beginner needs help = coral dying

[split]

my tank has finished cycling , its been a few weeks after . the other day i was at the fish shop and couldnt help to look at the coral. i bought 2 little different types . the flower type - correlamorph , and also another type - which has like a hundred little tenticles . which were purple with fluro lime tips . when i saw them in the shop , they were moving around heaps , and were about an inch long , all the strands. very playfull . anway when i took them home , they were only like 2mm , they were hiding back into the holes. i thought after a while they would come out again and they havent . its been 3 days , iv fed them everyday . i looked today and they werent even out , you could see them but they were like 0.5 of a mm out of the holes... you could just see them . i picked the piece up and they started to move and become all stringy and smoke like . aswell as the flower . it started to stretch , from a flower , and today i found it in 2 pieces .


bought a small type yesterday aswell and it was out when i saw it in the shop . when i came home it hasnt appeared out yet.

what do i do? worried.

 

[FroggyFox]

Can you tell us your tank stats? How much/what kind of light do you have? What are your ammonia/nitrate/sg readings etc? What size tank...what other critters are in it?

 

[split]

i only have fish in my tank at the moment . a clown fish , a valentini puffer fish , damsel , humbug damsel. a fair bit of live rock . its a the tank dimensions are 80 L x 60 H x 40 D . the last i checked my nitrates were 50 . and nitrites were below 1 ppm ..i need a new amonia test kit at the monet , so havent checked that . also have the blue coral light , and 2 other white lights , but iv only been using the blue one the past few days since i have bought the coral.

 

[wayne]

OK, we have two corals, a corallimorph and an unknown. The coraalimorph should be easy, and possible, with the lighting you have, the other could be anything, but is almost certainly doomed - if you don't know what it is, how are you going to feed it.

Also frankly speaking the water conditions in your tank are likely not ready or stable yet for corals to survive, though the corallimorph is pretty tough so I would advise getting the lights on and leaving it alone. In your situation, with a new tank and no practical experience there is little more you can do. The other is pretty much curtains I'm afraid. I would advise against buying any more until you are a bit better prepared

 

[split]

so is my lighting sufficient ? could it be the calcium levels? . do coral grow better with just one blue light on , or the blue and the 2 white ones? . unsure about that .

i have been feeding them too . i was recommended a liquid to feed them , which works good.

but what should i do or check?

 

[wayne]

so is my lighting sufficient ?<<Who knows? Different corals, different needs, and hundreds of little tentacles is not a very good description. For the corallimorph though it's probably yes, if they're turned ON>> could it be the calcium levels? <<Very, very unlikely to be a problem. But what's your pH, KH>>. do coral grow better with just one blue light on , or the blue and the 2 white ones? <<Why unsure. For most corals that is the absolute bottom of the pile for light levels>>
i have been feeding them too . i was recommended a liquid to feed them , which works good. <<Really?? How do you know?? Most of those liquids are absolute junk, you may as well put sugar in your water. Do you need to keep it chilled? Pollution in a bottle>>

but what should i do or check - I would just leave well alone. You have high nitrates, and any nitrite , though not toxic in salt is abad sign. Your tank is still cycling, and frankly it will be prone to a series of problems, including algae growths for the next few months. After that is the time to add corals that you can identify, maintain

 

[1979camaro]

the hundreds of little tentacles sounds like goniopora to me