Invisible War

[Wiz]

So one of the first coral frags I got was a two head Duncan. Over a few months it grew to 15 heads and was doing very well. All of a sudden it started closing up on me. Slowly over months it closed tighter and tighter. Eventually dying. I was adding coral fairly often but gave it no mind. I recently bought a new two head duncan. It came out and looked happy for about a week. Now it has started closing. Only coming out about half way and getting tighter. All my other mixed coral and parameters are great. I'm beginning to believe there might be a coral in my tank that is letting off something that duncans don't like. A silent war. Any opinions? Or am I crazy. Lol

 

[Tahoe61]

It's always chemistry first, that is what we like to see.
Next lighting.
If possible an image of the coral.

The coral obviously did very well for you initially, and something has changed, need more information.

 

[eea60]

Zoas and many other corals that are mad or dying can give off toxins that can irritate other corals. There are also many corals that have surprisingly long sweeping tentacles that could be stinging it but that is speculation without knowing what is around the it.

 

[Wiz]

40b w/ 30g dsb fuge and 20l sump
Temp 80-82º
Salt 1.025-1.026
Nitrate <.5
Phosphate <.25
Nitrie 0
Ammonia 0
Calc 410-430
Mag 1320
Ph 8.1
Alk 8.5-9 dkh
Dosing baked baking soda, reef advantage calcium, iron, iodine
Lighting 2x rr 165p+ ramped up and down from 11am to midnight. Maxed at 65% attinic and 50% whites.
When original 15 head started dying 30 fuge was not there. I moved the frag to a lower spot with moderate flow and nothing near it two days ago.
All my other corals are in great health except my pom pom colony suddenly died off with no explanation. It was well when the original colony died. And one of my chalice frags keeps falling. Not in the best shape. Again not a problem originally.

 

[Russ265]

if my duncans close for any extended period of time, carbon goes in or is changed out. careful of chemical warfare.

 

[Wiz]

I change it about once a month. Maybe not enough. It is about time as well. Ill give it a shot

 

[Tahoe61]

How much Iodine are you using? If my Duncan is closed or not full expanded all the time I know there is an issue, it's my canary. I would move it if it were mine. Usually the issue with mine was related to SG or Flow, a few times chemistry. Consider double checking your SG or calibrating your testing method.

 

[Wiz]

Iodine is 4 drops every month. That I also started after the first one died. I use a Refractometer So I'm pretty sure it's accurate. The 15 heads Took a couple months to completely die In that time I moved it about 6 * to varying places. This new one I just move 2 days ago so we will see. I've tried all the easy to think of solutions, and all my other corals are fantastic Which is why I am thinking possibly chemical war. The only other possibility is LED lightingMy first frag grew out under vho, It was shortly after the switch that it died. But this new frag came from LED lighting

 

[Tahoe61]

I would move it if it doesn't come around in the next day or two. Mine is right next to palys as well and mine is open, but will stay closed if the any tissue is touching any part of another coral. I would only suspect an allopathy issue if your tank was small and had many larger type leathers and you were not running carbon or not doing water changes.

 

[Wiz]

The tank is a 40 breeder. It has a very large Kenya tree as well as a fair sized piece of cabbage leather and a one and a half to 2 inch piece of green cabbage leather, a half inch yellow tipped toadstool, And a two inch tall piece of fluorescent green tree coral. That is all the leather type corals that are in there. I run a filter sock with about a cup ofReef carbon that I change about once a month and it is due for a change I'll try that tonight. I do not do water changes at all. I do however take water out of the tank regularly to hatch brine shrimp eggs As well as other reasons. I add about 1 cup of new Reef salt every month Mixed with the top off water

 

[Tahoe61]

Well heck try a water change and see if you see some improvement. It's a 80 (roughly) gallon system, so do a couple 10 gallon water changes over the course of a week. If you see improvement then you know for sure, and you can either remove corals sensitive to the terpenes from Sarcophytons or perform water changes.

 

[Wiz]

I am a firm believer that water changes do not accomplish much And it can be very expensive. If it is the Soft corals causing an issue there has got to be another way of fixing the problem Like the carbon. The first Duncan grew for about a year Maybe slightly less And I have never done water changes. I have much much more sensitive corals that are doing just fine. So water changes will not be a part of my solution.

 

[Wiz]

I'm sorry but I would rather go without Duncan then start costing myself that much money for water changes with no other reason

 

[Tahoe61]

You do not have to be sorry, . You created the thread for input. If this is indeed a true case of allopathy then you can try Chemipure Elite, or Purgen other than that you need a media that absorbs the toxins. I would try moving the coral first.

Maybe someone else can chime in with greater assist.

 

[Wiz]

You do not have to be sorry, . You created the thread for input. If this is indeed a true case of allopathy then you can try Chemipure Elite, or Purgen other than that you need a media that absorbs the toxins. I would try moving the coral first.

Maybe someone else can chime in with greater assist.

Thankyou. I just expect a lot of guff because I know water changes are widly believed to be a mainstay in reefing. And logically , other than replacement of elements which can be done manually I don't see the logic.
I will try the carbon and moving. Possably the chemi pure just to test the theory.