Losing my micromussa

[justin_freebord]

gah so i got a small frag of about 3 solid heads and 2-3 half heads with mouths. It was doing great the polyps were out a lot and it looked nice. Lately this last week it seems to not be doing so hot. I moved my tank back to school a week after i got them and the tanks been up for a week now. Everything else is doing fine and my duncan is actually regrowing flesh it had lost while at the lfs. The problem is my micro doesnt seem to puff up as much as it used to and it sure hasent extended its tentacles the last couple days. I took it out of the tank just a few minutes ago and noticed that part of the flesh was receding at an area where it had been cut for the frag. What should i do? I was thinking of maybe trying a dip tomorrow in lugols to see if that helps? Any suggestions, also whats a good mix for lugols to dip and how long. Ive dipped zoas before but never an lps

[2006]

I've had ailing micromussa's react positively to Melafix Marine dips along with increased water motion.

[justin_freebord]

sounds good, can you get that at lfs'? I also have them situated in a spot that doesnt seem to get all the flow it could, ill try moving them. I just fed them as the lights went out and they wanted food so they took the food fine, ill continue to monitor the progress of the recession. It may have been there all along and just be from the original frag but i have my suspicions


any suggestion on a formula for iodine or the medicine listed above? my tanks a 5.5gallon so i try to keep as much water in the tank as possible so its hard for me to find a good formula when they all call for like a gallon of tank water


thanks for the help

[roblack]

Lugols may help. Dip in recommended strength for 5-10 minutes.

[2006]

Melafix should be available at the chain stores or any store that carries API. FYI there is a FW and SW version and as far as I can tell the SW is twice the strength of the FW. I use Seachem Reef Dip if I want to do an iodine dip.

[justin_freebord]

k cool, im waiting for my lights to come on before i do anything. I figured maybe i was just seeing something weird last night so if the damage is still apparent today ill do a dip. Thanks for the help

just makes me worried because i plan to get my first chalice frag this weekend and i dont want it to suffer the same fate ive heard of people having

[justin_freebord]

well i looked today and it looks worse than last night

made up a lugols dip and dipped them for 6 minutes. I swished them around pretty good and blasted them with a little pipet. Some flesh blew free when i did that so i know somethings going on. Its mainly on one polyp but i noticed it starting at 2 other spots as well. Im pretty upset this is my first major lose (65$). Its a lot when you are a broke college kid without a job heh.

Im hoping the dip helped slow it down but at this point im not hoping for much. I fed it last night and again to day and minus the lose of flesh it looks really really good and probably the best its looked in a while. Im going to dip every day until its gone so hopefully it somehow pulls through

[roblack]

Dip away, maybe try every other day after a few days and try to be gentle with it. You would be surprised how some corals can come back. Hope it works out for you.

[justin_freebord]

my goal is that the iodine dip will stop the recession but if not i can only hope it slows it enough for the coral to make it to the weekend when i go home from school and ill be able to pick up a pack of interceptor to try that out. It looks on first look this morning to have made no change so maybe the lugols slowed it down some, the feeders are out and the coral as a whole looks good.

fingers crossed

[gflat65]

How much light are they getting? I just had to move all of mine under ledges, and they are starting to fluff up for me. They had started to bleach, and I'd lost several colonies (that hurt).

[justin_freebord]

my lights arnt that stong, im going to move it to an area with better flow see if it helps, its still slowly melting away.

[justin_freebord]

heh...got my water tested today and feel like a noob who freaked out at his coral melting.

Alk: 6.8
Ca: 550
Mg: 550

I attribute my high calcium to the coral accel ive been dosing from time to time...i was told it had calcium in it?


as you can see my Mg is more half what it should be so im going to mix up a little diy 2part and start slowly dosing wee amounts of Mg to bring that up. Then when i go home this coming weekend buy some test kits and start dosing for Mg, Alk, and Ca as needed. Hopefully the low Mg is the cause of the melting. Ill be getting some interceptor just in case probably too this weekend

[hapka16]

Yeah you need to bring your calcium down and being your mg and alk up.

[justin_freebord]

why does Ca need to go down i thought it was ok to be like 500ish, i know its not ideal but isnt it not harmful

[gflat65]

400 is a little closer to seawater (380-420, I think).

[justin_freebord]

yeah i knew that i just thought i read somewhere its kinda like a diminishing returns where once you go over 450 it doesnt hurt but its not something you should aim for

[Underwaterparadise]

Your Ca. is 550 and your MG is 550?? That seems a little strange for me. What type of test kit? I would re test it. With CA. levels that high I doubt your MG is that low.

As per Randy Holmes Farley
"Magnesium's primary importance is its interaction with the calcium and alkalinity balance in reef aquaria. Seawater and reef aquarium water are always supersaturated with calcium carbonate. That is, the solution's calcium and carbonate levels exceed the amount that the water can hold at equilibrium. How can that be? Magnesium is a big part of the answer. Whenever calcium carbonate begins to precipitate, magnesium binds to the growing surface of the calcium carbonate crystals. The magnesium effectively clogs the crystals' surface so that they no longer look like calcium carbonate, making them unable to attract more calcium and carbonate, so the precipitation stops. Without the magnesium, the abiotic (nonbiological) precipitation of calcium carbonate would likely increase enough to prohibit the maintenance of calcium and alkalinity at natural levels."

You can see the article here

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php


I would lower the Ca. to about 450ppm as well, best to keep things as close to NSW as possible.

[justin_freebord]

i dunno, either calcium or mg was tested with a elos test kit. Im pretty sure those are accurate.
Plus isnt Mg's job to balance the Ca and Alk? I mean i understand i thought it was weird my Ca was that high also. Im going to dose the Mg consistently at 100ppm until this friday. It should be around 950 at that point. If i notice anything weird in my corals prior to that ill stop the dosing. This weekend ill pick up a mg test kit and maybe ca if i can afford it

[gflat65]

I didn't even notice the 550 Mg. I like mine around 1200+.

[justin_freebord]

apparently low mg allows for a lot of Ca to build up...so maybe thats why my Ca is high but my mg is low

[hapka16]

I keep my ca around 440 and my mag around 1300. I have no problems with my lps.

[roblack]

I agree, Ca around 420 - 450 and mag 1300+ in my tank, alk around 10dkh. Lps need high alk and mag, lost alot over a year ago bc my alk and mag dropped out. Thought I had an infection too, because not all corals are affected at once, and it seemed to jump from one to the other. But it was just my alk and mag had dropped too low, partly related to my ca reactor going out while I was out of town. Bringing your alk up should drop your ca without doing anything else. Everything should be okay now, would hold off on the Interceptor and save it for dipping new corals. After you kill enough stuff you will no longer be a "noob". Wish it were easier. Best of luck!

[justin_freebord]

yeah, i didnt plan on doing the interceptor anymore. Im bringing my Mg up and then letting things settle down and seeing where i stand. I might try and mix up a Ca and Alk additive this weekend as well to go along with my Mg mix.

Im hoping to not lose too many corals due to my "noobness" but i know it comes along with the hobby. At least im starting to feel i got a better understanding on alk ca and mg now though. Still a little unsure about how differing levels effect each other but that will come when i start learning what i need to add and how often to get the levels i want.

Also glad to see i wasnt the only one who first jumped to infection, i guess i just went straight to my worst fear heh