Cynarina help!!

xela6918 · Jan 8, 2022

Hi All,

We purchased this red cynarina a few months ago and it was going strong for a while there, however it has quickly begun deteriorating - receding with exposed skeleton and not re-emerging as much. There's still some movement from it, so I'm hoping there's something we can do to help it improve. Any thoughts or suggestions would be welcome! We've tried upping nitrates and moving towards the back where there's a little less flow (location in picture). Everything else seems to be doing ok except for one wall hammer that was great one day, then I saw a hermit crab on it and it bailed.

Salinity: 1.025
Alkalinity: 9.3
Nitrate: 10
Calcium: 450
Magnesium: 1480
Phosphate: .11

I added a picture of it when we got it and it now

anything we can do to help it revive?

Rtaylor · Jan 8, 2022

Sorry it’s already dead, algae doesn’t grow on living tissue

Shirak · Jan 8, 2022

Welcome to R2R! Sorry to see your coral

I think it's pretty much gone. Wall hammers are notoriously difficult for many. A hermit walking on it one day won't cause it to bail the next. There is something else going on and based on what looks like a fairly recent tank I am going to guess it's unstable water parameters and nutrient levels.

Your parameters you listed are currently fine but swings will cause problems. You mentioned recently upping the nitrate. You list it at 10.. what was it before? If it was really low that could be the biggest issue. Corals need food. They get most from the water but corals like Cynarina really like to catch meaty foods also. I try to feed mine at least a couple times a week when the lights have been off and the feeder tentacles are out.

drdave · Jan 15, 2022

I don't see any coralline in your tank. How long has it been up and running? I imagine this is a microbiome issue. Try introducing some microbial diversity into the tank - specifically some live rock.

xela6918 · Jan 15, 2022

Shirak said:
Welcome to R2R! Sorry to see your coral I think it's pretty much gone. Wall hammers are notoriously difficult for many. A hermit walking on it one day won't cause it to bail the next. There is something else going on and based on what looks like a fairly recent tank I am going to guess it's unstable water parameters and nutrient levels.

Your parameters you listed are currently fine but swings will cause problems. You mentioned recently upping the nitrate. You list it at 10.. what was it before? If it was really low that could be the biggest issue. Corals need food. They get most from the water but corals like Cynarina really like to catch meaty foods also. I try to feed mine at least a couple times a week when the lights have been off and the feeder tentacles are out.

Thanks so much for the welcome and the helpful response! The nitrate was at 5 before - we raised it over the course of a week and w feed them reef roids and mysis/brine shrimp twice a week. Haven't had any noticeable swings - we check 2-3x/week and they're consistent. It's been confusing because 75% of the coral have been doing great and have noticeable growth/multiplication, while about 25% have struggled. Haven't tried feeding at night yet, we'll definitely give that a go! Thank you!

xela6918 · Jan 15, 2022

drdave said:
I don't see any coralline in your tank. How long has it been up and running? I imagine this is a microbiome issue. Try introducing some microbial diversity into the tank - specifically some live rock.

Hi - thanks for the response! We've currently got 1.25lb of live rock/gallon and we do have some coralline, but you're right it's new and we're only about 6 months old. We have a healthy population of pods as well. Is there anything you suggest we can add to introduce some more microbial diversity?