Sick, Stressed, Or Ugly?

[chrissaysyes]

Just recieved some new corals in the mail. Some new zoas, yellow leather, and a chunk of sun coral. I let them drip acclimate for about an hour, then let them chill in the tank for about a day. Just tried feeding today...I dont have my feeder constructed yet so I just squirted the leather and placed bits on the heads of the sun corals (using finely chopped mysis). The leather looks like absolute crap...I'll try and get a pic but as I havnt taken the pics yet I'll go ahead and describe the two...the leather is grey/black and looks gross. The sun coral looks like an orange rock with heads. Down in the heads I could see tiiiny tentacles starting to come out of the mouths. Should I try feeding the sun again tomorrow or give it another day before I try again? As for the leather, I dont know much about it...is it dead? It's supposedly a yellow leather buuut...it looks like a black death leather I placed it about mid-way up the tank...they're in a 55 u.s. gal with 390w MH. Any advice? BTW, the zoas opened after about 30 mins and looks prettyyyy I managed to wedge them in between my other three zoa colonies so I have a nice color gradient going accross the middle of the tank. Pics coming in a few minutes.

 

[chrissaysyes]

Alright well here's the ugly leather that I'm worried about...

And here's the sun coral I'm somewhat concerned about:

And here are some shots just because I felt like taking pics hah:

the new zoas:

My huge condy looking great:

My euphyllia that is almost 4 times bigger than when I first got it:

 

[chrissaysyes]

nobody know?

 

[Adrinal]

softies are tough to kill once acclimated but they ship poorly. They just flock of so much ... u know what! Get as much flow as possible on them, they are like rockstars that sufficate in their own vomit.

Its too hard to tell with them if they will make it or not. if you see brown spots cut it out till you get to clean looking flesh. like cutting off a necrotic leg. Clean blade man, clean blade

HTH

 

[chrissaysyes]

hmm, it's not mounted on anything and it's too small to put under much flow without figuring out some means of securing it somehow. I just emailed the guy I bought it from to see what he has to say. How about my sun coral, I hear the heads are supposed to open when food is introduced to the tank...if theyre hungry that is...so should I just wait a couple of days before I try feeding again?

 

[SkiFletch]

hmm, it's not mounted on anything and it's too small to put under much flow without figuring out some means of securing it somehow. I just emailed the guy I bought it from to see what he has to say. How about my sun coral, I hear the heads are supposed to open when food is introduced to the tank...if theyre hungry that is...so should I just wait a couple of days before I try feeding again?

Best way is to thaw out some frozen, and use a turkey baster to baste some of it on the sun coral. Then wait a bit, this should entice the coral to come out. If not, try removing the coral, placing it in a small plastic bin, and basting some thawed frozen. The concentration of food in the water should entice it to feed.

 

[chrissaysyes]

Thanks ski, I'm going to give the sun coral another day before I bother it anymore. It looks a little more puffy and swolen today but still hasnt really opened up.

As for the leather, I held it with some chop sticks directly in front of a power head and brushed all the dead muck off of it. It's kind of a cream/white color underneith and one bit actually looks sort of yellow. Maybe all is not lost. The guy I bought it from has already given me a credit with his store regardless of if it comes back or not. Really nice move on his part. Anyone in the US who wants good deals on frags with decent shipping charges should definitely check out the pacific coral farm.

 

[Lynden]

Yellow leathers betray their family's reputation of hardiness... they can be difficult. On a side note do not bother trying to feed it, and moderate flow is best... in my experience high flow is bad.

 

[Musho3210]

yeah, the yellow fiji leathers arent the hardiest bunch, my one is very sensitive, if my bare hand just brushes on it it will stay closed for about 2 hours.

 

[Lynden]

How is that one anyways? Been thinking of getting one.

 

[chrissaysyes]

I blew it off once more...I really do think I see more coloration now...a piece actually broke off during the blow off though...not good. On a side not the sun corals are looking better...going to try feeding again tomorrow.

 

[SkiFletch]

And also of note, leathers release alleopathic toxins into the tank as a form of competition. Might be a good idea to run some heavy carbon while its stressed...

 

[Lynden]

Agreed. Carbon is something I wouldn't go without.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Agreed. Carbon is something I wouldn't go without.

Is there any definitive proof either way of how useful carbon is in a marine system. It seems to be one of those things that people just dont agree on with opinions ranging from it causing more harm then good (leeching back what it absorbed in less then a few days) to being an essential peice of kit.

I have run carbon in my FW tanks in the past and also run them without and other then for removing medications I have never noticed any difference between using and not using. I can see the use in a SW tank with corals (for exactly the reason mentioned above).

Sorry I dont want to drag this off topic but was just curious.

 

[SkiFletch]

Heh, well Carbon is one hell of a debate... IMO, it's best used as treatment than it is as a preventative. For it to be truly effective at prevention, it needs to be replaced more often than is cost-effective. However if you've got a sick/dying coral in your tank, its great to have so you can quickly remove pathogens or to clear up yellow or dyed water. I also don't believe in mixing alleopathic soft corals with hard corals, because its too hard to control the warfare.