Open Brain Coral issues

[Kevin D]

Hello all. Ive been having issues with open brain corals and could use some feed back. I'm on my second open brain and it appears to be headed in the same direction as the first. The coral looked ok for a few weeks but was not swelling and seemed pretty shrunk but with good color. Then after a few weeks it would start swelling at night only and shrinking during the day. The first I thought may need more light but it slowly deteriorated. This second one was moved to less light and i'm hoping for the best, time will tell. Has anyone had any experience with this? All water parameters appear fine. Calcium is a little high (over 500) but everything else is where it should be. I have about 35 other corals that are doing well. Aside from the brain, I have also had bad luck with acans and chalice but I'm new to both of those so not a huge shocker. I've had open brains in the past and had no issues. The brain was close to some palm tree polyps but now is located in a more shaded area with nothing around it. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mahindra.dev]

What about Flow? Which open Brain are you referring to? Any pics will help...

 

[K. Steven]

What are you feeding the brain and your other LPS?

 

[Kevin D]

Flow isn’t real strong but not still either, I actually moved it to a area with less light and flow yesterday so going to wait and see. I will have to shoot pics when I get home tonight. The first one I had this issue with was a green and read brain, the current one is all red. Would a flow issue cause it to only swell at night? Also, I’m not seeing feeder tentacles on it. It this is also something I’m not seeing on most of my corals which is also odd, yet the other all seem to be growing, except the acans and chalice which slowly withered away. I do have good flow in the tank. I’m operating two jebco DCT-15000 on setting 5 out of 10. These are each 4000 gallon per hour pumps. The tank is 240 gallons with 125 gallon sump. I’m also starting to see the tips of the skeleton poking through in two places during the day. This is what happened with my green and red brain as well but it was in a higher flow area at all times than where I just moved the new red one too. Hopefully this will solve the issue. The fact that it swells at night though made me thinknis could be a lighting issue. The old spot it was in had a PAR of about 100-110. It’s now in a area that has 70-100. Depending on where the light cycle is at.

 

[Kevin D]

What are you feeding the brain and your other LPS?

I feed reef roids and live plankton. I have a plankton net and live in Fort Lauderdale so about once a month I catch live plankton on the incoming high tide. The rest of the time I feed reef roids about 2 times a week.

 

[Kevin D]

Here is a pic of the first brain coral near it’s end. It’s pretty far gone at this point. I’ll shoot a pic of the new one when I get home. This is also the early morning or late afternoon lighting sonits bluer than normal.

 

[Kevin D]

This is about as puffy as it would get, not very. The new one looks kind of like a bowl and is all red. About the same size, maybe a little puffier now but declining.

 

[Kevin D]

Here is the new one right after I got it. It swells at night now but is a little less puffy than this pic during the day.

 

[K. Steven]

Have you tried to initiate a feeding response? I spray some frozen food juice or a dilute Reef Roid mix at my LPS before feeding them meaty bits of LRS or various pellets (Coral Frenzy, PE, TDO Chroma). If you feed them regularly (2-3 times a week), they usually stay open and inflated for much of the day.

 

[alton]

In the old days when my brains would not be looking happy it was a tell tale sign it was time to change my compact fluorescent lamps out. What is your PAR level where they are sitting?

 

[Kevin D]

Have you tried to initiate a feeding response? I spray some frozen food juice or a dilute Reef Roid mix at my LPS before feeding them meaty bits of LRS or various pellets (Coral Frenzy, PE, TDO Chroma). If you feed them regularly (2-3 times a week), they usually stay open and inflated for much of the day.

I feed concentrated reef Roids it them about twice and week and the ones that don’t feed, it just sits on them. They don’t show a feed response that I can tell anyway. I’ve also tried blended mysis but nothing. My hammer corals eat, frog spawns eat, Duncan’s, polyps, flower pots all eat among some others. Can’t get a feed response from my acans, chalice, or the brain.

 

[Kevin D]

In the old days when my brains would not be looking happy it was a tell tale sign it was time to change my compact fluorescent lamps out. What is your PAR level where they are sitting?

PAR at the original area for both is about 100, the original was moved to an area of about 130-150 and it did nothing. Current one was moved to an area of 60-80. I’m not sure if they were getting too much or too little. The tank is 24 inches deep and I have hydra HD 26 every two feet of length. The lights run the blues and royals at about 65% peak time and whites at about 35% I think. Here is my profile.

 

[alton]

They where super happy in this shallow DSA tank with a 250 watt Radium lamp

The Wellso to the right six years earlier with CFL's

 

[alton]

Here are two of my three in my office tank, the first is at 270 and the purple or 2nd is at 238

 

[Kevin D]

They where super happy in this shallow DSA tank with a 250 watt Radium lamp

The Wellso to the right six years earlier with CFL's

So maybe I need to find bright light but less flow?

 

[Kevin D]

Here is a current pick in its new shadier spot. Maybe a few days here and I’ll see. It looks ok, I guess. I’ll try to get a pic in the morning if it swells up too.

 

[stevieduk]

Hello all. Ive been having issues with open brain corals and could use some feed back. I'm on my second open brain and it appears to be headed in the same direction as the first. The coral looked ok for a few weeks but was not swelling and seemed pretty shrunk but with good color. Then after a few weeks it would start swelling at night only and shrinking during the day. The first I thought may need more light but it slowly deteriorated. This second one was moved to less light and i'm hoping for the best, time will tell. Has anyone had any experience with this? All water parameters appear fine. Calcium is a little high (over 500) but everything else is where it should be. I have about 35 other corals that are doing well. Aside from the brain, I have also had bad luck with acans and chalice but I'm new to both of those so not a huge shocker. I've had open brains in the past and had no issues. The brain was close to some palm tree polyps but now is located in a more shaded area with nothing around it. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

got mine in lower light area,it didnt like bright light. average gentle pulsing flow, (they dont like flow from one direction), it swells at night and shrinks in the day, feed it every night 30 mins after lights out and its doing fine

 

[Kevin D]

got mine in lower light area,it didnt like bright light. average gentle pulsing flow, (they dont like flow from one direction), it swells at night and shrinks in the day, feed it every night 30 mins after lights out and its doing fine

Ok thanks!!!

 

[alton]

I should of added with brains you have plenty of time to figure them out, they are pretty forgiving. After I took my readings that I gave you yesterday I lowered them 10% to see if mine color up more. I started using Vibrant and GFO to help control the hair algae and didn't realize my water cleared up that much.

 

[stevepaynr84]

I have exactly the same problem with mine. It never inflates and I've tried it in a number of different flow and lighting locations. Just about ready to give up on it to be honest.