Was the "Mystery Of The Lost Coral" ever solved?

Ozonic · Jul 22, 2021

The other day I lost a nice Walt Disney frag I had in my tank for 5 months. I believe it was from using aqua forest epoxy.

ClownWrangler · Jul 22, 2021

It's good to keep an emerald crab, because if all else fails, you can just blame it and throw it in the dungeon to feel better.

The only time I have lost a frag like this is from a nudibranch invasion. They can go from a few to an army in days.

Floppyfish · Jul 22, 2021

WVNed said:
Someone was taking them. I evicted them to the sump.

He said he is sorry.

Do you harvest a claw off him every once in a while as a snack for repayment?

Wasabiroot · Jul 22, 2021

My stylocoeniella were all closed up for several days. I couldn't see anything notable, but then I checked my sump. My auto top off had become unplugged and my salinity had slowly spiked to 40 ppt. Salinity and temp are always what I check first now when something seems angry.

mgsdive · Jul 22, 2021

WVNed said:
Someone was taking them. I evicted them to the sump.

He said he is sorry.

Yeah, sorry …not sorry

Calm Blue Ocean · Jul 22, 2021

I've told this story here a few times when people ask about peppermint shrimps. Noticed tissue loss over the course of several days. I thought some sort of RTN or STN. Finally caught Big Mama in the act while night watching the tank. Tried shooing her off and she was back right away. For whatever reason, this frag was a tasty treat! The good news is, not a total loss, I moved it to my nano and it hasn't just grown back all that was lost but has new branches everywhere. The day that Big Mama leaves us, I'll bring this guy back to the main display.

ClownWrangler · Jul 22, 2021

WVNed said:
ORP probe, Jebao wavemaker and the optical sensor for my ATO.

You see, this is why we cant have nice things.

A capacitive prox sensor can go on the dry side of a bulkhead or glass for the ATO. They wont be able to get to it. Far more reliable.

Buckster · Jul 22, 2021

I lost corals when I was too anxious and purchased before the tank was ready. I then patiently waited and now everything grows well even the hair algae!

IanK · Jul 22, 2021

I had actually lost a baby jawbreaker shroom, it let go of the plug. Searched for hours. When i did a tank swap 6 months later i found it attached to a little overhanging crevice. Got it back on a tile and it's been happy ever since

RunStopRestore · Jul 22, 2021

bacteria/clove polyps are the worst!

WVNed · Jul 22, 2021

ClownWrangler said:
You see, this is why we cant have nice things.

A capacitive prox sensor can go on the dry side of a bulkhead or glass for the ATO. They wont be able to get to it. Far more reliable.

I have employed the fortress method for my Hydros level sensor, new ORP probe and Inkbird Temperature sensor.

ARCkeeper · Jul 22, 2021

I was truly losing corals. They just disappeared! It didn't take me long to figure out my blue spotted jawfish was taking frags to reinforce his burrow! I gave him plenty of rubble and the losses decreased, but never really stopped. Even gluing them down wouldn't stop him if he took a fancy to a particular piece.

Reeferbadness · Jul 22, 2021

stephnjeph said:
In the beginning it was alot of trial and error. I lost alot, some seemed to die off and/or die off and bounce back while other simply flourished. There weren't any forums to turn to in the early 90s and I hadn't yet finished my graduate studies. It all boiled down to lighting too much or too little, flow too much or too little, and general placement. After a while I figured out pump placement for ample flow and reef building/rock placement to help control the flow in certain areas. Then followed lighting and placement as they go hand and hand. Too much and they burn/melt too little and there is little to no growth and quite possibly a slow demise. Once I found flow and light balance within the tank, it was just simply maintaining good clean water parameters. I am a slow and patient reefer. Any addition to a DT comes one at a time with a minimum of 90 day waiting period to test and balance parameters before any further additions. It usually takes me 2-3 years to get a new DT stocked.

Funny story though in regards to missing coral. I had purchased a tiny blue ricordia on a plug many years ago. After putting it in my tank, I came back to view it and it had disappeared. It must have been blown off. I was unable to find it and assumed it was a goner. Fast forward 4 years and we are taking the tank down to replace it with a larger tank. While removing the rock that had been stacked against the back wall of the tank we found a colony of blue ricordia. If I remember correctly 8-12ish. Somehow that little bugger survived and thrived for years completely out of site.

My blue recordia colony ( 3) have been gradually migrating under a big live rock / I guess they prefer low light. Par in previous spot wasn’t very much to begin with

sghera64 · Jul 22, 2021

Mixing wild-caught bubble tipped anemone with captive bread.

I had about 12 captive bred RBTA in my 50 gallon frag tank plus a green and rainbow anemone. I had 4 captive bred RBTA's in the 135 gallon display tank which is connected to the frag tank. I added a Watermelon anemone which was wild-caught to the frag tank. Everything was fine for about 2 weeks. Then slowly all of the RBTA's, the green and then the rainbow just turned into gooh over a period of 2 weeks. The four RBTA's in the DT seemed "agitated" but over the next two weeks, each one of the 4 RBTA's in the display tank perished by slowly retracting, closing up, inverting and turning into gooh. The Watermelon anemone was fully extended and showed no sign of distress during this entire time. I tried using Chemi-Pure and more Rox 0.8 carbon after someone theorized that it could be warfare between wild-caught and captive bred BTA's.

I'm not fully convinced this is what took out all those RBTA's across the system, but it was worse for those members closest to the wild-caught and all perished except the wild-caught.

Crotalus · Jul 23, 2021

My CA container feeding the dosing pump went empty.

ClownWrangler · Jul 23, 2021

sghera64 said:
Mixing wild-caught bubble tipped anemone with captive bread.

I had about 12 captive bred RBTA in my 50 gallon frag tank plus a green and rainbow anemone. I had 4 captive bred RBTA's in the 135 gallon display tank which is connected to the frag tank. I added a Watermelon anemone which was wild-caught to the frag tank. Everything was fine for about 2 weeks. Then slowly all of the RBTA's, the green and then the rainbow just turned into gooh over a period of 2 weeks. The four RBTA's in the DT seemed "agitated" but over the next two weeks, each one of the 4 RBTA's in the display tank perished by slowly retracting, closing up, inverting and turning into gooh. The Watermelon anemone was fully extended and showed no sign of distress during this entire time. I tried using Chemi-Pure and more Rox 0.8 carbon after someone theorized that it could be warfare between wild-caught and captive bred BTA's.

I'm not fully convinced this is what took out all those RBTA's across the system, but it was worse for those members closest to the wild-caught and all perished except the wild-caught.

Nem's don't engage in chemical warfare. They release stinging cells or engage with direct contact. Some will even form colonies, organize attacks and send out scouts. Not making this up. Carbon would not do anything for that, however there may be a better explanation from the way you describe it. Perhaps some sort of virus or bacterial infection.

CavalierReef · Jul 23, 2021

I was away for a week-end and came back to a vanished chalice coral. It was about 2x4 inches and had just disappeared, All other corals were fine and I couldn't imagine not being able to find it in a 32 gallon tank. Weeks later I saw it being used as a "patio cover" over my pistol shrimp's latest cave. I'm unsure if he buried it or took it in to one of his burrows. Either way, he managed to move that piece of coral 8-10 times his size. They are amazing creatures but anything on the floor of the tank is fair game to them.

Reefer Reboot · Jul 23, 2021

Answer to question #1, this fat boy.:mad:

Everything was fine until he got a taste of some firework polyps. That was the starter "drug" for his addiction. Tank boss, wife's favorite, c'est la vie.