pink (?) colt

[snhabitat]

My pink colt, in the tank for one month, is looking less than the pink it was before. It is rather brownish, and has of late looked rather listless, shedding and slumping over. Ideas?

 

[1979camaro]

sounds like a light issue to me...where is it located in the tank? what kind of lighting do you have?

could also be nitrate buildup...do you have a skimmer? how regularly do youj change water?

 

[snhabitat]

Light is about 6.5 watts/gal. It is about 5" below the lights. I could raise it. Water paramfeters are all 0. phytoplankton every 3-4 days. This is an established (1.5 years) 113gal tank. Good skimmer. Hmm.

 

[1979camaro]

if its MH they could be frying it that close

how long has the colt been in there?

 

[snhabitat]

It is PC. Sorry for that omission. It has been in the tank for about a month.

 

[S.Reef]

I would probably move itnear a powerhead or return. I find that big leathers need a lot of water movement.

 

[dbacksrat]

yeah colts need lots of light and current--just to sum it up

 

[wayne]

Skimmer, water movment, size of tank?

 

[snhabitat]

see "What's in your tank" thread, page 2. It is too long to rewrite.

It is possible that the colt was injured in trans-ship (sp?). There seems to be a bit of crud at the base. It seems to be shedding or sloughing off an outer layer.

 

[S.Reef]

That is entirely possible. More current is needed, and sometimes you cant save them.

 

[snhabitat]

Frustration set in. I did a bit of surgery, removed bits that seemed to be deteriorating, and took off one robust branch. The two are perking up this am and I will see how it goes.

 

[dbacksrat]

hmm...surgery...probably not your wisest move (unless you are some sort of veterinarian specializing in soft corals)--this may cause more stress to your colt

 

[1979camaro]

nah, softies actually do really well when you slice and dice, good way to "breed" a lot of them

sounds reasonable to me

 

[S.Reef]

Yeah...you ca cut off a little peice and it will grow into a bigger coral.

 

[aresgod]

yes and it can be quite frustrating with some softies because they tend to propogate like crazy, my xenia take over so i place little LR frags around them and they spread to the small frags and I trade them to other aquarists and my LFS, I am actually now trying to induce spliting in my Rose BTA to see if i cant get him to propogate and sell some little BTA's back and make some $ heheh and help pay for this hobby.