged polyp. I kept my eye on them   and they would come and go but always overwhelming the polyp. <from the image these are clearly not parasites but instead are mesenterial filaments from the coral being stressed> So last night I decided to do a freshwater dip for 30 seconds, making sure to match pH and Temp. The parasites seemed to shrivel up and I thought I got them. However within minutes they came back in full force.   <because of the stress of the dip> As I watched them seemingly come out of nowhere I noticed them begin to show up on the healthy polyps too. I watched this happen very slowly, too slowly to see these things moving. As far as I could tell they came from between the polyp and the skeleton and in some cases looked as if they were pushing through the tissue in the middle of the polyp. I documented the take over at the following site (thumbnails are clickable to a larger version) The first pic in the series is before the freshwater dip. http://users.arczip.com/manfrotto/images/Photohost/candy%20cane.html And this link will take you to the photograph I took of it this morning http://users.arczip.com/manfrotto/images/Photohost/candy_morning.jpg I've asked around and can't figure out what these are and I don't know what to do next.  I appreciate you opinions and comments very much on this. Sincerely Michael <do a keyword search on our website and beyond for "mesenterial filaments". Continued good water quality and feeding/water flow will recover this coral in time. Have patience my friend. Anthony>    
HELP !! Candy Cane and Parasites II 8/31/04 Thanks Anthony for getting back with me.  I'm glad to hear that these aren't parasites, I thought I was in for a plague.   I actually considered  that these may be a part of the coral but I always assumed, more or less,  that any defensive posture was expelled from the mouth not from the sides of the coral < a common/understandable assumption> and that they (the mesenterial filaments) would sway in the water instead of clinging to the polyp.  I've not messed with the coral since that first FW dip and it has begun to come back again, although I did lose the one already damaged polyp.  Not too worried about it though since I know I can work on growing this frag without concern.  Thank you  again for your help.  By the way, feel free to use any of those pics as  helpful reference if you'd like. Michael <thanks kindly, my friend. Anthony>

Torch or Candy Cane coral Hello Crew, Another day in this excellent hobby. Another day to worry about things huh? Quick question. Do Candy Cane corals recover from damage? I have a cluster with 9 polyps but recently I was on vacation for 3 days and one of my triggers damaged 3 of the polyps (1 now has tissue only in the middle - and the other 2 were partially bitten). Will they grow the stony part back (assuming they will not get damaged again? I made the mistake and left the lights on every day and the trigger, which was left unfed, turned against it. I have previously left my fish unfed for a weekend or so but with no incident. I've had this coral for a year. I am adding iodine/calcium/trace elements as per direction. I can see the tissue on the coral trying to connect but I'm not sure if the stony part will grow back? >>The coral should recover and the stony part may or may not grow back. The important part is to make sure there is no further damage. Are you testing for iodine and calcium and other trace elements? A good rule of thumb is to only add what you can test for because otherwise you can easily be overdosing or just wasting money. I am not a big fan of adding anything other than a two part Ca solution regularly, and with regular water changes your trace element levels should stay at the correct level. Rich>> Keep up the good job - I always consult your site when in doubt. It is an excellent source for reference. Have a nice day.
Dimitri

New Open Brain Health - 10/27/03 I recently purchased my first live coral - a brain coral. <Very well>  It's about 3" long and has pretty fluorescent green coloring. It is very hard and relatively flat.  Since I have purchased it (only about 10 days ago), I have seen pictures of other brain corals that are "fluffy" and appear to have fluid inside them. <Yes. Fascinating to watch>  My coral has not changed in ANY way since I purchased it.  Is it dead? <Likely not. Is the color bleached in any way? is the white of the skeleton showing through? Should be placed low in the tank preferably on a sandy bottom with some room for expansion> Was it dead when I purchased it? <I don't know was it? It is not necessarily dead because it is not expanding>  What should I be looking for? <Tentacles extracted around the inner rim (feeding) and expansion of polyp> I tried looking for diseases on the net & saw bleaching etc. <On our site???? We have more than that!!>  I just need to know if it's young & that is why it looks that way and that I should be patient or it's dead. <Be very patient!! Don't move it. It could still be in an adjusting phase. Read all that you can about Trachyphylliidae here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/trachyphlliidae.htm> Please advise. <Knowledge is have the battle. Read through the various FAQs and articles for Trachyphyllia -Paul>   Thanks so much for your time. JoAnne

Does my Brain (coral) need help? Hi Crew !  You've been great help in the past so lets try it again. <Glad you have benefited!> Presently have a 46 gallon bow front with roughly 90 lbs of live rock and assorted healthy fish. Tunicate and sponge growth here and there. I would think this is a sign of a healthy tank also. Lighting consists of one Coralife 10k and one Hagen Marine-Glo actinic staying on 9 hours per day. Good filtration and moderate skimmer. I am a believer in Tom Walsh's theory that you don't have to have a complex system to be successful in this hobby just good husbandry. <All sounds reasonable.  I do also subscribe to the KISS principal... Keep It Simple Stupid!> Now to my question. I was given a Green Closed Brain Coral two weeks ago . I have never kept corals before but have read that the Favia? was a good beginner. I have noticed that in the last week it is showing some brownish coloring around some of the edges. <A picture is worth a thousand words here....  This is most likely "browning out" due to differences in (likely less) light in your tank.  If the tissue looks in tact, but is just changing color, I would not worry.> I have always used SeaChem Reef Calcium and Reef Complete but have been out since this coral was added. I dosed the tank last night and also added Reef Plus. What do you think will happen now. Will he recover from this? Will the supplements get him on the rebound? His feeder tentacles are out when the lights come on however. Thanks for your help. Randy  <The only way to be sure what supplements are necessary is to test for those elements.  My suggestion is to supplement only calcium and alkalinity (should be checked often), and nothing else unless you are testing for it.  In most cases, regular partial water changes will supply enough of everything else.  Over use of supplements can easily lead to overdose.  Occasional feedings of finely chopped meaty seafoods will also be of great benefit.  Best Regards.  Adam>

Caulastrea decline from shipping stress - 2/20/04 howdy, yesterday I receive my candy cane coral I ordered, only to find it appears the skeleton is protruding from some/most of the polyps <from the picture it looks a bit stressed. Acclimate, keep low in the tank and keep up the water quality. Do you feed? Try to target feed>... can u please tell me this is normal and it will grow back? <Likely will grow back in time with maintenance done on your part.> P.S the polyps have not inflated yet.. is it doomed? <Always a possibility but these are fairly hardy corals. Place at the bottom of your tank to help it acclimate to your lighting. Also, let the company know immediately of the issue upon arrival. Good luck to you and your coral. ~Paul> P.S.S my camera sucks ;)

Brain Polyp Bailout - stress induced 2/8/04 Dear Anthony, See photos attached of a massive polyp bailout and a new brain coral starting life from bailout.  I get a bailout from the big coral about every three weeks or so and several have "taken root" on nearby rocks. Can I continue to make more small brain corals in this way?. Any way to make a "bed" for the bailout to plant in? Howard <polyp bailout is usually a stress induced reproductive strategy and weakly successful in aquaria in the long term (the donor will likely die in time if not rescued). Looking at the pictures you've provided... the source of stress is clearly the encroaching Zoanthids which are (chemically) fiercely aggressive. Your brain "knows" its days are numbered... likely to be killed within a year if the Zoanthids continue. As to the polyps themselves... yes, they can be saved/viable but are not inclined to be fast growing or particularly successful sitting in the same tank/water that caused the polyp bailout of the parent. Its a very good rule of thumb to maintain a minimum of 10" between all corals... and be sure to use carbon or some other chemical filtration regularly (changed weekly in small portions). Large weekly water changes and zone use too will help temper allelopathy causing these issues/bailout. Best of luck! Anthony>

Gall crab 1/13/04 I have what I believe to be a female gall crab living in my closed brain coral.  Should she be removed? Thanks much! Jeff Wagner <they are rarely a problem my friend... the coral will usually grow around them. If your coral exhibits normal polyp cycles and feeding... no worries. Anthony>

Green open brain necrosis 4/14/04 First off: this site is incredible! You guys are one of the best resources I've found yet (still new to the hobby though). <Thanks for the kind words!> Anyway regarding my problem, I searched & browsed the site/FAQs, and  got some good info, then tried the public forum, but no responses, so here goes. In a nutshell, after being out of town for 5 days my open green brain is suffering serious tissue necrosis which was not at all evident before I left. <You will find that one of the amendments to Murphy's Law states that these things will always happen when you are out of town.!<g>> This is a new 37 gal tank (2 months old), but the brain was doing quite well before I left town (already in the tank for 1 month, bad advice from my LFS).  When I returned from my trip everything in the tank looked fine except for the brain, which showed a small area of what looked like irritation (bright green spot, slightly dented-in looking). Today it's blossomed into full-blown tissue necrosis across one lobe. I lifted up the brain (from the base, using a glove) and upon closer inspection the affected polyp tissue looks like it has some tiny holes bored into it--like termite holes in wood. <Open brains are a bit more sensitive to water quality than most folks consider them to be.  They are also one of the corals most commonly picked on by fish.  Their fleshy inflated tissue can be easily damaged.> Here are some possible culprits/factors: (1) a few days before I left town I added new cleanup crew members, an assortment of snails (Astrea, Nassarius, Ceriths) and some small blue leg hermits. Could these be doing damage? I've seen them waltzing through the button polyp but never anywhere near the brain. (The button polyp and finger leather are a good 18" away from the open brain, which is on the sand with decent light exposure and moderate water flow (no direct laminar flow)). <It is possible that the hermits damaged the brain, but unlikely.  Any fish that may be nipping?> (2) the inverts had been added to battle green hair algae which started blooming a week or so prior. I set up the tank with dechlorinated tap water but have been using RO/DI for about 3 weeks now. So there are probably still some phosphates in the tank. I just read a reference to boring green algae on your site but didn't find much info on it. I'm guessing this is unrelated to run-of-the-mill nuisance algae but that's a newbies guess. The tiny holes got me thinking. <Such boring algae are quite rare, but conspicuous when encountered.  The real issue is that when exposed skeleton becomes colonized with algae, the coral has a hard time overgrowing it.> (3) While I was gone the house sitter only topped off water with my RO/DI supply, but I think the weather was hot: when I got back the water level was low and specific gravity had shot up to like 1.027 from the normal 1.024. This would have been for 2-3 days at the most. <No concern over the rise in SG.> (I performed a 10% water change and brought the salinity down to 1.025, then 1.024 the next day. All other tests were not that remarkable--ammonia, nitrite, nitrate were zero, pH 8.3, temp. 77, alkalinity 3.5 meq/L). <Keep in mind that drops in salinity are far more stressful to inverts than rises.  Water quality sounds fine.> (4) I have never fed the coral in the 4 weeks I've had it (more bad advice from the LFS). I just fed the poor guy some minced fresh shrimp per guidelines found on your site. <Great!  Pieces up to the size of a marble or so should be greedily accepted.> (5) A week or so ago I moved the coral to the corner of the tank, as in its previous location it was growing upwards into a rock overhang and I was afraid it would get an abrasion. The new location should be getting plenty of light but it's possible water flow is weaker in that area. Even so, would that cause tissue necrosis? <Perhaps you are seeing the effects of previous damage?  Open brains prefer moderate current, but are very tolerant of fairly low current.> Thanks for any advice. I have pics if that would help but it basically looks like the green brain 2/3 of the way down this page, but worse: www.wetwebmedia.com/corldisfaq2.htm  Your fan, John MB <My hunch is that there was some damage, and the coral was not able to cope because of the immaturity of your tank.  There are no measurable parameters that suggest maturity, and it is a very non-specific term.  Suffice it to say that corals do better in systems that are at least a few months old.  Best regards.  Adam>

Candy Cane and Anthelia questions 8/1/04 Hello. I've spent many hours on your site and I must say it's a great resource. <Great to hear!> I have a question about a stony coral I have (candy cane). Last night I put a flashlight on it and noticed that between the stony columns is growing a yellow kind of "fuzz" or something. I am not sure if it is a disease or algae or what. Otherwise the coral looks healthy. Inflated during the day and tentacles out at night for feeding. You can only see this stuff at night when it's slightly deflated. I have attached an image so you can see what I mean.  We've had the coral for about 3 months now with no problems. <This is nothing at all to worry about.  It is an encrusting sponge and a very common occurrence between the branches of stony corals.> Several other corals in the tank are soft ones. This is the only hard coral. The tank is a 45 gal less than 6 months old, all readings are zero, calcium is at 440 and pH is at 8.2 (we originally started it from cycled water from our aquarist friend back then). I reduced the picture and have a larger one if needed. On another note, the anthelia has been struggling for days. I suspect it's the pH but I am not sure since it's not excessively low. Would it help to raise it and by how much? Also, there is a "life-form" attached near by and I wonder if this is affecting it. At first I thought it was a new colony of anthelia but now I wonder if it is an unrelated different coral. A picture of this is attached as well. Thank you for your help. Daphne  <A pH of 8.2 is perfect.  What about alkalinity?  IMO, Alkalinity is probably the most important parameter to test regularly in a reef tank.  The coral in the picture is actually Clavularia.  There are several things growing within and around it:  Valonia (bubble algae), hair algae, some Caulerpa and some kind of mushroom anemone.  Any or all of these things could be affecting the Clavularia.  I would try to move the mushroom, test alkalinity and correct with a good quality buffer if necessary and be sure that you have plenty of water movement.  This is a tough coral that should recover easily under good conditions.  Best Regards.  AdamC.>

Moon Coral Anthony, <cheers> I purchased Favia (moon coral) a week ago and have started to notice the lower edges of it starting to turn brown.  <many possible reasons for this... are your nitrates a bit high by chance?> It is placed on top of the LR about 10" from the surface. Lighting is 3; 250 watt MH with 6500 Iwasaki bulbs, and 2 160 watt VHO, located 10" above the tank. I have Sprung's book on Coral and used his reference chart to locate the coral.  <although I generally do not recommend 250 or 400 watt halides to most aquarists unless they are keeping SPS or clams, Faviids are generally high light creatures and I'm comfortable with your choice of placement> Flow is directed almost directly across it.  <laminar flow can be stressful... do adjust to surge or random turbulent if possible, else watch for stress or tissue erosion> All my other corals are fine, water quality and temp are text book. <what book? :p> Thanks, Mark Johnson <my preliminary opinion is that it is an inevitable but acceptable acclimation to the new lighting scheme. The fact that this color change is not a paling shift indicates a possibly favorable (health of coral, not necessarily aesthetically pleasing) acclimation to me. Best regards, Anthony>

Dying or propagating trumpet? I hope you guys are well paid to answer all these letters, because here comes another! <Ahhh... we are all very well paid. Great riches in friendship> What does it mean when one of the "trumpets and neck portion" of a trumpet coral, falls off? <I assume that you are talking about the colored flesh... not the actual hard skeleton?> Yes, I AM still obsessing over my trumpet colony. It's going through so many changes. One of the guys at my LFS said it was trying to spread. It looks to me, like it's trying to die! <very simple... if it degraded/rotted/dissolved then yes it is infected and dying. If the polyp simply bailed whole but undisturbed and is now blowing around the aquarium like a bowling ball... then the coral polyp ejected out of stress which is a sort of desperate form of reproduction. Send a picture and I will confirm> Thank you, Pam  <kindly, Anthony>