Candy Cane Woes?  11/4/10
Hi All-
<Hello Sal>
Been awhile, but I thought I'd let you know what's doing. I had a little back-n-forth with Scott regarding clowns awhile ago. I had good success, and the little buggers are 5 months old (pic attached).
<Well done>
I'm selling them privately. Besides $$ for clowns, I got a nice candy cane frag as barter from a friend (also, pic attached). I propped it up on a piece of rubble, but one of my snails kept knocking it over. So, I pulled it out and wrapped a rubber band *once *around the "cane" and many times around the rock. In the process, because my hands were wet and the coral was covered in mucus, it fell out of my little gloved hands and onto the floor. Yes, it broke, but fortunately it was a clean break at the base of a branch. I then
finished my rubber band binding, rinsed it off in fresh seawater, and replaced the larger piece. I stuck the "base" of the smaller piece into a hole in a chunk of base rock. Took a day to "regroup", but it looked fine for 2 weeks.
<Ok, fine so far>
Now, it looks like the green fleshy (polyp?) part is tearing up.
<Mmm, the file sizes on your pics are far too large for me to open, so I am replying 'blind' here.. this could be a polyp bailout, or the coral dying>
It is still opening up and closing, and it is still eating (target feeding of microgack, yum!) I've never had one of these before -- is it dying or is it growing?
<Posted>
Water quality is good: pH=8.2, Ca=400, dKH=11.
<Nitrates? Mg? Temp? Salinity?>
I dose 10mL of SeaChem's Reef Plus into a 55g twice a week (just less than half recommended dose) for trace elements.
<Mmm, not a fan of these products at all>
It's been a very long time since I've had to add chemicals to maintain ionic balance. I took a look on the site, but I didn't find anything to answer my question. Could be I didn't look deep enough?
<Could be'¦ all you can do is keep feeding the coral and keep the water quality up. It may recover, if bailing out it may re-grow a new skeleton, or it may not.>
Many thanks,
-Sal
PS - Please let Bob know I've instituted a Catch-And-Release program for worms -- only the "bad" ones get relocated; the "good" ones get released back onto the reef ;)
<?? You should never, ever release animals from your home aquarium back to the reef, you can and will introduce non-native species that can have devastating consequences on wild animals. Simon> 
<<He's joshin' ya here Simon. B>>

Re: Candy Cane Woes?  11/10/10
Hi Simon-
<Hi Sal>
Thanks for the commentary. Allelopathy! Could be -- skimmer's been working overtime lately, but the snails have been spawning so it's hard to tell.
Very likely those filaments were a reaction, as that photo was taken the day after I got the coral (Oct 17).
<Yes>
I took some pics last night as close up as I could. You can see the filaments retracted. I appreciate how you might consider another animal, but what? Parasite?
<The toxic softies that you are keeping -- 'mushrooms' et. Al. These are animals>
They guy (Kenny) who gave it to me says the mother grows like a weed. You can see what looks like stalk extension in #387 on the big piece. The "break" is way down at the bottom of this piece, very close to the stalk. The best shot of the partitioning is in #388, on the small frag, but you can also see it on the bigger frag in #389. I've checked the logs, and I have had a little PO4 trace now and then, but nothing to worry about.
<ok>
I can move the mushrooms further away (down-current, I presume?) if you think that will help, but Kenny has a ton of them.
<Different systems and their maintenance/ set up can/ will have different effects on many things. Can you say that your system is identical in every way to your friends? Likely not. Running some carbon might help somewhat here>
I will raise my salinity to 1.025, per your suggestion, and get a test for Mg. Where should that be, ideally, and what products do you recommend that work to adjust it?
<Mmm, about three times that of your calcium, something like 1200ppm. How to maintain this depends how large your system is, it's needs/ wants. Best to research this on WWM, perhaps look for articles by Randy Holmes Farley on the web. Your coral is Scleractinian however, and maintenance of Mg is required here>
Also, in terms of water... I don't do RO -- DI only.
My tap water has NO3 of about 8ppm, and the DI filter removes all of these.
<Perhaps investing in a true RODI unit might help you here'¦ will certainly be better than DI only>
As always, much appreciated. Have a great weekend,
<You too Sal, and happy reefing!>
-Sal
<Simon>

Re: Candy Cane Woes? 11/11/10
Hi Simon-
<He's "marked out" for a while>
Oh, boy... where to start?? Yesterday, I discovered my cucumber got himself sucked up into the filter. FORTUNATELY he didn't turn out his innards. It could have been worse. Anyway...
Likely, even two "identical" systems will react differently because Life is unpredictable. I do run carbon all the time, actually (old school) so I'm ahead of that game. I don't think it's the mushies, but rather, from the look of the canes, I think the coral is actually growing. The torn polyp flesh appears to have reattached itself, and at least one crown has experienced a division into two distinct polyps. Apparently, no cause for alarm -- Sal jumped the gun ;)
<Happens>
I am concerned about your suggested Ca level, however. My friend doesn't keep his anywhere near 1200. He hovers at 500, which is not far above my level of 400-420.
<Mmm, the 1,200 value doesn't exist. Your stated range is fine>
He also doesn't do anything with his Mg level.
<Many folks don't... and this is a mistake. Read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/mgmarfaqs.htm
Like myself, he's no authority, but he does what his son tells him. His son was the manager of the largest LFS in the area, and Kenny says he never mentioned Mg.
<Again...>
I went to 3 separate LFS, nobody has an Mg test. I went back to mine. My LFS guy says they don't stock Mg test kits, but he'll be happy to order one for me.
<This or the etailers/Net>
The reason he doesn't stock them is, they are very expensive,
<Not. The Sera, Salifert, other brands are a few tens of dollars>
nobody buys them, and they expire quickly. Then he asked about my sudden interest in Mg levels, so I told him about this thread. He said he doesn't do anything about Mg, either, and keeps his Ca levels at 600 in his reef tank at home.
<Ludicrous... won't happen w/ adequate KH present. Please learn to/use the search tool on WWM ahead of writing us. Read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/calcalkmar.htm
and the linked files above>
He's got a lot of Acros and 2 Candy Canes, all of which grow like weeds.
I'm going to ask one of the guys at the Lab if he'll run a water sample through the mass spec for me. Obviously, this is not something I can do on a regular basis, but it will give me an accurate reading of all traces, including Mg. I may pick up a test if I can find one online. While I can't justify it based on the experience of my peer reef keepers, I do respect your advice as an expert in this area and want to do the right thing for my animals.
<See Dr.s Foster & Smith, Marine Depot (.com)... for this kit>
Thanks much,
-Sal
<Welcome. Bob Fenner>
Re: Candy Cane Woes?  11/11/10
Hi Bob-
<Hey Sal>
Nice to "see" you again. I thank you for the advice. I think I over-reacted on this one. I went back and read *all* the emails from Simon -- methinks a misunderstanding happened on my part and he meant *Mg* should be 1200, not Ca.
<About three times Calcium concentration is right>
This has been the source of my confusion with this thread. Also, apologies for my typo: My LFS guy keeps his Ca at 500, not 600.
<Still too high IMO>
I am happy report my Mg is at 1247ppm as determined by mass spectrometer. I also found a Salifert test on Marine Depot which I'll pick up eventually; thanks for the heads up.
<Welcome>
Regarding the search tool on WWM: I do use it, and very often. However, in a case where something as specific as this is concerned, Google doesn't do a good job of returning only what you want to see.
<Ah yes... do use the search tool that renders the "cached view"... Much easier to see/find highlighted/key words>
Be well.
-Sal
<Am trying my friend. BobF>