Help with my Capnella!!!

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dcflyers7

AC Members
Dec 3, 2004
84
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0
Harrisburg, PA
I've had this for about 3 weeks with no problems, but today I came home and it was completely closed, and now its just barely opened back up but is a much more pale. Here's what it used to look like:
IMG_0217.jpg

Its in my 37g with 130watts of PC lighting, and it was flourishing until today when this suddenly happened. Is it normal for it to do this from time to time, or is it dying??? I tested everything, with the only thing being a trace of nitrates(around 10-20). My toadstool is doing great, I just don't understand why it would do this all the sudden???
 
Here's what it looks like now...
IMG_0235.jpg

Sorry, not the best pic, but as you can see its lost color and is barely open. I haven't changed its placement or current at all, it was in a med. current about 10in. from the surface(my tank is 22in. tall).
 
It's probably OK. Mine tend to do that from time to time, especially when another softy is releasing toxins. Are you running carbon?
 
I've been running carbon in my Aquaclear 300, no mechanical filter, just the carbon pouch. Is this bad? Also, there's about 6 inches between the Capnella and my toadstool, is it possible for the toadstool to harm it from that far away??? I'm making a trip to my LFS tomorrow to get my last batch of cured LR. Is it a bad idea to rearrange the tank right now? Maybe if I got it farther away from the Toadstool and a little higher in the tank to get better light, it will recover....
 
You arangement sounds fine. The carbon helps absorb any defensive chemicals put out by the other corals, but that may have nothing to do with the problems with the capnella. It's just a guess.

Rearranging the tank may stress the coral a bit. FWIW, I figure it won't make much of a difference. I have seen capnella survive looking like yours does, and I have seen it doe, and I can't tell you what made the difference.
 
update:

Still looks about the same, hasn't changed in the last two days... How will i know when its dead, will it fully contract or shrivel up??? Also, if it dies, does the capnella release any sort of toxins into the water?
 
It will start to fall apart when it dies. It will release some nasty stuff if it dies, so it should be removed ASAP. Recently, petcrazy's colt melted down, and I suggested they leave the stump. Last I heard it was alive, and may be regenerating. So, if yours starts to croak, leave the stump.
 
I'm sure you already have, but you may want to check your temperature and pH. My capnella always let me know when these are out of whack. If my corals look lousy it's almost always because it's too hot, I screwed up the pH, or maybe let the water get a little low and the specific gravity got too high. The capnella I have will also throw little fits if I adjust the power head to where they don't like it or I move them a little and they have to get used to a new place. Mine have looked just as bad as that one before but when I figured out what it was they bounce right back. Is that a little brown slime or something on the stalk? I had one get an infection once that looked like that, but it's hard to tell in the picture, it might just be a shadow.
 
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