dying coral

[Nick540]

Can anyone give me an idea of the genral signs of a dying coral. what would i have to look for in a dying or unhealthy coral? Thank>

[Germanman]

ragged flesh, loss or color, long term deflation, weeks of not expanding, odd smell, weird taste...lol j/k on taste, um.....parts open and other parts shrivled or loose.

[Nick540]

What might prevent these things from occuring. What may be causing them? Water, lighting, salinity mine is 1.021, water flow....etc....

[Germanman]

all teh things u listed would. also improper feeding and water quality are big factors. i would bring up the SG a bit 1.021 is a bit low the ocean is more like 1.026 so 1.024 or 1.025 would be better. but rase it slowly if u do it fast it will cause problems.
what are your water parameters? and what kind of lighting do u have? also what kind of coral is it?

[Nick540]

ammonia 0
nitrate 20ppm
pH 8.3
salinity 1.021
tree leather coral (colt)
20 watt light, i am saving for another light. My hammer coral is flurishing in the light i have, so are my mushrooms. The tree got worse after the water change i did last week. there is still colour in it it has just shrunk and looks really unhealthy. Did i miss anything.

[Germanman]

lights really not eungh at all for it. they are tough corals though so if u rase the SG slowly and get better lights asap it should recover

[Nick540]

Thanks for the info. I took the coral to my friends 90 gal tank. I am going to keep it in his tank till i upgrade my lighting. He knows his stuff to so i am glad.

[Germanman]

good to hear man. nice choice:)

[Nick540]

well i found out that a sea slug was eating the coral and it was caught to late so the coral died.:mad2:

[Germanman]

aw man that sucks...alwyas try to search the corals first ...did u get the slug at least?

[Nick540]

Yeah its a bummer, the slug was caught. I will always check the coral from now on before purchasing.

[Nick540]

what do some of thes bad slugs look like so i can tell what to look for next time i buy a coral?

[Germanman]

u just have to look it up...there are literally hundreds

[Nick540]

i tried but had no luck, all of the web links went to other forms. I will get a book out of the library about it though, thanks.

[Germanman]

good luck man