Damaged Bubble Coral

[ajmidget]

Hey guys, I've just finished acclimating this bubble coral to my tank after receiving it via shipping today. I knew that it was likely to arrive slightly damaged as bubble corals seem quite delicate in general, but I wanted to check if this looks like it'll recover?

I'm very worried, it looks in a dire state

Thanks!

IMG_3566

• ajmidget
• Jun 20, 2019

Damaged Bubble Xoral

 

[PirateDan]

mine looked like that when I first got it.

 

[Willu]

It doesn't look great but certainly not doomed as there isn't any exposed skeleton from what I can see. How did you acclimate it and maybe you could list your parameters. For the time being place it in low flow, and low lighting and cross your fingers.

 

[ajmidget]

It doesn't look great but certainly not doomed as there isn't any exposed skeleton from what I can see. How did you acclimate it and maybe you could list your parameters. For the time being place it in low flow, and low lighting and cross your fingers.

Some skeleton sticks out and I can see that it's punctured the tissue that was over it, should I be concerned about that? I floated it for around 15-20 mins, then did a drip acclimation for around 45 mins.
Last time I measured parameters they were:
pH - 8.1
Salinity - 1.025
Ammonia and nitrite both 0
PO4 - 0.2ppm (trying to get this down)
Nitrates - approx 2ppm
Alk - 8.5
Calcium - 400
Magnesium - 1300
I run temp at around 25.5C.

Some bubbles have come out and inflated now, which whilst they are small and not fully inflated, seems like a good sign. I think I can see the mouth on one of the heads too. Should I move it under the rock just behind it, so that it's shaded? Is it also worth trying to feed it tonight (will be around 8-9 hours after putting it in the tank)? Thanks

 

[Willu]

I wouldn’t try feeding it since it’s not absolutely necessary and may just bother the coral. It depends how bright your lights are, but if it’s on the bottom, probably okay. but perhaps leave it for another day and and see then if you want to move it. It’s very important that you take changes really slowly bc continuously changing its lighting flow and other environmental factors will just kill it. Other than po4 parameters are okay, even then high po4 is probably not necessarily the reason that your coral is not looking so hot. There is really not much you can do other then wait unfortunately.
Do you have any other coral in the tank, how are they doing.

 

[Willu]

Also drop acclimating for 45 minutes is a really long time, most people just float, dip in throw it in unless you have sensitive acros. Also when doing drip acclimation the water loses temperature pretty quickly which is also why you don’t want a long drip acclimation. I always done this and haven’t lost anything so far. And regarding the flesh and skeleton, I wouldn’t stress too much about it bc if that’s the case, there really is not too much that you can do other than wait and be patient and provide good water quality.

 

[A-dawg]

Honestly that’s how they look when they pull all their tissue in. Who knows if it did get damaged but I can tell you that is just how they look. Here is how mine looked when I took it home from the store and then the next day. It’s crazy!

 

[ajmidget]

I wouldn’t try feeding it since it’s not absolutely necessary and may just bother the coral. It depends how bright your lights are, but if it’s on the bottom, probably okay. but perhaps leave it for another day and and see then if you want to move it. It’s very important that you take changes really slowly bc continuously changing its lighting flow and other environmental factors will just kill it. Other than po4 parameters are okay, even then high po4 is probably not necessarily the reason that your coral is not looking so hot. There is really not much you can do other then wait unfortunately.
Do you have any other coral in the tank, how are they doing.

Yeah, phosphate has been an ongoing issue for me. The imbalance of PO4 and Nitrates are what caused some dinos in my tank too I believe. I'll leave it where it is and won't change the lighting or flow. I have a range of other LPS in the tank, such as a lobo, favia, candy cane, scolymia, hammer, frogspawn. Some other zoas and some Monti caps but all are looking fine and healthy. Guess it's just patience and hope now lol!

 

[ajmidget]

Also drop acclimating for 45 minutes is a really long time, most people just float, dip in throw it in unless you have sensitive acros. Also when doing drip acclimation the water loses temperature pretty quickly which is also why you don’t want a long drip acclimation. I always done this and haven’t lost anything so far. And regarding the flesh and skeleton, I wouldn’t stress too much about it bc if that’s the case, there really is not too much that you can do other than wait and be patient and provide good water quality.

Ah makes sense. I've always just done drip acclimation for both fish and coral, but I think I'll move to just floating and dropping in the tank from now on.

 

[ajmidget]

Update on the bubble coral. Still a few bubbles but not much improvement. Seems like there's more tears in the flesh too. I've moved it slightly to the lowest flow area of my tank, and also where fish don't seem to affect or annoy it either. The head on the far left has nearly no flesh on at all.