Chemical warfare

florida reef · Dec 22, 2010

Has anyone ever heard of soft corals, specifically zoas and leathers, releasing chemicals to combat other corals? Is this a possible cause of LPS death? The owner of my LFS told me that is why my LPS has been dying and suggested I begin running carbon via reactor.
I am not trying to trouble shoot my tank right now, I am just wondering if anyone has ever experienced something like this.
Thanks

divewsharks · Dec 22, 2010

Yes leathers and other softies are known to use chemical warfare to battle for territory in the wild and in or tanks. Running carbon should definitely help.
Having said that I have never had any problems with leathers in any of my tanks (with sps or lps) and I don't normally run carbon.
Do your leathers look stressed? How its your water quality and flow?

skinz78 · Dec 22, 2010

+1, Leathers are pretty notorious for doing this. I run carbon 24/7.

Sasquatch · Dec 22, 2010

Allopathy: The stunting of growth or inhibition of growth of aquatic animals by means of chemical warfare. This occurs in aquariums between competing animals of the same or different species.its a war in there lol

las · Dec 22, 2010

are mushrooms also noxious? I run carbon 24/7 also

Chong · Dec 22, 2010

I've heard the same thing from my lfs owner. Running carbon in a reactor should help.

Sasquatch · Dec 23, 2010

las said:
are mushrooms also noxious? I run carbon 24/7 also

mushrooms are anemones so its the old stinger thing with them

florida reef · Jan 6, 2011

update for anyone interested: My frogspawn that I have had for almost two years has lost two of its heads. I can only assume this is from the softies toxins. I have since began running carbon in a makeshift reactor until I can buy a more efficient one. Thanks for the help and advice!

DrTrey · Jan 10, 2011

What are you feeding said aforementioned withering frogspawn?

florida reef · Jan 24, 2011

Mysis and whatever else I feed the tank.

gar732 · Jan 24, 2011

I have a mixed reef with two good sized leathers, zoas, many diff lps, and sps. I don't run carbon nearly as often as I should and I haven't had problems like you are describing. I deffinetly think it's a good idea to run carbon but I also think you should start looking for other problems you might have. Post a few details about your setup and your parameters and maybe we can figure it out.