Bubble Coral Help

[marcmen]

Hi all, I have a bubble coral in my quarantine tank that has been happy and healthy for the last three weeks. It has been eating like a champ and has shown no signs of problems until yesterday when it did not puff up like every other day. I noticed that one side had lost some tissue so I gave it a coralRX bath followed a saltwater break finishing off with a Revive bath. I noticed where the tissue loss is the skeleton is turning black. NO3 is about 11 and PO4 is 0.09. All my other QT corals seem happy so I am at a loss. I

If anybody has any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated. The attached pictures are of what he looked like after the baths. You can see the black on its skeleton.

 

[mkereefer]

what are the Parameters?

 

[marcmen]

Thanks for the quick reply

Salinity 33.5
ALK 8.03
CA 489
MG 1231
NO3 11
PO4 0.09
PH 8.01

 

[mkereefer]

Thanks for the quick reply

Salinity 33.5
ALK 8.03
CA 489
MG 1231
NO3 11
PO4 0.09
PH 8.01

for salinity do you mean 1.0335 orrr because 33.5 is super super super high

 

[marcmen]

33.5 PPT or about 1.025 specific gravity

 

[Coralreefer1]

The black is algae growth on its skeleton suggesting that it has had tissue damage for awhile. Unfortunately with it looking like that it is too far gone and is almost dead. I would remove it from your tank so that it doesn’t have a negative impact on your water parameters.

 

[Wasabiroot]

Just putting in my 2c here: bubble corals are one of the most resilient lps. They can come back from looking dead, they are like a phoenix

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

To me, a QT tank is not a proper environement for a coral, and IMO corals should go directly into the main tank.

A reef tank is built to house corals, it has the proper lighting and flow and should have correct parameters.

A QT tank is built to temporarily hold fish, normally doesnt have the flow and lighting required.

 

[exnisstech]

It doesn't look good but as mentioned they can be resilient. I have never ran a coral through qt. Bayer dip and maybe coral rx then into the display. I also do not remove a coral until it is dead with no possible chance of returning. IMO there isn't enough tissue to cause a problem in the tank when they die unless maybe in a Pico tank, or maybe a giant meat coral or similar but even they don't have that much flesh when they are deflated. I have seen corals return from the brink of death (not as often as I would like) bounce back. Some corals like plates will actually spawn babies after they die.

 

[Joe31415]

To me, a QT tank is not a proper environement for a coral, and IMO corals should go directly into the main tank.

A reef tank is built to house corals, it has the proper lighting and flow and should have correct parameters.

A QT tank is built to temporarily hold fish, normally doesnt have the flow and lighting required.

That only applies if you set up a coral QT like you'd set up a fish QT. That is, doing the absolute bare minimum to keep it's inhabitants alive.
Personally, my coral QT is set up very similarly to my DT. It might not look as nice as things aren't arranged in any special way, but it works fine and covers the coral's needs. Rocks, regular water changes (with the 'new' water coming from DT to provide some nutrients), power heads and even the same lighting as my DT.
Sure, they don't thrive*, but they (mostly) all survive. The few things that have died in there, I don't believe they died due to being in there.

*and, IMO, the reason they don't thrive mostly because they don't get fed as often since there's no fish in the tank (that I would be feeding) and the lights are a bit lower than my DT to help keep algae to a minimum.

 

[marcmen]

All thanks for the replies. The coral went down hill last night and is about 70% gone and what is left looks bad. I use a red sea max E170 with the default reef led 90 for my QT. I have a few snails and a couple of peppermint shrimp in the tank but that is it. I wish I knew what happened to it.

 

[Wasabiroot]

Your parameters were just fine from what I have read. Peppermint shrimp can be very fickle. I try to keep mine well fed just in case they start digging at corals. So far mine are safe, but I have heard of them snacking on corals. Always a possibility. Take a look after dark

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

To me, a QT tank is not a proper environement for a coral, and IMO corals should go directly into the main tank.

A reef tank is built to house corals, it has the proper lighting and flow and should have correct parameters.

A QT tank is built to temporarily hold fish, normally doesnt have the flow and lighting required.

I've seen coral qt tanks better than a lot of the show off roof tanks here. Just because it's quarantine doesn't mean it has to be thrown together.

Thanks for the quick reply

Salinity 33.5
ALK 8.03
CA 489
MG 1231
NO3 11
PO4 0.09
PH 8.01

These look to be in line. One thing I can say is stop holding it like that.. a bubble getting taken out of the water should be upside down, In the flesh supported as well as the skeleton as to not pull against and damage the tissue. As with a few other LPS, bubbles are increasingly susceptible to bacterial infections when the flesh is damaged. Just pulling it out of the water Septa facing up , is enough to cut multiple areas of the flesh.

Could be just coming around to being sick from when you put it into your tank 3 weeks ago.

 

[marcmen]

I've seen coral qt tanks better than a lot of the show off roof tanks here. Just because it's quarantine doesn't mean it has to be thrown together.

These look to be in line. One thing I can say is stop holding it like that.. a bubble getting taken out of the water should be upside down, In the flesh supported as well as the skeleton as to not pull against and damage the tissue. As with a few other LPS, bubbles are increasingly susceptible to bacterial infections when the flesh is damaged. Just pulling it out of the water Septa facing up , is enough to cut multiple areas of the flesh.

Could be just coming around to being sick from when you put it into your tank 3 weeks ago.

Sorry for the late reply. Thanks for the handling advice I had no idea that I was holding it wrong. On a side note, the coral is now doing great. the bubbles are big and full, but the back quarter still needs to grow back out - one day at a time.

 

[Tcook]

Sorry for the late reply. Thanks for the handling advice I had no idea that I was holding it wrong. On a side note, the coral is now doing great. the bubbles are big and full, but the back quarter still needs to grow back out - one day at a time.

Pic of the recovered coral please

 

[marcmen]

Pic of the recovered coral please

Its backend is still growing out, but overall I love the progress

 

[Bucs20fan]

Did you ever get rid of the peppermints? Bubble corals are one of their favorites and I would be willing to bet thats what caused the rapid decline in the first place.

 

[marcmen]

Funny you should say that - yes, they are gone - I think either my serpent star or my banned coral shrimp had them for lunch.

 

[Tcook]

Its backend is still growing out, but overall I love the progress

That looks great. What par do you have it under?