Whats the hardest coral to kill

[jarrett shark]

I been having trouble keping coral and want to make sure my water is not screwed up bad. Yes I tested everything and I am perfect. even had 3 other people test so I dont go crazy. so i am asking what coral is the hardest to kill? I want to try this first before I empty my tank and start over!
I was thinking Xenia's but maybe there is something else?

[ChadTheSpike]

probably a red mushroom... I remember seeing them in 'fish only' setups with triggers and the like under NO flourescents in the late 80s...

So red mushrooms have my vote.

[the_rider]

Normal mushrooms...

When I setup my first tank, I had a rock with mushrooms that went in an hour drive in my trunk at -30 celsius then in the tank directly, cycle and everything and they survived. I even had some that stay alive in my sump for 1 year now ... I upgraded so I'm not sure where this rock is but I'm sure they are alive somewhere lol

[Mariner]

In many tanks Xenia will thrive and be virtually indestructible, but occasionally, for some unknown reason, it won't do well in a given tank. For my money, the toughest coral is probably the humble mushroom, with star polyps, xenia and some species of zoanthids running close second, third and fourth.
FWIW,
Mariner

[Gary Majchrzak]

IME certain Protopalythoa are the most resilient of all corals.

[kingfisher62]

Shrooms for sure!

[kingfisher62]

In many tanks Xenia will thrive and be virtually indestructible, but occasionally, for some unknown reason, it won't do well in a given tank.

Such was my story , xenia did great for a few months than melted away!

[kingfisher62]

BTW, What type of lighting do you have?

[r-balljunkie]

kenya tree.

any reefs in kenya?
:lmao:

[tahoe61]

GSP, but as with Xenia it gets out of control and can be a pest. I would stick with mushrooms and zoos.

[davocean]

GSP gets my vote

[DThompson]

Maybe your hand coral is killing your other corals. :fun2:

But, I doubt your parameters are perfect. By that I mean, perfect according to what? Can you post them here and tell us more about your tank. Lighting, Flow, size, temp, tank size, filtration, etc.

[moonyrat]

Such was my story , xenia did great for a few months than melted away!

melted away?:eek1:

[csweattgo]

i would say mushrooms as well..

[davocean]

Zenia can melt away from water being too clean, or not enough nutrients, otherwise they would get my vote.
Zenia is one of the only corals not affected by nem stings IME.

[HOZER62]

My vote is mushrooms also!!!!

[yzfr6]

Mines GPS that stuff is nasty to get rid off. I had a piece of live rock covered in it. scarped it all of with a razor. It grew again. Kept the live rock out of the tank for several months grew back again!!!

[camlov2]

I would go with GSP or some yellow zoas.

[tkeracer619]

Arctic Acropora

Impossible to kill.

[ludnix]

What is sold as Red/Orange/Pink Montipora Capricornus (though is debated to what it's actual species is) is extremely hardy. I absolutely cannot kill it without working at it. I have flakes of it growing all over my rocks from chipping away it and pieces just landing there and growing. I also have little shards growing in my sand that will continue to grow down there until I remove them, it is willing to grow even while the rest of my corals suffer.

For references here's a photo on it:

http://www.reefsome.com/gallery/u/ludnix/for-sale/thumbs/Montipora-sp-800x600.jpg (http://www.reefsome.com/gallery/focus/v/ludnix/for-sale/Montipora-sp.jpg)

http://www.reefsome.com/gallery/u/ludnix/thumbs/coral6-800x600.jpg (http://www.reefsome.com/gallery/focus/v/ludnix/coral6.jpg)

[drparker]

My first answer is it appears to always be the one you don't want.:mad2:

IME certain Protopalythoa are the most resilient of all corals. I have to agree with Gary, I've got some ugly brown Palys that won't die even when I've lost every other coral in a crash.

[jarrett shark]

.Maybe your hand coral is killing your other corals. :fun2:

But, I doubt your parameters are perfect. By that I mean, perfect according to what? Can you post them here and tell us more about your tank. Lighting, Flow, size, temp, tank size, filtration, etc.

well there are to many things that I point out that tells me I am doing something wrong but others always say its ok:

calc=430
alk=12
mag=1450
ammon=0
nitrate=0
nitrite=0
ph=8-8.2
phosphate=0
salinity1.025
77deg steddy

I had 3 people test my water to double confirm with there test kits

I have a 3 month old 220gal(72x24x30) I tranfered my 75gal and 90gal all into this tank. there was no spike at all

Ihave 3-400w MH and 2-140w vho atinics. 75 sump, 25gal fuge - 30gal frag tank with 1-175w MH , 2vortechs mp40 (plenty of flow)

I first thought it was the lighting until I installed the frag tank and there I lose coral also?

I thought it was my Ro/di but I change everything on it, but always read zero ppm's

I thought i had a something in the water so I installed 2- UV lights

I do 2x- 80 water changes every 2 weeks

all fish are doing great, eat like sharks

have a small case now of cyclo in fuge but DT is to much flow to stick

also have poly fiters and no trace of copper

[Michael_84]

Maybe one of your "Eats Like a SharK" fish are eating them... Do you have lids over the tanks?

[mano84]

What is sold as Red/Orange/Pink Montipora Capricornus (though is debated to what it's actual species is) is extremely hardy. I absolutely cannot kill it without working at it. I have flakes of it growing all over my rocks from chipping away it and pieces just landing there and growing. I also have little shards growing in my sand that will continue to grow down there until I remove them, it is willing to grow even while the rest of my corals suffer.

I don't agree with that one, that monti died on me when all other corals were doing good.

IME xenia, green star polyp and mushrooms are the most hardy corals.

[jarrett shark]

my mushrooms melted when I first did the tranfer?
no fish in frag tank?
I will try xenia

[tibob32]

Maybe one of your tests is out of wack. Consider having your water tested at the LFS maybe?

[RRaider]

Zenia can melt away from water being too clean, or not enough nutrients, otherwise they would get my vote.
Zenia is one of the only corals not affected by nem stings IME.

Not really, I just had a BTA and a hammer go at it and while neither was seriously damaged the BTA definitely took the worst of it. It wound up splitting into 3 BTA's. The hammer is virtually unaffected.

[corbett_n]

have you checked for stray voltage?

[Chiefsurfer]

^+1

Everything seema on par. Your ALK is a LITTLE high, as is your magneisum, but NOT to the point I think it would melt all your corals. what kind of dosing do you do? I have heard some-times that 2 things dosing at the same time can screw with you for some reason, like Kalk and vodka for instance. Was this a pro-built tank, or home built? Did you buy it used, or new? I doubt it would be the test-kit if you crossed with other people's test-kits. What kind of corals do you have? Do you have a leather? Do you have any poisonous fish, or inverts? Like cucumbers, sea apple, slugs/nudis, that kind of stuff? Those can all produce toxins that may affect other corals.

[fleming3]

I got a single Yellow Star Polyp on a rock I had in a Nano Cube that literally multiplied itself 1000 times over. It not only survived, but even thrived a period of "little to no maintenance" when I had a pretty grueling travel schedule at my last job. No joke, I probably traded in 3 huge rocks of it at my LFS for credit.

[kingfisher62]

Was your tank or liverock used ? I am just thinking of the possibility of someone treating with copper than selling the tank.

[lougotzz]

Do you acclimate your corals to light?

[Eel Freak]

Kenya tree gets my vote... Puffer food, hair algae, cyano, no light, it's indestructible IME.

[jarrett shark]

have you checked for stray voltage?
No I did not but just bought a ground,but won't fish die first?

^+1

Everything seema on par. Your ALK is a LITTLE high, as is your magneisum, but NOT to the point I think it would melt all your corals. what kind of dosing do you do? I have heard some-times that 2 things dosing at the same time can screw with you for some reason, like Kalk and vodka for instance. Was this a pro-built tank, or home built? Did you buy it used, or new? I doubt it would be the test-kit if you crossed with other people's test-kits. What kind of corals do you have? Do you have a leather? Do you have any poisonous fish, or inverts? Like cucumbers, sea apple, slugs/nudis, that kind of stuff? Those can all produce toxins that may affect other corals.
I had a leather that I lost in the tranfer? Would this do it?

Was your tank or liverock used ? I am just thinking of the possibility of someone treating with copper than selling the tank.

I thought this first but all rock came from a full SPS tank so I ruled that out also used Poly pads with no sign of color change?

Do you acclimate your corals to light?

When I did the tranfer "no" so I know thats what killed some but why All?
even in the Frag tank I lose some and thats only under a 175MH(its 16'' high from water)?

[lougotzz]

Well are the corals going from dim pc's or T-5's to 400 watt metal halides? thats a pretty big adjustment. I would assume if all your parameters are perfect you would need to think of things like this that arnt the normal reasons for death.

In the frag tank maybe they werent getting enough light. When you switched from the frag tank to the display did you light acclimate then? 175 watt metal halides 16 inches above the water is pretty dim next to 3 400 watt metal halides.

[Gold Stripe]

Kenya Tree or Colt. Freakin Colt grows like a weed.

[DThompson]

All good advice and I think you have some things to check. You have something in that system that is killing them. Hard to say what. Maybe too much light, maybe you are starving them (although I doubt it), stray voltage, etc. Your Alk and Mag looked a little high.

Do you run Carbon? If not run a big bag of carbon for a week and then try adding a colt or kenya. These guys gave you some great ideas.

Keep your lights down to about 8 hours, and try keeping your MH's at 4 hours for now.

Let us know what you find out.

[kobett]

i agree with the mushrooms!

[argileh]

Go for Cladiella, it's undestructable

[luther1200]

Mushrooms

[chuckreef]

Just a thoought, what if the 77 temp. is really 75?
Especially at late night/ earlyin AM when you'll never notice it?

[lostintheocean]

i had a large aptisia sprout up in the middle of my xenis and it cleared out the xenia near it. Got a CBB adn it made quick work of the nem and xenis a going nuts. I have xenia and gsp on islands to they can not spread. they are awsone corals but do need to be isolated if you want to control them.

[goldmaniac]

green or brown zoas/palys
i can't get rid of them and they are popping up everywhere. I saw a couple growing on my kitchen sink last week.

[ilikelps]

aiptasia gets my vote :)

[jarrett shark]

Well are the corals going from dim pc's or T-5's to 400 watt metal halides? thats a pretty big adjustment. I would assume if all your parameters are perfect you would need to think of things like this that arnt the normal reasons for death.

I down graded my light to 250w and still the same

In the frag tank maybe they werent getting enough light. When you switched from the frag tank to the display did you light acclimate then? 175 watt metal halides 16 inches above the water is pretty dim next to 3 400 watt metal halides.

how high should the MH be above my frag tank? (size 24''x24''x6'')

All good advice and I think you have some things to check. You have something in that system that is killing them. Hard to say what. Maybe too much light, maybe you are starving them (although I doubt it), stray voltage, etc. Your Alk and Mag looked a little high.

Do you run Carbon? If not run a big bag of carbon for a week and then try adding a colt or kenya. These guys gave you some great ideas.

Keep your lights down to about 8 hours, and try keeping your MH's at 4 hours for now.

Let us know what you find out.

?



how do I reduce my alk and mag?
MH light only on 6hrs
added a kenya and still not looking good?
I have a huge carbon reactor



Just a thoought, what if the 77 temp. is really 75?
Especially at late night/ earlyin AM when you'll never notice it?


I have 3 temp gauges and no swing ever
I have a chiller and 3 huge heaters

[billabong08]

Great information here! Keep it coming! lol

free bump!

[sanababit]

mushrooms have my vote

sana

[tdwright1971]

i have a gsp and xenia war going on in my tank. The poor zoas and mushrooms can't keep up/ I thought one piece of my xenia was melting but then the pieces that broke off landed elsewhere and grew new peices, then the parent piece spit into five. .. and i thought aiptasia was invasive...

[KarlBob]

I'm going with Kenya tree. The fact that it "self-frags" means that isolating it on a particular rock is virtually impossible.

[gaucho30]

Mushrooms. My friend has 24g nanocube which he hasn't changed the water in for over 6 months and the mushrooms are thriving. I can't even begin to tell you what this tank has been through and those little buggers are still chugging along.

[DON CORALEON]

Is there possibly a brass fitting in the plumbing,sounds like copper to me are your snail staying alive?

[travis32]

You're alk and mag seem high don't they or is it just that I've never had mine that high. LOL.

The highest my alk has ever been is where it's at now, 10.22.

My xenia started to calcify (turned pure white and stopped pulsing) when I raised my calcium from 320 that it was used to to 400-440 where it is now. However, 24 hours later, the bleached ones were no longer bleached and were pulsing again.

I have 4 forrests of xenia and another one starting on my sand bed... My GSP though, aren't growing fast. I think I've seen 2 -4 new polyps finally starting to grow in the last 4 - 6 weeks I've had them. I think my Acans have grown faster in the last week than my GSP has in the last 4.

And I want my GSP to grow. (I have a nano frag of around 1.5" square of it.)

My vote goes for Xenia, but then again, I can't kill xenia no matter how hard I try. My hair mushrooms are very close behind my xenia. They along with the xenia were in my tank when it cycled. They're as big as ever and covering an entire rock. Thankfully they're staying on the same rock and not expanding to another rock.

[SaltieG]

Im going to have to say a red mushroom. I had one come loose from where I put it and I didn't know where it went. Well one day when I went to clean my canister filter I found it attached to the bottom of the inside of the filter. It had to be there for a good month or so because I only need to clean that filter once a month. I put it back in the display and it is growing like nothing happened.

[Frick-n-Frags]

i have seen mushrooms not like their tank and shrink. they are not the toughest

xenia is full on rage or full on shrink away and die, also nowhere near the toughest.

no SPS is the toughest


after owning over 100different coral species and putting them through various hell due to my ignorance and accidents, the thin tan atlantic gorgonians are far and away the toughest coral i have owned.(not the thick briariums and corky fingers) they cruised the < 3dkh alk accident, 95º for 2 weeks accident(dont ask..hooboy, that one cleaned everything else but a nonphoto coral and sponges out..fortunately that was when the tanks were already being idled for valonia issues so most corals were gone already, thats why i didnt notice immediately until i seemed to be using way too much makeup water..mid jan ..no sense of water too hot..thermometer stuck at 76º), algae megablooms..and they just dont die..

[Beaun]

I would say zoanthids, then kenya tree, then mushrooms.

I have seen zoanthids thrive in some funky tanks with not much else able to grow.

[WhoDey64]

Kenya Tree without a doubt. I have had rocks covered with them in full blackout for 4 months now and they are still alive.