Open Brain Coral issues

[danielwnoonan]

ok, I am going nuts searching threads for help with this one. I am fairly new to this hobby, about 10 months into it, and I have been lucky so far with almost everything I've done, But I have had issues now with the last 2 corals I got. The first one I gave up on. it was a tongue coral That did amazing for the first week, then started dyeing off after that. Now I am having a similar issue with my open brain coral. the first week to 2 weeks it was doing amazing. I was very happy with it. But then it stopped inflated and some patches of the skeleton became clear. since this is almost the same exact thing that happened with my tongue coral I figured it was my water, But everything checked out almost perfectly. so I am truly at a loss for whats going on. my other corals are doing quite well, but they are different types.

the only other thing I can think of, is something is attacking the corals. the similarities were that both were placed on the floor, both thrived for over a week, and then stopped inflating or pretty much reacting to everything. The one thing I did try differently with this Brain coral is I moved it off the floor to one of the rocks thinking my lighting may be too week for it. I have a 4 bulb t5 for coralife.
I did notice a slight difference when I moved it, but nothing to major.

also, I am unsure if this was always there, but there is a small circular hole at the base of the brain coral, I am not sure if this is normal. I didn't notice it when I first got it.

any help would be great, I'd hate to loose this one too, or future ones.

 

[RavePartyReef]

What size tank do you have? Lighting should not be the reason. How's nitrates? Tongue corals are tough, and for them to be dying might mean you could have a issue at hand. Ph tested ok? Temp is ok?

 

[RavePartyReef]

Forgot to ask...what fish do you have?

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Hi, welcome to R2R!!

What size tank? What other livestock is in the tank?

I had similar issues with keeping brains and it ended up being that my lemon peel angel was munching on them.

 

[danielwnoonan]

all peramaters checked out ok, near perfect, I was certain it was the water at first as well.

I have a 90 gal tank.
Fish, 2 clowns, 1 regel tang, 1 yellow tang, a blenny. some snails and some crabs.

One other thing I should mention is I did notice some bug type things underneath it as well as a worm, but all my research in IDing these critters says they are mostly harmless.

 

[danielwnoonan]

also temp is at 76

 

[swirlygig]

I would doule check your Mag...My test kit was bad and I lost my fungia because of this...similiar issue. If not interceptor that coral just in case...imho

 

[mike007]

I have found that alot of times they just develop some type disease of some sort and tissue starts receding. I have heard that the bayer treatment works to kill whatever is causing this. There was some threads on this site about this.

 

[danielwnoonan]

you know, I did not check magnesium, I am still quite new, Is that required for Brain and Tongue corals to thrive? would both die off without it like that??

 

[danielwnoonan]

I will research some of the bayer method tomorrow through the forums. Gotta crash for now though, Thanks for giving me a place to look. hopefully I will have some luck.