Bpb Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 (edited) This little guy came with my tank on the liverock. I've successfully ID'd everything else in the tank. The previous owner said it was a mushroom coral, but from every picture I've seen, it looks nothing like any mushroom coral. It looks a little bleached in the picture, but it's just my iphone not picking up nuances in color. This thing pops like mad under the actinic only cycle of the lights. It's grown about 50% in the past couple months. The tank was in bad shape when I got it, everything is bouncing back. Right now it's about the size of a dime. Any ideas? Whiteish small tentacle looking things with bright glowing green tips. It closes up almost entirely during total darkness, and opens up the most during the brightest part of the light cycle. Sorry bout the sideways picture. No matter what I do it posts it sideways. Oh well. Edited June 22, 2012 by Bpb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bannerfish Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 it looks like an angry, bleached out hairy mushroom to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted June 22, 2012 Author Share Posted June 22, 2012 Any advice? I'm fairly new. Using RODI water for top offs and salt mixing. Getting phosphates down. Nitrates nearly undetectable. Been doing weekly 15% water changes. Running 4x54 watt t5. 2 actinic, one 10000k, one coral plus. Ati bulbs. They will be replaced in a couple months. I do think they're due. Any ideas on how I can perk the coral back up. My brain coral looks mad too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckyuv Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 good water quality + time seems to be the best equation for reef keeping! I have just recently started using seachem fuel and my corals have been doing crazy good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted June 22, 2012 Author Share Posted June 22, 2012 Seems to be a simple solution that is difficult to master if that makes sense. Luckily, the corals were pretty much in this condition when I got them, so I can at least know that nothing I did put them in this state. It just seems to take a long time for them to bounce back. I have been reading that brain corals and hairy mushrooms like low light and moderate flow. My bulbs are getting near the end, and my total flow is between 15-20x tank volume. Looks like I'll just need to keep the water clean and give it some time. Should I try to target feed them? I do on occasion but the only critter that actively eats what I offer is the rock flower anemone. I feed a mixture of frozen marine mix cubes (not a whole cube)..double rinsed with rodi water, and kent marine chroma plex. The fish nibble on that on the days I feed it which is about twice a week, and they also get omega one small marine pellets. I run the skimmer to where the collection cup fills every couple days. 78 degrees 1.025 sg, but I've ordered a refractometer so we will find out how accurate that is 420 calcium, 8dkh 8.3 ph 0 ammonia and nitrite 0-5ppm nitrate Some phosphate, started at 0.25, but every week I test the color gets closer and closer to zero, running gfo in a media bag in the sump, no reactor yet Chaeto filled refugium. Don't know of any other info that would be helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckyuv Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 whats in the frozen marine mix cube? when i ran t5's i always used geismann and they were awesome! might be worth checking into. i usually feed my tank cyclop eeze, coral frenzy, and mysis shrimp and have done pretty well. im still a newbie tho so im sure others might have better input! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 Mysis, brine shrimp, krill, seaweed and an assortment of vitamins. I think rinsing it and switching to rodi water has been instrumental in reducing my cyano to manageable amounts. I think it should be gone entirely in a month. Cyano was probably caused by transferring the sand bed. Didn't know I was supposed to rinse it. Oops Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bannerfish Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 ive seen them wither away sometimes when they look like that, but other times ive shaded them more and made sure they didnt get too much flow, and they went back to looking normal with time. ive never tried to feed muschrooms but i dont see why it wouldnt eat if it was offered something tasty and wanted it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.