New Coral Dying .... Help!!!

[tokarsca]

Just got a few new pieces for xmas.
1. Bubble Coral
2. Blue Gorgonian
3. Pink Zoos
4. Carnation Coral
5. Hammer Coral

I got all of these xmas eve morning, the carnation is already dead and the hammer has yet to extend himself very far from his exo skeleton. The other 3 look great not sure what the problem is. Just tested all the specs and everything seems fine. as for the hammer i have him lower in the tank and in lower water flow. anyone have any issues keeping hammers ( i have a large frogspawn and a torch that have been doing great)

[coralfreak]

Give them some time to acclimate. The carnations are kinda difficult to keep because they're not photosynthetic and they can't be exposed directly to the light.

[Doug1]

Its not that carnations cant be exposed to direct light, they are just specific feeders and don't fare well in aquariums, feeding a variety of planketrs in the amounts required to try and get them enough to eat causes water quality issues
Hopefully the anchor snaps out of it. Was it looking OK before it was bought?

[tdwyatt]

Originally Posted by tokarsca

Just got a few new pieces for xmas.
1. Bubble Coral
2. Blue Gorgonian
3. Pink Zoos
4. Carnation Coral
5. Hammer Coral

I got all of these xmas eve morning, the carnation is already dead and the hammer has yet to extend himself very far from his exo skeleton. The other 3 look great not sure what the problem is. Just tested all the specs and everything seems fine.

Branching hammer (Euphyllia parancora) or the flabello-meandroid hammer (Euphyllia ancora) form? Success of each form will depend on placement, and the needs of each is slightly different.

Many of the soft corals like the Carnations will not survive the chain of custody and shipping between each stop, often dieing in the reefkeepers tanks due to inadequate feeding along the way. (None of the aphotosynthetics like the Carnations are corals that I would consider good candidates for closed systems at all, they're good ones to avoid.) These corals, as already pointed out, have to feed from the water column, and are incapable of photosynthesis. They have evolved chemical means of competing on the reef for real estate, producing many different terpenes and related toxins for their allelopathic offense/defense. When these corals die, they release all these stored substances into the water column. To remove them, you will need to skim aggressively and use lots of carbon. As these substances affect primarily stony corals, and many Euphyllids can be considered good water quality monitors, you'll see issues with the water column apparent first in these creatures. For now, especially since these corals are new to your tank, just bump up the skimming and use the carbon, and leave the placement as is for a bit. In time, you may want to move the hammer closer to the top, but that will depend on your lighting and current,

Prolly best to do a good-sized water change now as well, but use the carbona and skimming to your advantage for the time being and see how the tank looks in a few days.


HTH

[tokarsca]

I have removed the carnation ( yes he was looking ok in the store) and kicked up the skimmer and added carbon. the hammer ( branching ) has really yet to fully extend . would you recommend changing his location in the tank to a very very low flow area or is it better to just leave him be for a bit. right now i he is under the skimmer spill way which i would say is a moderate flow rate

[coralfreak]

Originally Posted by Doug1

Its not that carnations cant be exposed to direct light, they are just specific feeders and don't fare well in aquariums, feeding a variety of planketrs in the amounts required to try and get them enough to eat causes water quality issues
Hopefully the anchor snaps out of it. Was it looking OK before it was bought?

I know that perfectly and most carnations cannot be exposed directly to light because they doesn't have protection from UV-A and UV-B radiation on their tissue.

[tdwyatt]

Originally Posted by tokarsca

would you recommend changing his location in the tank to a very very low flow area or is it better to just leave him be for a bit? right now i he is under the skimmer spill way which i would say is a moderate flow rate

Unless the flow is so strong that the tentacles are retracting due to heavy turbulance, I'd just let it sit for now. It's hard to tell without actually seeing how strong the current is in yur system at this location.

[xaoss23]

everything else doing ok? How did you acclimate?

[robz]

that's what I was going to ask?

[tokarsca]

All of the other new corals doing well, as well as, the older ones. Hung the bag in the water for 20 minutes or so to acclimate

[Loverotties]

How big is the tank and it's age?Maybe it was to much of a load!

[tokarsca]

46 gal. 1.5yrs old