Please help I think my coral is dying!

[Landers]

Hello I’m a new reefer and I just got my first three corals yesterday. I came home today and my gorgonian is all wilted. I don’t know what this means or what I did wrong but is it dead? Is there something I can do?

 

[Fernthereefer]

To help you, we will need:

Your tank parameters, as of today.

How you prepare your new corals: slow dip, special dip (treatment), if shipped or store bought, how long of a delay before adding to the tank.

Thanks.

 

[Landers]

Salinity- 1.026
pH- 8
Ca- 435
KH- 8.1
Mg- 1600
Nitrate- 4
Sorry that took me awhile

 

[Landers]

I bought them from a store pretty far away and they didn’t get into the tank until about two hours after I bought them. And please don’t kill me but I watched a video of someone saying that he doesn’t acclimate his corals and he asked multiple store owners and they told him that they didn’t acclimate their corals either and they were always fine so when I got home I put them right into the tank. Sorry I know that was a very dumb newbie move

 

[Uncle99]

Phosphate?
Gorgonians, (and I have never seen one lie down, maybe it’s a finger leather) need high light, great flow

 

[Landers]

Ohh well I guess I thought since they are soft corals they didn’t need much flow or light thank you
And I can check phosphate real quick

 

[Daddy-o]

Is that a Kenya Tree?

 

[Landers]

That’s not what the person I bought it from said but I wouldn’t know... I was trying to avoid Kenya trees because my tank is not huge and I didn’t want it to overtake it

 

[Landers]

I noticed this when I started to look closer. It almost looks like it’s missing tissue
And my phosphates are 0.22

 

[Uncle99]

I noticed this when I started to look closer. It almost looks like it’s missing tissue
And my phosphates are 0.22

That looks softy to me, a tree of some sort.
A gorgonian (or at least the ones I keep) are ridged at all times.
It’s new, I would do nothing at all for a couple of weeks.
You could address the imbalance in nutrients, 0.2 ppm phosphates is high for 2ppm nitrate, the nitrate is fine but maybe work down that phosphates number to 0.05-.1ppm
Gentle flow for that coral, just a nice waving action....

 

[SliceGolfer]

Could be Sinularia, but looks like Dendronephthya to me.

@Dr. Dendrostein thoughts?

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Dendronephthya, pretty bad shape, all you can do is spot feed, as often as you can. See what happens. Bummer

From Quality Marine, if you got like that, they're sending them to retailers already dying. Should look like picture, when healthy

 

[Pistol Peet]

Hello I’m a new reefer and I just got my first three corals yesterday. I came home today and my gorgonian is all wilted. I don’t know what this means or what I did wrong but is it dead? Is there something I can do?

Looks like a kinya tree or a leather of some sorts magnesium is high should be 1340 to 1400 ppm. Definitely not a gorgonia. I could show u pics of both. Add some flow to it. It will purk up ..

 

[Pistol Peet]

also phosphate are best to keep around 0.03 ppm

 

[Fernthereefer]

You parameters look fine. Like it was said above, it could be an acclimation issue (stress or other). I always recommend dipping coral, it helps with pest prevention, and some dips help to prevent tissue necrosis. I even dip corals in my DT that are going through a bad phase (when possible).

Leave it be for now, softies are tough corals.

 

[Landers]

Is it ok to leave it bent over like that or should I try to keep it upright with some flow? And any suggestions as far as lighting right now?

 

[Landers]

And aren’t dendronephthya NPS? If yes, what food would y’all recommend? I don’t think as a beginner an NPS coral would last long with me but I can certainly try my best

 

[tankstudy]

Mg- 1600

That's way too high. Retest and make sure this is correct.

Some corals cannot tolerate these levels.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

If you can, hang sideways or upside down. If possible. Spot feed powder foods, one is Coral Curry, or comparible also phyto-feast from Reef Nutrition. Spot feed, because your filtration wouldn't handle broadcast feed like nps tanks do.

 

[Landers]

That's way too high. Retest and make sure this is correct.

Some corals cannot tolerate these levels.

Yes I know I thought it was weird that my water tested that high too. I'm using the Red Sea test kits, and I tested Thursday and also got a very high reading so I don't know what's going on...

And I will try hanging it upside down and spot feeding it often thank you Dr. Dendrostein!