A buddy of mine bought my 30g and since it was already setup he added a few things. One of which was a hydnophora coral. The LFS said it was an lps but apparently its a sps. It was a bright neon green when he bought it. We he came home today it shed its outer skin (looks all white now) and a few of the tank inhabintant are dead. We did a quick google search and it mentioned it puts off a chemical that is toxic much like anemones when they die. Can anyone give any advice about what to do or any additional info about this coral? thee doesn't appear to be alot online
I need info... and Quick!
- Thread starter TMartinez
- Start date
Well, this tank is mine. I did an 80% water change, and things are holding back up. The nitrate levels were still fairly high after the 80% change.
As far as how everythign held up to such a quick toxin, which research indicates that these corals are very toxic when agitated...
My Coco worm who was thriving marvelously lost most of his crown and actually abandoned ship and left his tube, but actually crawled back into his tube and has reclaimed the crown he dropped. My hammer has lost a lot of it's heads, but is still alive. My leather toadstool doesn't seem to care, and my brain coral tucked himself up and lost about 15% of his size, he did however let some of his sweepers out last night - which was the first time he's done that since the hydnophora started to poison the water. The kenya tree probably won't make it, not will the xenia if I had to guess (both are tiny frags). The Skunk shrimp died first, the firefish made it out and I moved him into my 5 gallon where he is probably hating life since there are no hiding spots, and he is tucked in with the fish I bought the day I found my tank crashed...My Flame Angel, Coral Banded and fairy wraise
Had anyone else heard of the coral doing this? I will post some pictures later tonight, as I cannot upload pictures at work.
As far as how everythign held up to such a quick toxin, which research indicates that these corals are very toxic when agitated...
My Coco worm who was thriving marvelously lost most of his crown and actually abandoned ship and left his tube, but actually crawled back into his tube and has reclaimed the crown he dropped. My hammer has lost a lot of it's heads, but is still alive. My leather toadstool doesn't seem to care, and my brain coral tucked himself up and lost about 15% of his size, he did however let some of his sweepers out last night - which was the first time he's done that since the hydnophora started to poison the water. The kenya tree probably won't make it, not will the xenia if I had to guess (both are tiny frags). The Skunk shrimp died first, the firefish made it out and I moved him into my 5 gallon where he is probably hating life since there are no hiding spots, and he is tucked in with the fish I bought the day I found my tank crashed...My Flame Angel, Coral Banded and fairy wraise
Had anyone else heard of the coral doing this? I will post some pictures later tonight, as I cannot upload pictures at work.
I don't have any "evidence" for that specific coral, but its well known that some corals (mostly softies) can quite toxic, alive or dead, emmiting directly into the water collum, where as others have toxic sweapers/feelers (so risks to the inhabitants are lower). The purpose for the toxins is tol litterally kill of other corals in its direct surroundings, the thing is in the real world there is tens of thousands of gallons for these toxins to dilute into, so only really really really close corals (like almost touching) are affected by the toxins, alowing the toxic coral to spread and grow. The problem with that is, in our small system "aggressive" corals toxins can build up in the water causing things that would normaly be unaffected by the toxins, such as fish or distant corals, are poisoned/killed.
That said, who knows may not have been toxins, could have just been a die off due to stress or w/e which could then have causes an ammonia spike killing other critters... its hard to tell... as most people don't keep parameter diaries like I do... LOL I check every other day and record the parms, untill a point in which they are "Stable" (minimal changes) then I check weekly and when there is a noticable change, such as a drop in Ca, or Mg, or an increase in N then I make adjustments to the system, and check daily untill stable again, and repeat as nessisary... that said my systems have always been rather huge by comparison so dangerous fluctuations are generally not common... smallest tank i've done for any lenth of time being 250gal (had a few small ones temporarily for QT and the like).
That said, who knows may not have been toxins, could have just been a die off due to stress or w/e which could then have causes an ammonia spike killing other critters... its hard to tell... as most people don't keep parameter diaries like I do... LOL I check every other day and record the parms, untill a point in which they are "Stable" (minimal changes) then I check weekly and when there is a noticable change, such as a drop in Ca, or Mg, or an increase in N then I make adjustments to the system, and check daily untill stable again, and repeat as nessisary... that said my systems have always been rather huge by comparison so dangerous fluctuations are generally not common... smallest tank i've done for any lenth of time being 250gal (had a few small ones temporarily for QT and the like).