Frogspawn Help

[99trev]

I am looking for some suggestions for things to look for...  I just noticed today that one entire head is dead (probably been that way for a while, but it was hard to see), and the one next to it does not look good at all.  Tuesday things looked normal, and I did not notice anything.  Today....






I have checked my alk, ph, calcium, nitrate, nitrites, and all look good (I forgot to grab them so I could post the numbers).  The Calcium was around 400 if I remember right and that is lower than where I try to keep it, but I don't think in the "DANGER" range to cause this (and not affect other things).  I bumped up the dosing to add in some extra for the next couple of days, and that should bring it back to 450-480 range. 

I do have some aptasia growing about 6-8" away.. but it is on the opposite side from the "in trouble" head.  All the other heads look normal, and "happy" including the ones closest to the offending aptasia.

[Bergy]

i wouldnt worry yet... they do this sometimes... maybe even dropping off 'babies'....

when the flessh starts coming off and rotting and nothin gbut skeleton, then i would worry... and then not so much ...

keep an eye on the other heads... see if hyou see any retraction... or stress

[KYLE.801]

Ya these corals are pretty weird from my experience with them.  I have a hammer head colony and a couple weeks ago one of the heads looked like that, I didnt worry about it and its back to normal.  I think it has even started to split since then...  Anywho like Bill said, until flesh starts coming off and you can see the skeleton, I wouldnt worry about it. 

If that does start to happen you might have an animal that is bugging it?  I used to have a peppermint shrimp that liked to eat my frogspawn.   

[99trev]

thanks for the feed back guys!!  Nothing like learning as you go.  I am going to check the levels again tonight (and I will post them since I lost the ones I did the other night). 

Looking at them again today, it looks like it has a clump of white mold growing over the mouth, and looking at the head next to it, it looks like there is some of the same white stuff growing on it. Wondering if it could be something?

Here are some pics from today.

[99trev]

Was searching a bit, and found some saying a fresh water dip helps kill off any parasites or "bugs". But then I found others saying that a fresh water dip can kill the coral. Any one have ideas about this?

Or I could "break" off that head and move it someplace else to keep things spreading to the rest of the heads (if it is something "bad").  I have not split any heads off before, but reading online, it does not sound too hard. 

OR just try and ride it out, and see what happens (just hate to think of the poor thing suffering if I could do anything to help... guess I am just too much of a softie).

[Bergy]

i wouldnt fresh water dip it now...  but in the future, maybe a FW dip when you buy it/ get it...

for now, if you are stressing, then maybe cut off / snap off the problem head and seperate it or euthanize it... then you can stress less about the rest of the colony...


you should do that.. it will give you experience on fragging at the same time.... and give you some piece of mind in that you tried something... and next time you will know if it it worked or didnt...


gl

[99trev]

On Saturday, I could start to see the skeleton, so I decided to "frag" off the head, in hopes that what ever this was would not spread to the rest of the colony.

Here is what remains of the head:



The rest of the colony seemed to be doing OK (opened up and "looking" normal), but this morning, I noticed the same "white stuff" around the mouth of another head (left side just below center, you can see the "white stuff".  Normally you can see the mouth.



Any suggestions?

[99trev]

Quick update:
The frag has continue to dwindle, the skeleton can now be seen all the way around, and there are only a couple of "dots" left in the center.

The colony seems to be doing OK. The head that has the white stuff on it is unchanged (from the pictures above).

Ran all the tests I have:
Calcium 440
Nitrate 20
Nitrite 0
Ph 8.2
Ammonia 0
Alkalinity 1.5
Sal 1.027
Temp 79.

The Alk is low, so I have bumped up the dosing of alk, and will watch it closer.

I also finally have my water chage water ready, and will do the change tomorrow.

The nitrates being up are new. They are normally 0 - 5, but at the same time, I am about 2 weeks behind in changing the foam in the canister filter (so it might be "breeding" the nitrates).  Another reason to push for changing to a sump instead of the canister filter.

I don't think any of the number are extreme, or enough to cause what happened to the frogspawn, and the rest of the corals look like they are doing great.

[Bergy]

for while get into the habit of testing before you do your water change and then about 1-2 hours after the water change to see if there are any differences and or if the water change is doing anything?

i would expect the nitrates to be less after the water change... and the trace elements to go up some...


but as for the frag... stuff happens sometimes?   mayhbe that head wasnt getting enough lite?   with larger colonies/frags, it is inevitable that some heads will be blocked of light by others...

how about food?  do u feed that coral?

but yea  its nice when we have answers.. but most of the time, even when we have answers, they are still wrong and or assumptions...

[KYLE.801]

How's the rest of the colony doing?

[99trev]

I "lost" another head on Sunday. This time though the head did not wither and slowly die off, it just "let go" (picture below shows the empty head, and the head laying on the rock below).

It dropped down to the base of the colony, and I was hoping that it might re-attach or something, but we have not been able to find it for the last couple of days, so I am guessing it is gone.



The other heads seem to be "ok", but this one never showed any of the "white stuff" that the others did.  The on that has the "white stuff" on it is still hanging in there.  It has not whithered like the last one (and is still attached to the colony). 

I have a couple of other frogspawn the tank, and they are doing really well.  One is in the process of splitting, was one head now 2 or possibly 3.  The last time one of them split, it was oval shaped and eventually became 2 different heads. This one is triangle shaped, so we will have to wait and see what it does.