Is my colt coral dying, no real information, reading   9/25/08 Hello, I just purchased a colt coral from my LPSs <LFS> a few days ago. When I put it in the tank it was fully extended and very healthy looking. The next day however it shrank in size quite a bit, some of his arms were still standing up but he was in size. On the 3rd day in the tank it started to hang to the side and look deflated. I called the pet store, and they told me to move it to a different spot in the tank and see how it does. When I moved it to a new location, it started giving off a white smoke like mucus for about 15 minutes. <Reacting to...?> Today it looks worse yet, it is still hanging over and deflated and now it has what looks like thick clear mucus on some of its arms. All my other corals are doing excellent, <... may be mal-influencing the Alcyoniid> the water is testing perfect. <... dismal... what does this mean?> I have the colt coral in a spot where it is getting low to moderate current and medium to high light. I don't know what to do. Any help is appreciated, thanks. Sheena <... no data of use, nor apparent reading... Start here: http://wetwebmedia.com/cnidcompppt.htm  and the linked files above, then here: http://wetwebmedia.com/alcyoniids.htm and... Bob Fenner>
Re: is my colt coral dying... still not reading  9/25/08 I have been trying to find something online that will help me fix this problem. I found some cases that have to do with a colt coral looking deflated, but nothing on what is the cause and how to treat this problem. I have the coral about 6 inches away from the other corals in my tank, which is a 55 gallon. Today the coral looks like it is melting. <... read where you were referred to> There are zero nitrates, nitrites and ammonia in the tank, my Ph is 8.4. I just did a 25% water change the week before I purchased the colt coral. Should I do another water change because the coral is giving off that thick mucus which I read can be toxic? <A good idea... better to read... move this animal... it's being too mal-affected by the other Cnidarians present...> It says to remove the mucus, but it's on the coral. Do I peel it off? I read that this coral is very hardy and recommended for novices as a good first coral. <Yes... but not... with the others well-established...> The other corals in my tank are, 1 hammer coral, 1 frogspawn, 1 bubble, 1 large green star ,1 fox coral and I also have a few mixed zoos. These are all on the small side, but are doing very well. Wouldn't one of these be showing signs of distress if it was a problem with the water? <... Please, don't read... instead read where you were referred to... There are tens of thousands that do... daily. B>

Colt Coral (formerly Cladiella and more recently Alcyonium. Now Klyxum) I  have been searching for info on colt coral maybe you could help me. recently my colt stopped polyping out. I checked the water and all is very  good. my Bullseye, clove polyps, mushrooms and hammer are all doing great although I did notice my button polyps a little withdrawn. I am worried the colt will eventually starve (it has been 3 weeks since it has fully polyped. Thanks for any help or info Rich <do try a change of carbon (small amounts used weekly instead of large portion monthly), a good water change of 25% or better, and be sure that your skimmer is giving you almost daily skimmate. You have listed some severely noxious corals that require these measures. If water quality hasn't been up to par, you might blame allelopathy from the chemical warfare of your corals. Anthony>

Capnella "flopping" Dear Guys, Hope you  had a great holiday season.  I can't find anything on my situation in your archives.   <appreciate you looking... abroad, this dilemma falls under the category of Nephtheids deflating with most attention drawn to the aposymbiotic cauliflower corals> I have a large Capnella that has been doing well.  It has taken, however, to laying down on the substrate, often with different branches in different directions.  I thought perhaps it was attempting to attach, <at best a reproductive strategy... more likely duress> but it frequently changes where the branches are. Sometimes it goes upright again.  The polyps are open and otherwise it appears great.  However, my clam does not appreciate being draped.  Everything else is fine; parameters good.  Is this a problem or not?  Pam S. <likely a sign of stress... is there a very noxious coral nearby (within 6") like Colt coral, a Euphylliid (haller, octopus, torch, bubble), mushroom anemones or Starpolyp? Else, have you been weak on carbon use (not even monthly let alone weekly)... same neglect on water changes? I'm suspecting a noxious accumulation in the water from husbandry or allelopathy or both. Do send a picture if possible. Best regards Anthony>

Sarcophyton....toadstool leather On 8/11/02, I added a small 3" or so toadstool leather to my 10g. I figured it would be a good hardy coral to go with my small Pachyclavularia (green stars) and small mushroom rock (Discosoma).  <Yikes! all three are hardy indeed but a 10g is too tiny for all three unless you are doing frequent water changes. Discosoma and Starpolyps are very aggressive and release many noxious elements into the water... almost as much as leather :) > As it grew, I had ambitions of moving it to my soon to be 46g reef, and finally to a 180g.  <awesome!> It came not being attached to a base and this was my first problem. Super glue gel and a rubber band did not do well, and the time for my vacation came (I figured it would be thriving by then) so I placed it on a rock and supported it with smaller rocks around it. I came home and noticed that some of the polyps had finally extended. But on closer inspection, I also noticed that part of it had sagged down through a rock crevice. Since then, it has been a struggle to try and bring the whole coral back to health. More polyps are finally extending, however, the whole capitulum will not open up like it was at the LFS.  <try stronger water movement as well as more frequent water changes to dilute the products of allelopathy/aggression> Today, I noticed some of the section that was down in the rock had become "cheesy" so I removed as much as possible.....also some of the polyps have gotten darker. I am including a picture so I can possibly get an answer as to how it looks and what I might be missing. <yes... dangerous. Good move to remove/siphon necrotic areas> Tank parameters include: 10g tank, maxi-jet 400 PH and Penguin mini....no filter media, 1" Southdown, 12 lbs. liverock, 32w SMARTLAMP PC lighting. I have been running some carbon in the HOB filter and doing weekly 10-15% water changes.  <much bigger water changes are needed here without heavy carbon use or skimming. Noxious elements from coral aggression build up quickly as you have noticed> If more lighting is needed, I can pick up another 32w pc kit over the weekend.  <I'd invest in a bigger tank instead as soon as possible> The other two corals are thriving.  <they are more aggressive <G>> Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Ryan A. <best regards, Anthony>

Help! Hi Bob. I'm back again with another question. I have a 100 gallon reef tank. All water parameters are good. My question involves mushroom corals. I've had the ones in my tank for over a year. They have done well, reproducing and spreading nicely. About a week ago I noticed that a few were dissolving for no apparent reason. I removed all visibly affected individuals from the tank, did a 10% water change and added a new bag of activated carbon. To remove the rest of the individuals would involve dismantling a significant part of the reef. Since then, almost all individuals in all of the various colonies scattered throughout the tank have died. What is odd is that all of the other corals in that tank are fine. These include a variety of polyps, leathers and a few hardy hard corals.  Any ideas on what might be happening? Suggestions? Solutions? Thanks very much for your help... Mike Fodrea >> Yet another example of... evolution/competition in a small living space... My best guess is a winning (for the perpetrator) production of Terpenoid poison... by one of the Alcyoniids (Leather Soft Corals) in your system... triggering the massive die-off the Corallimorphs (mushrooms)... You did what I would: remove the most severely affected individuals, make the water change, add activated carbon.... About the only things that would have helped prevent this "melt down" would be enhanced skimming, more regular use of biochemical filtrants, use of mud/algae filters, more, larger water changes.... It's not lost on me that although there are many settings I've seen in the wild with soft (Order Alcyonacea) corals and hard (O. Scleractinia) juxtaposed... most all the places where mushrooms (O. Corallimorpharia) are found in numbers, exclude these groups' members proximally. Bob Fenner