Whats Happening To My Frogspawn???

[JACKAL]

lOOK AT THE BRANCHES IT SEEMS LIKE SOMETHINGS EATING IT AWAY SLOWLY. IT ALSO DOSENT OPEN LIKE IT USED TO. ITS SCARING ME SHE IS MY FAVORITE CORAL. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

[JACKAL]

LOOKED GOOD A MONTH AGO

[OodleyBoodely]

Is it as bleached as it looks in the top photo, or is it just the lighting? The tentacles should be brown as in your second photo. If it is bleached, the recession of the tissues is probably due to starvation (no zooanthellae to feed it). The smallest polyp appears to be or soon to be disintergrating-death. Can you take a clearer photo? If the polyp is already dead/dying you can expect the scavangers to start eatting it which would result in the bite marks.

[ShirleyM]

What's your calcium level? Everytime our Frogspawns...5 yrs old...start to even begin to look like that, it's the calcium level every time and they come right back. They can live well in normal output lighting, so I doubt it's the light. I would guess it's your calcium level.

Shirley

[hitillidie]

what are your parameters, and lighting. It's something in your water or lighting that the coral didn't like. The second photo was taken shortly after you put in the tank? If so, then it was a healthy coral when you bought it from the store. What's you lighting, these coral need vho to survive. check you nitrate levels and really all your parameters.

[ShirleyM]

Regarding lighting...fwiw...Our frogspawns are under MH and VHO activics. Our son's frogspawn, from which we got our baby frogspawns...lived in a 30-gal talk for 2 or 3 years under normal output lighting, and under powercompact lighting the last year. His tank thrived...but he was never home so all inhabitants were moved to our tank. But...we got several baby frogspawns (frags) from his original 8-branch specimen.

I must keep calcium at least 375 for it to grow and not recede.

Here's a link to Troy's established 30-gal tank...under NO lighting...probably about a year old...

http://creativelyyoursvideo.com/reef/30-gallon.html

~ Shirley

[hitillidie]

That a thirty long? if so, then it very shallow

[ShirleyM]

Originally posted by hitillidie
That a thirty long? if so, then it very shallow

right. 30-long.

[Reefdude5]

Shirley, you have a pm

[Alice]

Hey Jackal,

Frogspawn and torches are some of my favorites, so I feel your pain.

How long has your tank been set up, what kind of lighting, how much flow and what are your water parameters? (ammonia, nitrates, salinity, temp, pH, alk, calcium)

Did the coral develop a brown jelly-like substance on the heads before they disintegrated? If this is the case, it's hard to prevent the spread of this protazoan infection. Cut off the dead heads and any that are losing tissue, dip the remaining heads in an iodine-tank water solution (Lugol's is preferred; take a container of tank water that will easily fit the coral and allow you "swishing room", tinge the water just barely yellowish with drops of Lugol, submerge the coral for 30 seconds, swish it back and forth for 30 more).

You might want to do a search here and on the web for "brown jelly disease" if your frogspawn is indeed showing these symptoms.

Good Luck!

Alice