2 questions (plate coral/algae)

[u2their]

Hey guys... Haven't posted in this section before because I just got a nanoreef tank.. but I've had reef tanks at my house for a while because of the roomies! anyways- I have a plate coral in the tank on the substrate where it receives adequate light. The coral has been in the tank for probably about 3-4 weeks and was doing great. It was growing and was very colorful. So I woke up yesterday and looked at it and it was completely shriveled up and and pie shaped part of it was showing its skeleton. I immediately started a water change and dosed the tank with some phytoplankton. Today, I looked at it after I got home from work and it looks as though it is back to normal to an extent (although its skeleton is still showing in that spot). My question is what happened and what should I be doing about this problem??

Second question: I have a cyanide? cynobacteria algae (whatever you call it... the purple looking stuff) and it is taking over the tank... It literally is growing on everything and is irritating the corals. I have tried siphoning out as much as I can out of the tank and within 24hours its right back to how it was before. How can I rid my aquarium of this stuff?!?!?! and do you think it could possibly be a reason the plate coral started to die???
Thanks for your advice guys!!
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18gallons
2 pecular clowns
1 midas blenny
1 bristle star
1 scarlet cleaner shrimp
2 peppermint shrimp
1 emerald crab
multiple snails, and hermits.
pulsing xenia
mushrooms
zooanthiads
plate coral

 

[DSR]

Not sure what happened to your plating coral, but I am curious as to why you would dose with phytoplankton? While it may serve as a decent food source for some corals it is also likely to simply increase the level of nitrates unnecessarily which can make a bad situation worse (I am not saying don't use phytoplankto as a food source at all, I use it). But it does increase the amount of organic material floatin in your water. When you first notice a problem, test the water before you do anything.

The cyano is most likely the result of too long a photo period combined with too much food in the water. The best method for getting rid of cyano is to cut back on feeding and to increase the amount of flow (cyano does not like flow at all). It is a pretty normal thing to have happen in a new tank and increased flow will really help. Good luck to you. Sorry can't be of more assistance concerning the plate coral.

 

[u2their]

I just figured the phytoplankton would potentially help because maybe it was dying because of lack of food... other than that I do agree with you on increasing the amount of nitrates in the water. I will try your advice on increasing the flow to see what happens with the cyano.. Thanks for your help

 

[DSR]

They should be fine with what is in the water but do benefit from some supplemental feedings. Hopefully it will be on the mend soon. Any chance that you could put some pictures up of what is going on and some water parameters? That would go a long way in helping you with the issue.

 

[Ace25]

Good luck, but from my experience a tear in the flesh of a plate coral is usually deadly. Maybe you can get a bottle of MediCoral and dip the coral in that to try and help it heal.. There is always a possibility it will recover, I just haven't witnessed that happening to a plate with a tear in it.

 

[u2their]

it seems to be doing better despite the tear in the coral... I hope that it can recover...I'l try to get some pictures on here in a second...the camera is currently charging.. as for the water parameters I could get the eventually because I use my friends testing equipment and he is suppose to be bringing them over... i do know that the slanity is between .o26-.027 which is a little high but with the water change it should be bringing it down.