Green Fungia Plate dying (I think)

[CIDReefer]

I think its dying. Never "bloomed" when I bought him last week. I dunno what I did wrong. Water good, lighting to. humm.

Mike

[Stang69]

Hows the circulation on it. I would try moving it from place to place till you find a place it is happier. As a general rule with most corals I usually move them till I find a spot they open up the most.

HTH
Jeff

[Cali Kid]

Mike,

When I think something in my tank is not doing well I check all water parameters:

Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
PH
Temp
SG
Calcium
Alk

I don't really worry about Oxygen levels, because I have good surface movement with the return lines from the sump. Do you have a sump?

circulation is also important as Jeff mentioned.

What are you using for make-up water? (RO/DI)

What is your acclimation proceedure?

Sean

[mojoreef]

Cid what makes u think its dieing

[CIDReefer]

I use RO water.

I checked the water parameters (except for alk) and they were fine.

Could it be my aclimation process?

I 1st place the bags in the water for 10 mins to get the temp. then fill the bag with 1 cup of my tank water, wait 10 mins, then another cup, wait 10 mins, finally one last cup and wait another 10 mins, then I place the critter in the tank.

Mike

[Cali Kid]

Mike,

I would suggest acclimating the coral a little slower in the future. Unless the water params are identical to the water in your tank...which it usually never is. I brought home an open brain last weekend and the SG from the LFS was at 1.030. so needless to say it took awhile to get the SG down to my level at 1.025.

Some creatures require hours of acclimation...... like linkias.

Actually slower is not really the point its just make sure the params are the same, but take your time getting there.

one other thing to consider is lighting acclimation. most corals have symbiotic bacteria (zooanthelae) that they derive most of their energy from. These symbiotic bacteria are photosynthetic, so lighting is important. Also differences in lighting can cause problems. So if you bought the coral from a LFS where it was kept under intence MH lighting and you bring it home to your tank which (for example) has NO flourescents, the coral (or symbiotic bacteria) will have to adjust to the lighting conditions. If the new lighting conditions aren't strong enough for the required photosynthetic process, the coral will not do well. Lighting acclimation should also be considered when your lighting is the intence MH and the LFS has NO flourescent.

Anyhow, Hope this is helpful

Keep us updated...and pick up that Alk test kit,

Sean

Here's what mine looks like:

[MontanaRocknReefer]

When my fungia plate coral died it produced clones all over the skeleton of the parent! So watch for that! Johnny

[CIDReefer]

It died sometime last night. I checked on it this morning and was almost pure white (skeleton) I my skimmer was working like crazy too, so I immediatly took it out and and no "flesh" on it.

Here are some possible things that went wrong I think-

I wonder if it was eaten? I have a GBS, 3 pepermint shrimp, 2 emerald crabs, 1 GBS and 1 sally lightfoot. hummm. never saw any of them do this, but it's possible I guess.

I should have acclimated longer and used less tank water in each step.

I don't have a alk test kit, that may be way out of whack.

I assumed the water flow was good but maybe it was less than it needed, as I placed it on the sand bed in the middle front of the tank. The powerheads are mid-way up, on each end of the tank (full flow).

When I put the plate in, I also had the open brain and green star polyps I was putting in as well (I know shame!! but I was so excited at the LFS!). This may have been a problem. I need to take it sloooow! This may have also attributed to my green star polyps not coming out yet. I just assumed as long as the water parameters were good, they all would be fine.

Mike

[biomekanic]

so I immediatly took it out and and no "flesh" on it

I hope you put it back right away. Fungia are well known for "dying" and then their skeletons will start producing clones, sometimes months later as the polyp has completely retracted into the skeleton and begun the process of cannabalizing it. if it's been unimmersed, it's probably well and truly dead now. in the future, if this happens, just put the skeleton somewhere out of the way in your tank but still visible. I've heard it can take up to 6 months before it starts producing clones. mine's sitting on a ledge, and I'm hoping they'll start appearing before to long.

[CIDReefer]

aww geese!! oops...too late. Nice to know in the future. I was so concerned the dead plate would hurt my water conditions. Oh well, thanks for the info.

Mike