Colt coral is sad

Ms. K · 05-25-2006, 07:18 PM

Does anyone have any idea why my colt coral has been looking so sad lately? It just stays all tucked up and won't spread. It started behaving this way before the tank was moved, so it wasn't the move. It hasn't looked any better since the move, even with fairly frequent water changes. I thought that perhaps it didn't like my green finger leather. Then I thought perhaps it wasn't getting enough flow, but that's not it either. It's at the bottom of the tank under PC lighting, same as always. Do you think I should move it higher? Water params all check out as far as I know. I'm going to have the LFS check my params tonight.

BTW, the tank is a 125 gallon with 58g fuge (at tank height) and under-tank sump rated for a 210.

Any ideas? My clowns are very unhappy that their colt is so sad.

theplatypus · 05-25-2006, 07:22 PM

Maybe the clowns are irritating the coral.

Ms. K · 05-25-2006, 07:27 PM

I considered that, but they've lived in the coral for nearly a year and a half, and it has just started to look pitiful in the past two months.

GeorgeW · 05-26-2006, 09:31 AM

Does it look like parts of it are rotting off or might have been eaten off?

xaoss23 · 05-26-2006, 10:05 AM

what else have you added to the tank recently ("past two months")
Can you post pics?

Ms. K · 05-26-2006, 10:42 AM

No, it doesn't look damaged at all, just closed up like it typically does when the lights go out. I haven't added any new livestock in several months. I discovered, when the LFS checked my params last night, that my nitrates are high. We had a difficult time accounting for it, since I only feed every two or three days, and I typically change out about 14 gallons of water every two weeks or so. I'm going to do a 21-gallon water change today, and probably another in a week. I've also added some De*Nitrate. The guys at the fish store said that they had initially been skeptical about it, but it had been used on some clients set-ups who were experiencing outrageously high nitrate levels and had worked wonders.

I'm not sure why I'm having difficulty with my nitrates. Last time they were checked, everything was fine. I'm sure the tank recycled a bit when it was moved, but it just seems strange. The only difference since the move is that I've added carbon, and I recently ran a polyfilter. I've also recently started using Purple Up, which was given to me by a rep at Saltwater U. I'm hoping to determine if it works as well as the individual supplements I had been using.

When we moved the tank, second week of April, we changed out about 30-35 gallons of water. Since then, I have perfomed two water changes of 14 gallons each. I have several fish (~12) in the tank, but the largest is a coral beauty angelfish. I suppose I just need to do larger water changes more frequently? I've never had a problem with nitrates being this high.

Appaloosa1224 · 05-26-2006, 11:48 AM

If you don't mind me asking, how high wre your nitrates? I have a hard time getting them low, but my corals are usually fine, I might talk to the guys at the fish store if yours are simialr to mine!

gwen_o_lyn · 05-26-2006, 12:12 PM

The same thing happened to my colt and it's the only coral I've lost unless u wanna count the 1 millimeter frags I've gotten that washed away.

It was staying shrunk and wouldn't open up so I took it back up to Imagine Ocean to see if they could save it, but it didn't make it. It was a reddish color. Not sure what happened, but since I haven't killed anything else, I don't worry about it, but it does suck.

Keep us posted.

xaoss23 · 05-26-2006, 02:19 PM

if the tank was recently moved (april) distrubing the rockwork/sand could give you a mini cycle of sorts. That would be my initial guess at where the NO3 is from (without knowing anything else about the system).

How long are you leaving the carbon in until you change it out?

xaoss23 · 05-26-2006, 02:21 PM

...and what's in the sump?

Ms. K · 05-27-2006, 01:30 PM

I'm absolutely certain a minicycle did occur. I just would've expected that water changes and the polyfilter would've helped. The test showed nitrates at 80. I've never had 0 nitrates, but they've never been outrageous like that. On a side note, everything else looks absolutely perfect. None of the other corals or fish look in the least bit affected. I ran the carbon about one month. I decided to take it out when I ran the polyfilter, but I plan to change out the carbon once a month, and i haven't decided yet if I will run it constantly. My sump has live rock rubble in it. The fuge has several pounds of live rock, chaeto, and a handful of hermits and snails.

Ms. K · 05-30-2006, 05:30 PM

Here's what it looks like today. This is actually slightly better than it looked before, so maybe the steps I'm taking to lower nitrates are working. I'm going to test the water again tomorrow night.