[mtfabel]

I have had a colt coral for about a month now. At first it was doing really well. In the past couple of days it is not getting big during the day like it has before. I have checked all my parameters(Calcium, Alk, PH, Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite, Phosphate) and everything is where it should be. Anyone have any suggestions on what might be causing this and what I might do to fix it!?

P.S. I have several other corals including SPS and they are all doing great.

[Krazy]

Maybe you have a bit of chemical warfare between the corals going on ?

How big is the tank?

Do you run activated carbon as well ??

[mtfabel]

My tank is 180 gallons and yes I do use activated carbon. Its not really that close to anything. Defintly not touching anything.

[Kevin W]

it could be shedding does it have a slime coming off of it

[mtfabel]

I thought maybe that it might be shedding, but I dont see any slime on it, and I havn't touched it to feel to see if it had any slime on it either.

[mtfabel]

Well my colt is getting worse Im posting a pic to see if anyone can tell what wrong with it.
Im the first tank in tank of the month if you would like to see it before it shriveled.

[Kevin W]

have you tried to move it into better current or less current is there any spots that look like something has been eating it?? i found a nudibanch eating mine when i first brought it home i took it back to the lps and they found the nudi on it.. it was under the sand and i could not see it on the colt plus it was the same color as the base of the coral i also have seen my camel shrimp eating on corals that are not doing well.. is that an elegance coral on the left side of your tank if so how well has it done in you tank I want to buy one but im unsure how well it will do they are alot of $$ and i dont want it to die

[mtfabel]

Yes that is an elegant coral. I have had it for about a year now. Moved it in this tank from a previous setup. I will admit though that it is hard to find a good elegant theses days. I got lucky when i found this one. I am doing and iodine dip with my colt today. I hope that if its a bacterial infection the iodine will cure it. Yes I did pull it out of the sand and inspect it and couldnt find anything on it that might be eating it.

[c-c]

mtfabel
Here is a pic of my colt coral. I believe it looks similar to yours.



I understand that most species contain symbiotic algae and need strong to moderate light intensities. They also require strong to moderate water motion. Get some indirect current flowing around it. I noticed you had it on the floor in your tank. Trying putting it up closer to the light.

Let me know how it is doing. The colt is my favorite in the tank. My clarki hangs out in it. All the fish seem to come around it for protection when startled. Hope it survives.
c-c

[Krazy]

Here's a picture of my colt coral, I keep it on the sand bed, I have pretty descent flow on it as well..

look at the base on this thing, I bought it for 20 bucks and the base was about a half dollar with 2 branches on it, now its base is about as wide as a peanut butter jar if not bigger, I'm gettin ready to frag it up I think, my hammer coral has been extending some sweepers over to sting it..

did yours ever come back to life? or did it completely melt off ?

[c-c]

Nice colt, Kevin!
Mtfabel, Try this web site about colts:
"Frag" of the Month - February 2007 - Propagation of Colt and Organ Pipe Corals - Reefkeeping.com

[c-c]

Keith, sorry I called you Kevin

[Krazy]

Originally Posted by c-c

Keith, sorry I called you Kevin

haha, thats alright, that seems to happen almost common, lol

[mtfabel]

No it didnt survive. It finally completly disentegrated all the way leaving me with a small peice of rock.

[c-c]

Sorry to hear of your colt's crashing...

If you are every interested in trying colt again, the article I mentioned in previous post 3-14-07 said that colts when damaged (ex. by a fall, etc), or injured through propogation "are very conducive to microbial growth on the damaged tissue, which can turn the coral into a pile of mush in a matter of days."

Wondering if you may have dropped someting on it, or it got hit by a net, etc.

Wondering if any of your other corals were affected?
PS. you have a beautiful tank, as noted from tank of the month pics.
c-c

[mtfabel]

I am pretty sure that I didnt drop anything on it. But you can never be totally sure since I unfortunatlly have to go to work. Before all of this started I had a Formia starfish that was in bad shap and it died. I think that when that happened that started the problem. But ever since the colt has withered away everything else seems to be doing really well.