Can't regain polyp extension
 

Hi,

I have an acropora that was very shaggy with extremely long polyps but since the Kent contaminated charbon there is practically no polyp extension and it seem to be getting worse rather than getting better. I did like 7 water changes after the event and it was looking better and better but now I stopped doing the water changes because the analysis on my water showed no more trace of copper or heavy metal but why is it going worse?

Should I keep doing 30% water change even though the copper is gone?

Anything else I can add to the water that will help polyp extention?

I just bought 2 new frags and they are millepora and have great polyps extension even after being a week in my tank.

It lost a lot of color but it is not bleached completely. So sad, that acropora looked like it had fur before.

Here is the before:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=2QYr-SDz6XM

and here is now :(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOzFJ...yer_detailpage

I wouldn't worry about it just yet. Once something agitates them, they can take a few weeks or more to come back. Adding things is just creating more change, so I'd avoid that for now. If the others are fine, just give it time.

If you have no more trace of contaminants I would cut back on the huge water changes and return to your regular pre-kent routine. If it worked before then chances are it will work again - with a litlle patience. Good luck.

Ok I will leave it for now. I dose with Zeovit amino acid as I always have done, and of course the 2 part from BRS as always.

The new frags have great polyps extension, to the max I would say, and great color so I guess it is not something in the water but rather that the shaggy acropora is still in shock. Strange, it's been 3 weeks since that event.

Have you looked at the acro at night?.... Does it extend when the lights are off?

+1 for Brad's advice.

I had a temp probe fail and my system dropped down to 71f. It took 3+ weeks for corals to recover.

Cheers,
Tim

Yes and at night only the polyps at the end are coming out, nothing else is even coming out. During the day the other polyps are coming out a little but bearely and the polyps at the ends are hidden.

What worry me is that the coral has some filaments out like if it was still attacked. When I put in Kent carbon it was full of these filaments for a few days.

This hapened on February 9 and it's been 3 weeks and half and things seem to be going down hill instead of improving.

Can the coral still have heavy metal in its flesh and be dying from it? if so what can I do?

Not good
 

Some part of my sps have started to RTN, and yesterday evening I could see lots of filments out, this morning there was absolutely zero polyp extension, so the coral will probably die from the poisoned carbon and never managed to recover from it :(

Another casualty to add to my list of dead corals from this carbon :(

Since the polyps look better at night with lights out I would try to shade the coral during the day.

No, that's the thing. there is absolutely zero polyp extension at night.

There was a little bit at they end of the day before the light went out, but at night even the tip polyps were retracted.

Also I took a frag and the skeleton seam very fragile, very brittle and break easily. Is it possible that then heavy metal poisoning have affected the coral internal structure?

Maybe hydrogen peroxide fill fix it?

Daniella i have the same variety and every now and then when water changes, moving etc occur it takes them a few weeks to recover they get really shocked and will not come back out. But eventually they come around if all your levels are good it will eventually come back around. My suggestion is to let them be and they should come back, by fragging it and playing with it you may be adding extra unnecessary stress to it which will lengthen its recovery

I only fragged it when I saw that some part of it was RTN. It was going better when I was doing daily water change but since I have not do a water change in a week, it went downhill pretty fast. It's like the flesh is getting more thin by the days and the skeleton is getting fragile. I don't yours ever got copper poisoning...not sure it would come back.

I had that coral bleach before and lost polyp extension but like you said in a few weeks it was going better and better. Now it's the opposite that is hapening, it is going worse and worse with less and less polyp extension and flesh going thin and disapearing in patches.

Water parameter are great, calcium 420, mag 1400, alkalinity 7.5, nitrates, etc...undetectible with my tests. All other corals are doing great with great polyps extension and last test done on my water showing no level of copper what so ever (below the pro laboratory equipement detection), so there is no more copper in the water.

It is very wierd, as if there is now only some green and brown color on the skeleton and no flesh or a very thin layer of flesh. It used to be plump and hard and when I was touching it, it was not falling apart.

I tried a Revive dip on the frag I did and I put it in my nano. I will see if it will come back.

Should I dip it in Revive as well?
 

Well the frag that I did last evening of that acropora and I put in my nano tank without even any acclimatation has a lot of polyp extension today despite bearely any flow in the spot I put it in and the one in my main tank has none what so ever.

The frag was treated with Revive for 7 minutes. Should I take my main colonie out and treat it with Revive as well?

Parameters in my 2 tanks are very similar, alkalinity is 7 in the nano and 8 in my main tank, calcium is about the same 420 mag 1380 in the nano and 1400 in the main tank.

I think fragging it was a good idea if a coral goes down hill for me I star to look at dragging a health piece. I would also dip the colony f the drag is doing well. Now that you wen through. This I would either give some tags to a fiend for backup or start a fragtank seperate from your mainsystem.glad your frag is doing well if it continues to do so I would do the same to the colony dip wise anyways:):)

Some glad I don't use carbon LOL :)cheers!!!:)

Been drinking heavy last night Denny? :lol:

Its ma phone LOL I have the newfie App LOL

Plus maybe with all these spelling errors ill get my edit button back LOL:pop

Bahaha Christy just noticed the fine print says spellcheck required LOL marko must be loving this LOL

I think that's what I will do, remove the main colonie and dip it and then put it back and see. It's really not looking good today but the frag is looking great. hmmm..I wonder what can cause this that can be cured with Revive. I don't see any flat worms or anything in the dip water.

One thing to watch that i just got burned wiht is to make sure that you've turned down whatever dosing or Calcium reactors you have. I'd pumped my alk up way too high since i had die-off and my coral wasn't using as much as it used to. After all the chaos the little things are what end up getting you :(.

The revive def helps but just seperating a piece from the dead flesh helps the healing go quicker as the infection spreads. Basically seperating healthy pieces from dying pieces is before it gets affected as well.good job:):)

My alkalinity is fine at 8. I check it often, no problem there.

I have no idea what is upsetting that coral. I am guessing some virus or bacteria is attacking it since the Revive has done great for the frag. It is either that or something is still in my water but all other SPS are great, including all other milleporas.

Now getting that coral out is going to be a nightmare. The base is now about 2" in size :( can't even cut it with my largest cutters.

I am still doing water change religiously every 2 weeks, no matter what had happened. All my corals, some of them have got their color back except the blue and the purple colors, I found out they are the most difficult ones to regain their color. I think if I am lucky, it may take for another month or 2. Their Polyps extension are not great like before. But all my millepora have no problem at all, I think they are easy to care for even for the newbie reefer.

Glad to see yours are doing well. Some of mine that bleached and were blue and purple before are now plain green. Wierd how they look completely different. No blue yet on mine.

I have 2 blue colored corals that are turning green too. I think they are still in shock from being treated with that carbon. At least they are alive that is all I care about.