Open brain advise

Bender 2 · 03-05-2007, 09:45 AM

Last night I added an open brain to my tank. It belongs to a friend of mine who bought it several months ago and has had no luck with it. It has been sunken in and never expanded in his tank. There are only two very small spots where the tissue has receeded, this is where it was sitting in the sand. I know that he has a coral nipping angel in his tank and I am hoping that this is the problem with the coral.

I have a barebottom 180 lit with 3 x 250w halided and 440w of VHO actinic. I have placed the coral on the bottom of the tank in a shaded/low flow area. My parameters are as follows:
cal- 385
alk- 10.9/3.89
temp- 78-80
ph- 8.3
sg- 1.025
no3- 0

My parameters are very stable and the tank is doung very well. I have a frogspawn, galaxia, and pagoda cup that are doing great.

Any advice you may have on this coral would be much appreciated. It was beautiful when he bought it, and I would hate to see it die. Thanks.

dobejazz · 03-05-2007, 10:45 AM

My open brains really appreciate being target fed mysis or I even give them shrimp pellets. They have all started being happy since I shaded them and began target feeding

trea · 03-05-2007, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bender 2

Last night I added an open brain to my tank. It belongs to a friend of mine who bought it several months ago and has had no luck with it. It has been sunken in and never expanded in his tank. There are only two very small spots where the tissue has receeded, this is where it was sitting in the sand. I know that he has a coral nipping angel in his tank and I am hoping that this is the problem with the coral.

I have a barebottom 180 lit with 3 x 250w halided and 440w of VHO actinic. I have placed the coral on the bottom of the tank in a shaded/low flow area. My parameters are as follows:
cal- 385
alk- 10.9/3.89
temp- 78-80
ph- 8.3
sg- 1.025
no3- 0

My parameters are very stable and the tank is doung very well. I have a frogspawn, galaxia, and pagoda cup that are doing great.

Any advice you may have on this coral would be much appreciated. It was beautiful when he bought it, and I would hate to see it die. Thanks.

Coral nipping Angel. I would almost put money on that being the culprit right there. I had a Pygmy Angel in my tank with my brain. I swear the brain was miserable. I would only see the tentacles out under the cover of darkness. My Angel has since passed away, but the brain opens up in the light and shows off his tentacles all the time now. I witnessed that Angel always taking a little swipe at him.

Twitterbait · 03-05-2007, 11:15 AM

lets give it a few days in the tank and see how it is doing. when they are fine they prefer good light and moderate flow... when they are having issues they prefer low flow and very low light.

maveri9720 · 03-05-2007, 09:39 PM

I would try target feeding it, as mentioned above and see what the reaction is. I use Mysis shrimp and cyclopeeze. The tentacles come out almost immediately and scarf down whatever is near him. I also have my open brain on the sandbed, in medium to light flow with good lighting.

Sounds like he will pull through just fine though.

Bender 2 · 03-05-2007, 11:01 PM

Well, I just got home from work and looked in the tank with a flashlight. Feeding tenticles were fully extended so I target fed with some thawed brine shrimp. Figured it couldn't hurt.

dobejazz · 03-05-2007, 11:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bender 2

Well, I just got home from work and looked in the tank with a flashlight. Feeding tenticles were fully extended so I target fed with some thawed brine shrimp. Figured it couldn't hurt.

Cool!! Keep us updated

osprey77 · 03-06-2007, 08:31 AM

when you talk tenticles, the one on my brain are so small you really can't see them until i target feed and food sticks to them. Should they be more obvious or extended.

Wiskey · 03-06-2007, 03:17 PM

Quote:

I have a barebottom 180 lit with 3 x 250w halided and 440w of VHO actinic. I have placed the coral on the bottom of the tank in a shaded/low flow area. My parameters are as follows:

Perfet,.. these things don't seem to like much light. They also love to be spot fead,.. I think your doing the right things

Whiskey

Bender 2 · 03-06-2007, 11:24 PM

My buddy that had the coral in his tank stopped by today. He said that it looked to him like it was already expanded a little more than it was in his tank. It has only been a day and a half but It sounds like a good sign.

Reef-Keeper · 03-07-2007, 08:52 PM

calcium also looks a little low, IMO. i would slowly bump it up to around 425 - 450. brains have a thick calcium based skeleton.