Galaxea creating mucus strings?

[MysterioMask]

So given that my previous attempt at a galaxea died. I tried a green star polyp. That one seemed to be fine so I got another galaxea from another place. I had it in my tank for about 2 days now. It has not opened up yet but Earlier today I noticed some brown spots on it so I turkey basted it to clean it some. When I did all this white stringy substance started coming out. It didn't matter if I kept basting it or not it just seemed to keep on coming so I didn't want to keep doing it more than a couple other puffs. What is it and why is it going it. Is the coral alright?

Parameters have been fine. Although recently my water became cloudy again I believe I had another copepod bloom unless it's from the coral itself.

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

That's a 100% dead coral Bud. Water doesn't become cloudy from a copepod bloom. It becomes cloudy from algae or a bacteria bloom. Either the coral was on it's way out to begin with, or there are some serious issues with your water. Make sure you are getting nice healthy frags and that your water parameters are in line with natural saltwater. Specific gravity should be 1.024-1.026, Ph 8.1-8.3. Temp 76-79 Ammonia 0 etc. A healthy Galaxea, AKA Tooth Coral should look like this or very similar:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=503

 

[Mopartech]

I was about to say that your frag looks dead. You shouldn't be seeing the skeleton like that. Agreed with what was said above.

 

[MysterioMask]

That's a 100% dead coral Bud. Water doesn't become cloudy from a copepod bloom. It becomes cloudy from algae or a bacteria bloom. Either the coral was on it's way out to begin with, or there are some serious issues with your water. Make sure you are getting nice healthy frags and that your water parameters are in line with natural saltwater. Specific gravity should be 1.024-1.026, Ph 8.1-8.3. Temp 76-79 Ammonia 0 etc. A healthy Galaxea, AKA Tooth Coral should look like this or very similar:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=503

I don't mean to disagree especially when I consider myself new to this but copepods can definitely make water cloudy when there's enough of them. I went through that once before. I thought it originally was an algae bloom but after having it sit and never settle and seeing the tiny particles swimming under magnification I came to the conclusion that they had to be large amounts of coupons but I am still open to it being something else.

Also. I have a dead galaxea which looks different than the current one. It just looks retracted to me at the current time so I am willing to give it some more time and not quite call it dead yet. But again I could be wrong but my gsp which certainly isn't dead will retract from time to time making it look dead and it took some time for it to open in my tank as well.

My parameters were good if not spot on last I checked a few days ago. Maybe a little low on specific gravity but that should be fine now. I'll check them again later today. Although my ammonia badge says my ammonia is fine.

If it is dead then I am either unlucky or terrible at keeping galaxea.

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

The coral pictured is super, super dead. How long has your tank been up? Based off your post history, you might want to just let your tank chill out for a while. Your GSP has been doing okay because it's notoriously hard to kill. You keep saying your parameters are "fine," but what does that mean? Do you have a fully established cycle going? Would you mind walking us through what you've got?

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

I don't mean to disagree especially when I consider myself new to this but copepods can definitely make water cloudy when there's enough of them. I went through that once before. I thought it originally was an algae bloom but after having it sit and never settle and seeing the tiny particles swimming under magnification I came to the conclusion that they had to be large amounts of coupons but I am still open to it being something else.

Also. I have a dead galaxea which looks different than the current one. It just looks retracted to me at the current time so I am willing to give it some more time and not quite call it dead yet. But again I could be wrong but my gsp which certainly isn't dead will retract from time to time making it look dead and it took some time for it to open in my tank as well.

My parameters were good if not spot on last I checked a few days ago. Maybe a little low on specific gravity but that should be fine now. I'll check them again later today. Although my ammonia badge says my ammonia is fine.

If it is dead then I am either unlucky or terrible at keeping galaxea.

This kind of reply is exactly why I don't like trying to help people on the forums some times. A copepod population explosion big enough to visually cloud the water, if that were really a thing, would be the result of something. That something being excess of nutrients in the water. It is not a common thing. A bacterial bloom or an algae bloom are both more common.
You can give that dead skeleton as much time as you need but it is dead as it gets. If you just keep saying your water parameters are "fine" then we can just assume you are not actually testing anything. If you want help, take the advice you are given, quote actual numbers and tell us what kits you are using to test. Galaxea is a very hardy coral. They usually kill other corals and are quite hard to kill themselves. No one is unlucky keeping any coral. There is no such thing as luck in coral reef keeping just knowledge and applying that knowledge consistently paired with proper husbandry practices. The things to always look at when troubleshooting issues are Water, Light, Flow.

 

[MysterioMask]

The coral pictured is super, super dead. How long has your tank been up? Based off your post history, you might want to just let your tank chill out for a while. Your GSP has been doing okay because it's notoriously hard to kill. You keep saying your parameters are "fine," but what does that mean? Do you have a fully established cycle going? Would you mind walking us through what you've got?

The tank started in June. I let it cycle through June and July. I now have a tank full of copepods and amphipods, I have an emerald crab and I have snails as well as other hitchhikers from the live rock. All seem to be fine. Also have a gsp. And a peppermint shrimp. When I say parameters are fine I mean pretty standard stuff SG between 1.24-1.26 ammonia 0 or near 0, nitrite 0 nitrate like .5 or something not 0 but close. Calcium at 420, ph 8.3 etc. As I said I will test again later today. I just got the the coral the other day.

 

[MysterioMask]

This kind of reply is exactly why I don't like trying to help people on the forums some times. A copepod population explosion big enough to visually cloud the water, if that were really a thing, would be the result of something. That something being excess of nutrients in the water. It is not a common thing. A bacterial bloom or an algae bloom are both more common.
You can give that dead skeleton as much time as you need but it is dead as it gets. If you just keep saying your water parameters are "fine" then we can just assume you are not actually testing anything. If you want help, take the advice you are given, quote actual numbers and tell us what kits you are using to test. Galaxea is a very hardy coral. They usually kill other corals and are quite hard to kill themselves. No one is unlucky keeping any coral. There is no such thing as luck in coral reef keeping just knowledge and applying that knowledge consistently paired with proper husbandry practices. The things to always look at when troubleshooting issues are Water, Light, Flow.

I'm not trying to be ornery I am asking questions because I am trying to learn. I was just saying that I am pretty sure it was cloudy with copepods and not algae bloom. Some numbers are in my above post. I am using ApI and tetra tests.

I asked about testing in a forum once before and everyone was telling me I was testing too much and that tests are near useless because of too many variables and that I should only test rarely for certain things. Now it seems everyone is telling me in not testing enough.

I forgot to mention temp is steady between 81-82 . Also I've never figured out how to really figure out how to test my lighting. When I tried it seemed like I needed to be an expert in theoretical physics to do the math. I have an LED bar light which looks brighter than what I often see people with reef tanks or at least more white. I run one power head. If I remember right it came out to I think 29 times gph for the tank. But I might be messing that number up. I'll get that if needed too.

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

I'm not trying to be ornery I am asking questions because I am trying to learn. I was just saying that I am pretty sure it was cloudy with copepods and not algae bloom. Some numbers are in my above post. I am using ApI and tetra tests.

I asked about testing in a forum once before and everyone was telling me I was testing too much and that tests are near useless because of too many variables and that I should only test rarely for certain things. Now it seems everyone is telling me in not testing enough.

I forgot to mention temp is steady between 81-82 . Also I've never figured out how to really figure out how to test my lighting. When I tried it seemed like I needed to be an expert in theoretical physics to do the math. I have an LED bar light which looks brighter than what I often see people with reef tanks or at least more white. I run one power head. If I remember right it came out to I think 29 times gph for the tank. But I might be messing that number up. I'll get that if needed too.

Do you have a picture of your light? That's the only thing I can think of at this point.

 

[MysterioMask]

Do you have a picture of your light? That's the only thing I can think of at this point.

I just went back into my purchase history. Here's what I bought. It has info on lumens and such. I didn't see a par though. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01C84SLRO/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have been thinking about getting a nicer one with a bunch of different light settings and a timer and everything on it but not sure when I'll do that.

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

I just went back into my purchase history. Here's what I bought. It has info on lumens and such. I didn't see a par though. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01C84SLRO/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Oh okay. I've used that same light in a planted tank. I'd guess that it's either not strong enough or doesn't have the correct spectrum. I'm sure @saltyfilmfolks will come along and correct me, but I think the lumens to PAR rough estimate is to divide by 60. You've got a light that's putting out a 7500k spectrum (it'll work, but most people on here like something between 12000k and 20000k) and way underpowered. I think getting a new light will solve your problem, should you want to keep coral.

 

[MysterioMask]

Oh okay. I've used that same light in a planted tank. I'd guess that it's either not strong enough or doesn't have the correct spectrum. I'm sure @saltyfilmfolks will come along and correct me, but I think the lumens to PAR rough estimate is to divide by 60. You've got a light that's putting out a 7500k spectrum (it'll work, but most people on here like something between 12000k and 20000k) and way underpowered. I think getting a new light will solve your problem, should you want to keep coral.

The advertisement there said it was fine for corals so may have been why I got it. I can't remember. Was a while back. I suppose as with the light my question is why does it look pretty bright and white in my tank and when I see photos of other reef tanks they all seem dark? Do those just run off a higher uv spectrum or am I missing something. If their lights are stronger shouldn't they be brighter?

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

The advertisement there said it was fine for corals so may have been why I got it. I can't remember. Was a while back. I suppose as with the light my question is why does it look pretty bright and white in my tank and when I see photos of other reef tanks they all seem dark? Do those just run off a higher uv spectrum or am I missing something. If their lights are stronger shouldn't they be brighter?

Most people on here like their tanks to look pretty blue (20000k), so they're not going to look as bright as your 7500k light. I'm running mine at 12000k right now so it looks like it's much brighter than the 14000k to 16000k I've been running the past few months. I searched for coral on the Amazon reviews and I'm trying to figure out how they were able to do it.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Oh okay. I've used that same light in a planted tank. I'd guess that it's either not strong enough or doesn't have the correct spectrum. I'm sure @saltyfilmfolks will come along and correct me, but I think the lumens to PAR rough estimate is to divide by 60. You've got a light that's putting out a 7500k spectrum (it'll work, but most people on here like something between 12000k and 20000k) and way underpowered. I think getting a new light will solve your problem, should you want to keep coral.

It's lux fwiw.

And yea you can grow most things between 5600 and 20k plus.

But your ammonia should be zero and not near zero. It means something is really dead or the cycle has stalled.

I didn't see it but are you using rodi?

And sad to say, but it a very young tank. There's a lot going in in the process that many corals just do not like.

 

[MysterioMask]

It's lux fwiw.

And yea you can grow most things between 5600 and 20k plus.

But your ammonia should be zero and not near zero. It means something is really dead or the cycle has stalled.

I didn't see it but are you using rodi?

And sad to say, but it a very young tank. There's a lot going in in the process that many corals just do not like.

The reason I say near zero is because it depends on the test. The one that measures toxic ammonia is zero the other with normal ammonia has read in the past very low levels. Which I have been told to disregard that test. Again I'll get new readings tonight.

No for Rodi using tap that I treat for chlorine mostly because I don't have a something to make rodi water and I also have this huge bottle of treatment stuff for tap water I want to use up. Everything else has been fine though with that so far it seems.

(Also the water today seems to have cleared up a lot so you all might have been right on it being algae bloom but I am almost 100% certain the previous cloudiness was from copepod bloom)

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

The reason I say near zero is because it depends on the test. The one that measures toxic ammonia is zero the other with normal ammonia has read in the past very low levels. Which I have been told to disregard that test. Again I'll get new readings tonight.

No for Rodi using tap that I treat for chlorine mostly because I don't have a something to make rodi water and I also have this huge bottle of treatment stuff for tap water I want to use up. Everything else has been fine though with that so far it seems.

Tap water is hit and miss regardless of treatment unfortunately.

If your have ammonia you have ammonia imo. It's an indictor. If you test for nitrites I'd bet you may have them too.

Another indictor of a problem with the water.

 

[MysterioMask]

Tap water is hit and miss regardless of treatment unfortunately.

If your have ammonia you have ammonia imo. It's an indictor. If you test for nitrites I'd bet you may have them too.

Another indictor of a problem with the water.

Nitrites are 0 have always been 0 since I started testing. I know that for sure.

I will be very surprised if I have any nitrites when I test tonight.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

K cool.

Here's a fwiw. I'm having a problem in one of my tanks. Some of the acros are stn. So are some of the montipora. No idea what the problem is.
Key word there is some. My tank is loaded with Lps sps zoas n softies. Why this happens t some and not all is pretty hard to tell. In fact, a couple of the acros are just fine. Some things just have a higher tolerance to water quality.

 

[webbl19]

I can not explain why 2 of my acans are talking to death right now. Its nuts. Pretty sure i caused that death by switching to LEDs and not acclimating them. Live and learn. The tiniest of changes make a huge impact.
Example of what people are saying.

 

[MysterioMask]

Okay here are my full parameters. They are slightly worse today than they were 4 days ago. I suspect a couple of the snails died so maybe that's why stuff is a little higher than normal. I got it online and one of the bags was pierced and very low on water but I put them in with the hoped they would recover. Also if everyone is correct that the coral is dead that could be why it's a little high as well perhaps. Anyway.

Temp: 81.7
Ammo: 0.2 ppm API. Sachem I badge reads 0.
Nitrite: .15 ppm API. My other test says it is between the ideal range and the okay range. ( I've never tested this before ever above 0)
Nitrate : 20 ppm
Phosphate: 0
Calcium : 460 ppm
Alkalinity: 300 dkh
Salinity: 1.025
PH: 8.3
GH : 179 ppm