Ricordia losing color and shrinking

[FishTri]

I have a rock with a dozen rics of different colors. One of them has shrunk down to a small white button.

Now, one of the blue ones is starting to lose color (slowly turning white) and shrinking.

Any ideas what's causing this?

[VacavilleFC3S]

how much light?

[RiverOtter]

Also have you been feeding them?

Is the blue one next to the other one?

Have you changed any thing in your tank?

What are your test readings?

[sbcaes]

iodine? and feeding at all? and what lighting? rics are fairly tankish corals. and can handle more punishment than any coral i know of. maybe minus a Duncan coral.

[wampuscat]

Do rics and zoas need iodine? I picked some Kent marine Tech-I, it says to add 10ml per 50 gallons tank capacity for the first three weeks and reduce to half on fourth and subsequent weeks. That seems like a lot of iodine??????

[FishTri]

They are on a rock that is sitting near, but not quite on, the bottom of the tank. Maybe 20" of water above them, then an 8-lamp T5HO fixture about 5" above the water.

The ric that is still losing color is sandwiched between other rics. There are also some red mushrooms on the same rock.

The rics have been target-fed occasionally with oyster eggs and phytoplankton. There are other rics on another rock in the same part of the tank that have doubled in size.

I could run a series of water tests, but in general, other corals in the tank are stable and thriving, including some of the more forgiving SPS (monti caps, digis, staghorn).

[FishTri]

Since the original post, the same thing has happened to two or three more. But it happens only one at a time. They lose color, turn white, then shrink down to a little button and - poof. Gone.

Then the next one starts.

Going on the theory there might be something eating them, I pulled the rock and tried to get a closer look. The only thing I found was a tiny clam near the one ric that is white and shrinking now. I doubt he's the culprit, but I pulled him off anyway. What else should I be looking for?

Anyone seen anything like this before? Why are they going one at a time? And only on this rock. There are at least twenty other rics in the tank, all doing well.

I'm stumped.

[spanishmack]

are they getting stung by the red mushies?

or maybe bacterial infection?

you are talking about floridas and not yumas aren't you?

[FishTri]

Yes, floridas.

Bacterial infection? I would think this would attach all of them. I seem to be losing them one at a time.

[reefrf]

I am having the same issue with my Rics. I'm tagging along to learn more!

Thanks,

[FishTri]

So far, no one has come with anything.

Its been several weeks since the last one started to turn white. I'm keeping an eye on it. It shrunk a little, but has not continued to shrink and disappear... yet.

One suggestion was to assume there is some predator, and to remove the rest of the rics from the rock, then get rid of the rock.

Before I go through that drill, I'd love to know if there is some common ric predator that other people have had to deal with.

[Ryan L.]

I am having the same issue with 2 batches of orange florida ricordia that I bought. Mine shrunk in size. . . turned white. . . and then were gone. I bought some green florida ricordia at the same time and they did great!

[Reefer577]

Posting pics might help. How are the rest of your tank parameters? Is your water warm?

[2006]

I would shade them sounds like a lot of light. You could dip them and then place in shade to cover all your bases.

[Bill Nye]

I would shade them sounds like a lot of light. You could dip them and then place in shade to cover all your bases.

I have heard Rics will melt if you dip them so I would be careful. Maybe im wrong though as it seems people have experience with it here.

[zachfishman]

I hope this doesn't happen to my new ones. I tried rics a long time ago and they faded and shrunk away. I've heard that they are susceptible to pH and KH variation. This makes sense since I was dosing kalk via the slurry method when I lost those rics.

[kool-cat]

I've had this happen before too. I just started on a new batch and they have faded slightly in color. I plan to move them more to the side, hopefully that wil help.

[Eel Freak]

This is happening to me as well. And like others, some of my more delicate creatures (clams, sps, etc.) are doing just fine... Tagging along for some more info

[fvandijk]

I had something like this happen several years ago.
In the same tank I had multiple colonies of healthy ricordea (florida collected and/or aquaculture) which were never affected.
I subsequently bought a haitian ricordea off ebay- and over a period of several months that colony dwindled, although they looked otherwise healthy. Nothing else in tank seemed to be affected.
I never figured out what the problem was, but ended up loosing every last one of that colony.

[Rayho]

I am having the same problem...anyone know why?

[Bonvivant]

I had the same thing happen with a yuma colony. One by one they all faded away. All other yumas and rics were fine.

[adam82]

wow!!!!!!! so everyone here was having the same problem and nobody has any answers??????????????

[FishTri]

Wow, I posted the thread over five years ago and it still attracts the occasional post.

Not that I've done a lot of research, but, no, I still have not figured out what happened.

Adam82, are you seeing the same thing?

[adam82]

yes at random times some colonies will be fine as others melt away.

[strout]

Maybe we could send Coralmorphologic an email and see what they say. They are the pros with this coral.