Help with Red Brain Coral

[Tab28]

Trach is trachyphyllia and zoo is zooplankton. This lives in the coral gives it its color and uses the light to help feed the coral. Since it is brown it is the same as being bleached in the manner light is not being converted into food.

 

[ben310135]

So what jug is saying is the lights are to bright for the trachyphyllia at this moment ? Would not having them run for so long also help ?

 

[juggalogentry]

by trach i was referring to the scientific name of the "Brain" coral you have, (trachphyllia) and by zoo i mean zooxanthellae, which is a microscopic algae that lives within the corals tissue, making food for the coral thru light. It can be much more in depth (i suggest you research, its extremely fascinating) but for times sake ill explain it like this, the "zoo" thru photosynthesis, creates sugars for the coral, in exchange the coral allows the algae a safe place within its tissue to live and reproduce. its a symbiotic relationship where both parties benefit.

 

[Tab28]

Read my previous post about acclimating trachy. Less time would help to an extent. Your other corals would not be happy but if then wattage is too much it will still burn or bleach the coral.

 

[juggalogentry]

brown colors are an excess of "zoo" while white is no "zoo" at all, either extreme can potentially be troublesome for the coral, and ime yes the browning is due to the lighting conditions

 

[juggalogentry]

as tab stated, you should lower the lighting, either thru dimming the lights, raising the lights, or lowering the coral (might be tricky if it was attached to the rock, but still possible if you get creative) and make sure to feed but dont overfeed and compromise water quality (itll only cause more issues in the long run) We measure our lights usefulness with a measurement called PAR or (Photosynthetically active radiation) and technically lowering the amount of time wont lower PAR

 

[ben310135]

Since my lighting is mounted to the aquarium could I just on hook one of the bulbs ? to lower the lighting ?

 

[Tab28]

Is there anyway you can lower the rock and place it on the outer edges of the tank. Unless you have t5's since they generally run full length of tank so lighting is more uniform than a MH which lowers par at tank edges.

Another way is can you create a ledge over the coral, you do not want to cause your other corals to suffer with lower light levels. The acclimation may take months. You will see color slowly returning to coral. But it takes awhile.

 

[ben310135]

Is there anyway you can lower the rock and place it on the outer edges of the tank. Unless you have t5's since they generally run full length of tank so lighting is more uniform than a MH which lowers par at tank edges.

Another way is can you create a ledge over the coral, you do not want to cause your other corals to suffer with lower light levels. The acclimation may take months. You will see color slowly returning to coral. But it takes awhile.

So two things I have t5's and I don't have any other corals in my tank right at the moment just live rock.

 

[juggalogentry]

^+1

agreed, the best solution in your situation would be to find the dimmest spot in your tank and try to place the rock/coral in that position, although i do think you mentioned you have t5s in which case ive seen some makeshift ways to "shade" that specific spot, as stated, it may set all your other corals who are doing good in a bad spot if you take the bulb out causing a reduction in light throughout the tank

 

[Tab28]

Most t5 if one is disconnected or burned out. None will work.

 

[juggalogentry]

i do recall seeing a seprate coral in the second picture you posted, is this still part of the same rock, in my opinion the one on the left of the pic looks alot better then the one on the right

 

[Tab28]

Since you have no corals can you make a shading from shade cloth or something similar and place it over the coral using the tanks lip edges to support it?

 

[ben310135]

Jug good call so the multiple corals are on the same piece of live rock unfortunately. But good idea about eh shade cloth since the one's on the left are much better looking i could use that and then just move the rock over so that the one's on the right are in the shade and the one's on the right are not. So once color is back in a few months can I take the shade cloth off ?

 

[Tab28]

Actually this is where lowering of rock is better. The idea is to slowly increase the light level. You need to weekly increase the amount of light the coral gets. Each week or so you will slowly see the corals color getting better. Trachy are generally reds and greens. The colors are also metallic looking. So you can judge how the color is improving. You can not go from lets say 50% lighting to 100%. You have to go from 50% to 100% in increments. As the corals color gets better every week you increase the percentage of light until you reach the 100% of light it will get on the spot you have it.

 

[juggalogentry]

agreed, i was just thinking of a way you could increase the light slowly via shade method and couldn't think of a good solution, the idea is to gradually make the coral accept the light conditions over a period of time, most corals are pretty adaptable to almost anything over time, but nothing all at once if that makes sense, this especially holds true with light

 

[Cwindless]

Trach is short for Trachophyllia radiata is the Latin name of the brain coral you have and zoo is short for zooxanthella which is the symbiotic algae that grows inside the coral and gives it it's color. So what they are saying is look for care info for the Trachophyllia species, also it looks like you have too much of the symbiotic algae from being in poor lighting conditions prior to you receiving it. By placing it in the piper light it will help balance out the algae but go slow so you don't bleach (coral evicts all zooxanthella) it from over exposure ( too much light) you lights should be good. Just make sure the coral isn't placed too high in the tank. Which is where bleaching is likely to occur.

 

[juggalogentry]

how we looking? whatd we end up doing?