Help with my coral

Kunhardt

Kunhardt

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Being new i hope this coral is in the right section :)

I got a green zoanthus last week along with a new piece of LR, however only one of the polyps seems to open up since being in my tank. My salinity is roughly 1.022 at the moment and nitrates between 10 and 20 ppm. Not ideal, but i believe its still acceptable? Cant give any other info on water as i dont have any other tests atm. Lighting in tank - i have 2x 8w std white bulbs that come with the tank and i have added a 10w blue as well. I must admit it did not get a chance to aclimate properly, left it to get water temp basically the same, then when i opened the bag up it i lost grip and a lot of water flooded in, so i basically just removed him from the packet and popped him straight in :(. Bad idea i know, but didnt know what to do.

I believe they are extremely hardy so i hope that it will come right.
 
Zoanthids are very hardy corals.

That been said - the no acclimatisation will cause it to stay closed for longer than normal (normal being any thing from 1 hour to 1 week).

To help it open up faster you could:
1. put it in medium strong flow, multi directional is even better
2. put it in medium/strong lighting (what type do you have T8 or T5 - sound like T8 - then very high in the aquarium until it opened)
3. Check ALL you parameters is within acceptable parameters and if you do need to make change, do it slowly.
 
yep it all depends.....coral i bought form moolis opened up same day in my tank....and some star polyps i got from a fellow reefer took 1 and a half weeks to even start opening
 
Thanks for the info Moolis, I was unaware that it could take up to a week normally. I have only had it for 3 days, so i guess i may only start seeing a change by thursday?
 
I wouldn't worry too much, very tough coral. The one thing i would do is check it for predatory snails.
 
Alan - only snails i have in my tank are 4 periwinkles...lol they so lazy even if they were preditory i dont think they could muster the energy to go after it :). Do u think snails may have come in on it?
 
Could be, have a look down at the base of the coral they often tuck in very tight and have fairly good camo.
 
Ya it opened thnx. Well some open, some stay closed...none seem to open all the time. If some open that werent open before others that were open the day before stay closed. Is this normal? LFS seems to think its not that unusual.
 
by the way, do all corals acclimate? or only corals like zoanthids? Got myself a frogspawn and some mushroom frags and a kenya tree frag, will they take time to acclimate? since they dont seem as open as they were in the LFS.
 
Kunhardt said:
by the way, do all corals acclimate? or only corals like zoanthids? Got myself a frogspawn and some mushroom frags and a kenya tree frag, will they take time to acclimate? since they dont seem as open as they were in the LFS.
Click to expand...

How do you acclimate your new corals and fish?

Check this out, well worth it as it will save you a lot of money ;) Proper Acclimation - Marine Aquariums of South Africa
 
I acclimate by putting the baggy in the tank and allowing water to get to same temp, then make small holes in the bag so small amounts of the tank water mix with the water in the bag. Yes ppl say u must not put the bag water into the tank, but others also say what is the difference if u adding the creature that came from that water anyway. Anyway back to acclimating, i allow it to stand like this for about 30 minutes then open the bag completely and remove the coral/fish from the bag into the tank.
 
Hi Kunhardt - the main reason why I NEVER put LFS water from the bag into my tank, is that I have heard too many horror stories of pathogens, illnesses and bad bugs that was introduced into reefers' tanks', because of the LFS tank water.....

Many times white spot breaks out on ALL the fish JUST after some reefers' have added the water from the LFS bag to their tanks.....
 
This makes sense Jacques, i agree its probably best not to add the water from the bags...lol i guess i just feel its probably better than my water anyway :lol:. But if you think about it if u adding a fish from that bag the chances are if the white spot is in the water he has it anyway?? something to ponder.
 
jacquesb said:
Hi Kunhardt - the main reason why I NEVER put LFS water from the bag into my tank, is that I have heard too many horror stories of pathogens, illnesses and bad bugs that was introduced into reefers' tanks', because of the LFS tank water.....

Many times white spot breaks out on ALL the fish JUST after some reefers' have added the water from the LFS bag to their tanks.....
Click to expand...

Some points to think about:
  1. Disease are not only on the fish but MOST are free swimming in water
  2. All fish out of nature carry some disease or other.
  3. Disease attack fish under stress.
  4. Disease are mostly species and area specific (this exclude the obvious like "white spot")
  5. Fish have an immune system to handle deceases in their natural area, they do not have natural defense against "exotic" species
So with all these odds lined up against your fish, why stress it more by adding POSSIBLY contaminated water?

You might say the LFS should
  1. quarantine the fish before selling it, or
  2. they should keep different country's fish separate, or
  3. ......
To answer these 2 points:
  1. If the LFS quarantine the fish the inset costs would increase (additional aquariums, salt and labor) and this must be added to the selling price. My experience with this is that marine hobbyist say they want it and will pay for it. But when push come to shove, they are not willing to pay for this!
  2. We at Pet Stop are fortunate enough to have sufficient space to do it now. But like most other LFS it was not always possible. The reality is that most fish are mixed with the expected results.
Do not stress your fish extra by adding your LFS water in any amounts to your aquarium.
 
Kunhardt said:
I acclimate by putting the baggy in the tank and allowing water to get to same temp, then make small holes in the bag so small amounts of the tank water mix with the water in the bag. Yes ppl say u must not put the bag water into the tank, but others also say what is the difference if u adding the creature that came from that water anyway. Anyway back to acclimating, i allow it to stand like this for about 30 minutes then open the bag completely and remove the coral/fish from the bag into the tank.
Click to expand...

That is not nearly long enough, there is not one fish, coral or invertebrate that I will acclimate taking less than 3 hours using the drip method as explained in the link I posted you. Hardy fish I do about 3-4hours, but others are around 6 ;)
I rather take it slow and have piece of mind than to lose my new purchase.
 
Holy crap, 6 hours!!!!??? :swoon: That seems a really long time. My LFS says 15-20 minutes,been telling me that since i had tropical fish when i was a wee boy :). I do 30 just to be on the safe side, hehe seems not safe enough :dft001:. Read the link you posted and I get where you coming from though, rather safe than sorry. I dont have the equipment for a drip method myself, will go with the other method next time i get a new inmate and see how things go.
 
Kunhardt said:
Holy crap, 6 hours!!!!??? :swoon: That seems a really long time. My LFS says 15-20 minutes,been telling me that since i had tropical fish when i was a wee boy :). I do 30 just to be on the safe side, hehe seems not safe enough :dft001:. Read the link you posted and I get where you coming from though, rather safe than sorry. I dont have the equipment for a drip method myself, will go with the other method next time i get a new inmate and see how things go.
Click to expand...

Acclimating correctly is very important. Fish that was close to death because of shipment was pulled through by proper drip method ;).
Get yourself some 6mm air tubing, every petshop should have. You attach the pipe on a sucker in your tank and suck like you suck petrol. Put a small plastic clamp on the end to control the drip and you're a for away :).
30 min is realy not long enough :nono:
 
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