Bubble coral dead??

[gavinz]

Hello all, just trying to figure out if my green bubble coral is dead or not. I know it’s definitely not healthy and it’s been like this for about 2 weeks now. I don’t know what’s going on with it considering my purple bubble coral and everything else seems to be pretty happy and my params are all where they should be at. Needless to say, I’m stumped. If it’s not dead yet is there anything I could do or try to save it?? There’s been no sign of that brown jelly stuff on it yet. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Chrisv.]

As Monty Python would say "not dead yet"

 

[reefiniteasy]

@Vinman would the bath you do to heal them after fragging help?

 

[Chrisv.]

Honestly I'm not sure what would/could bring it back, but wait, there's more: I've seen bubble corals that are this far gone simply stop dying. Tissue doesn't return to the exposed skeleton, but the coral does grow and in time looks fine. A other important point, bubble corals (more than other lps corals) tend to try very hard to survive situations like this. When a bubble coral does, there are often tiny bubble corals left behind on the skeleton. If your system can take it, don't pull the coral. You may find babies on the skeleton when all is said and done. If this causes an ammonia spike and nukes your tank, by all means pull it ant toss it. Either way I'd probably run some carbon.

 

[gavinz]

@Vinman would the bath you do to heal them after fragging help?

New to reefing only had this tank for roughly 4 months, what’s the bath?

 

[gavinz]

Honestly I'm not sure what would/could bring it back, but wait, there's more: I've seen bubble corals that are this far gone simply stop dying. Tissue doesn't return to the exposed skeleton, but the coral does grow and in time looks fine. A other important point, bubble corals (more than other lps corals) tend to try very hard to survive situations like this. When a bubble coral does, there are often tiny bubble corals left behind on the skeleton. If your system can take it, don't pull the coral. You may find babies on the skeleton when all is said and done. If this causes an ammonia spike and nukes your tank, by all means pull it ant toss it. Either way I'd probably run some carbon.

Could be why my ammonia is spiking right now? It’s only at .25 currently but my nitrites are picking up and it’s starting to go down. Couldn’t figure out what was causing the spike either. I did notice that after an iodine dip that the tentacles did come out a little bit but then receded after an hour

 

[gavinz]

Now that I have yalls attention I do have another question. It seems my purple bubble does have some whitish blotches on it as you can probably see from the photo. Is that bleaching? I have hydra 32hd but don’t know if I’m giving up too much light or too little? I’ve just recently actually scaled it down as a whole to see if it helps but I suck with lighting and flow in my tank.

 

[bnord]

I indeed kept a bubble remnant that I though was a lost cause for 5-6 months and it slowly clawed back.
Took it out of the light and flow for most that time, and somehow it fleshed back up. 1/4 of the original size, but alive.
Best of luck

 

[vetteguy53081]

Your bubble is very receded. It needs moderate to good light and low to moderate water flow. Too bright of light and they shrink.
Assure also that sand is not getting on them which will irritate them. Because bubble corals make their own skeletons, they heavily rely on calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity for steady growth.
My suspect is too much water flow. Water parameters may also be an issue. See my suggestions below for water parameters. If youre using API test kits, you may be getting false readings

Temp 77-79
ph 8.1-8.3
salinity 1.025
nitrate < .10
phos < .04
Ammonia < .03
mG 1300
Alk 8-11
CA 400- 440

 

[Chrisv.]

Could be why my ammonia is spiking right now? It’s only at .25 currently but my nitrites are picking up and it’s starting to go down. Couldn’t figure out what was causing the spike either. I did notice that after an iodine dip that the tentacles did come out a little bit but then receded after an hour

Yes, the dying coral could cause the ammonia spike. What's the water volume?

 

[gavinz]

I indeed kept a bubble remnant that I though was a lost cause for 5-6 months and it slowly clawed back.
Took it out of the light and flow for most that time, and somehow it fleshed back up. 1/4 of the original size, but alive.
Best of luck

Thanks! I’ll definitely stick around for the long run as it was one of my favorites

 

[gavinz]

Yes, the dying coral could cause the ammonia spike. What's the water volume?

45 gallon

 

[gavinz]

Your bubble is very receded. It needs moderate to good light and low to moderate water flow. Too bright of light and they shrink.
Assure also that sand is not getting on them which will irritate them. Because bubble corals make their own skeletons, they heavily rely on calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity for steady growth.
My suspect is too much water flow. Water parameters may also be an issue. See my suggestions below for water parameters. If youre using API test kits, you may be getting false readings

Temp 77-79
ph 8.1-8.3
salinity 1.025
nitrate < .10
phos < .04
Ammonia < .03
mG 1300
Alk 8-11
CA 400- 440

Flow has also been an issue for me since I have an AIO tank my return flow at the top bounces off the glass and goes down and hits the bottom. So most things on the bottom get blown around more than I’d like

 

[Chrisv.]

Now that I have yalls attention I do have another question. It seems my purple bubble does have some whitish blotches on it as you can probably see from the photo. Is that bleaching? I have hydra 32hd but don’t know if I’m giving up too much light or too little? I’ve just recently actually scaled it down as a whole to see if it helps but I suck with lighting and flow in my tank.

How much is the hydra turned up? Those can actually put out a lot of light. I recently got my hands on a par meter and I was stunned by how dim my led could be look while still blasting out a ton of par. This is a situation where you really can easily over due it if you just judge by perceived brightness. The blue wavelengths mess with your head. I would say you're better off with a little less light rather than too much light.

Flow is indeed a challenge with smallish AIO tanks. I have a small cube and it's basically impossible to tune the flow so that it's good for my flow loving corals up top without being crazy turbulent for the corals at the bottom. I suggest you play with the nozzle on the return and try to keep them from getting blasted too much.

This is all tough to comment on without seeing the system in person.

 

[Chrisv.]

Any chance your local club has a par meter you could use? Or maybe an aquarium maintenance company or LFS has one? It really is so useful to measure par.

 

[gavinz]

So the first pic is what I originally had and the 2nd one is what I just switched it to

 

[vetteguy53081]

Flow has also been an issue for me since I have an AIO tank my return flow at the top bounces off the glass and goes down and hits the bottom. So most things on the bottom get blown around more than I’d like

This will be a problem for bubble. You may have to place a smaller head n the tank. You can try aiming the head upwards and see if it reduces flow

 

[gavinz]

Any chance your local club has a par meter you could use? Or maybe an aquarium maintenance company or LFS has one? It really is so useful to measure par.

Sadly not! I’ve checked several in my area and no one seems to have one I can use or even any for sale and they’re pretty expensive!

 

[vetteguy53081]

So the first pic is what I originally had and the 2nd one is what I just switched it to

For the hydra- try this:
Blue 70
white 8
violet 55
UV 35
red 4
Green 4

 

[Chrisv.]

So the first pic is what I originally had and the 2nd one is what I just switched it to

I bet you have pretty high par. I'd dial it back as Vette guy suggested. At least for now.

Par meters are very expensive. I wish they were cheaper. Now that I've used them three times, I can't imagine not using one on a new tank. I'm lucky that my local club has them for free. I would keep looking for one to borrow. Maybe a used seneye would do the trick. They require a USB connection to a Windows computer though (ok, 2003, by all means, come back to haunt us).