HELP! I cannot indetify this coral

[Dre619]

IMO, the skeleton is way too big to be blastomussa, even a massive Wellsi has relatively small corallites compared to the size of the actual polyp, the septa also don’t protrude above the corallite. The color is also uncharacteristic of a blasto, and the separation between the mouth and outer rim of the polyp is uncharacteristic of blastomussa (the out polyp and mouth/inner polyp aren’t separated, blastos don’t have feeding tentacles that come out between the oral disc and outer polyp like a lobo, scoly, or acan). I’m not a taxonomist, and it can be really difficult to properly identify a sickly coral through photos, but IMO, all the clues point to a lobophyllia.

Here is a photo of Wellsi corallites from Corals of the World, notice that the septa don’t protrude up like they do in the OP’s photo, also notice the uniform round shape.

Here is a coralife from Lobophyllia hemprichii (one of the more commonly kept lobos), also from CotW, notice how the septa are more jagged and protrude above the corallite:

Thanks for the info! Very interesting

 

[Dre619]

Nope! Same as last night. I have a feeling my light is not strong enough. I have all softies except this one and all other corals are doing just fine! Water parameters are stable. My alk is a little low so may have something to do it?

Apologies! Just tested alk again. Reading at just over 12

 

[Dre619]

My Alk is high and pH is low. Whats the best way to stablize these parameters? I am going to try using outside air for my skimmer as well as add aeration pump in the tank. Do you think that would help?

 

[mdb_talon]

Do an aeration test both outdoors and in same room as your fish. It can help identify excess co2 as the issue and/or identify issue as lack of tank aeration/gas exchange.

 

[Dre619]

Do an aeration test both outdoors and in same room as your fish. It can help identify excess co2 as the issue and/or identify issue as lack of tank aeration/gas exchange.

Okay great! Ill give this a shot and see the outcome. What should i see in test numbers if the tank lacks gas exchange?

 

[LexMueller]

Hello! As a reefer who's been in the hobby for over a year now and have studied coral Skellies in my spare time lol. That's a Lobophyllia

 

[Dre619]

Hello! As a reefer who's been in the hobby for over a year now and have studied coral Skellies in my spare time lol. That's a Lobophyllia

Thanks for the identification! I am having a problem. He is looking a poorly and I cannot figure out why. Any ideas? All parameters are in check. pH is low and alk is high. Placed on the sand bed with little flow right now

 

[mdb_talon]

Okay great! Ill give this a shot and see the outcome. What should i see in test numbers if the tank lacks gas exchange?

There is a formula that can tell you what the ph should based off dkh and co2 levels (which is pretty easy to estimate pretty close on the outdoor test). I dont know exactly what that formula is but i can say that at 9dkh an outside air test i see a ph a bit under 8.4 which seemed to be right based off when i researched it. inside air test i see between 8.1-8.25 usually which tells me inside i have higher co2 concentrations(makes sense).

So that is not helpful with giving you an exact number to look for but if you take an outside test with your 12 dkh and it shows you a ph less than 8.4 that to me would indicate an issue with the ph test. Assuming you are good there though an inside test can then give you a rough idea of how big a difference you get from outside air vs inside.

If you are seeing an indoor test that is 8.2+ ph for example though and tank is always much lower than that then it may be a sign that additional aeration could help the ph. Also things like cheato can help the ph(using co2)

 

[mdb_talon]

Thanks for the identification! I am having a problem. He is looking a poorly and I cannot figure out why. Any ideas? All parameters are in check. pH is low and alk is high. Placed on the sand bed with little flow right now

I would put him in low light and low to moderate flow. If he opens up give him a little food. No point in feeding though if he stays shrunk and closed up it will just sit there and maybe cause more harm.

 

[Dre619]

There is a formula that can tell you what the ph should based off dkh and co2 levels (which is pretty easy to estimate pretty close on the outdoor test). I dont know exactly what that formula is but i can say that at 9dkh an outside air test i see a ph a bit under 8.4 which seemed to be right based off when i researched it. inside air test i see between 8.1-8.25 usually which tells me inside i have higher co2 concentrations(makes sense).

So that is not helpful with giving you an exact number to look for but if you take an outside test with your 12 dkh and it shows you a ph less than 8.4 that to me would indicate an issue with the ph test. Assuming you are good there though an inside test can then give you a rough idea of how big a difference you get from outside air vs inside.

If you are seeing an indoor test that is 8.2+ ph for example though and tank is always much lower than that then it may be a sign that additional aeration could help the ph. Also things like cheato can help the ph(using co2)

Okay thank you for the feed back! I also think my pH test might be not reading correctly. I will get a variety of tests and see. But will also try the inside/outside air test.