Is my Galaxy dead?
 

I bought this galaxy coral on Tuesday acclimated it over an hour. It still has not opened up and the fleshy part seems to be peeling away? any help would be appreciated.



PH 7.8
Temp 80
Ammonia 0
nitrite 0
PO 0
KH 10
med-low flow
t5 lights

Attachment 8914

Your PH is a little low but it shouldn't kill it. Give it a couple of weeks to adjust. I had a leather do that. Peeled and shed for 2 weeks and then came back.

It doesn't look very good but I wouldn't throw it out. Its amazing what you can grow from nothing. If even a little bit survives you could still grow a colony from it in a couple of years time.

Thanks for the quick response,

i picked up some reef buffer and was going to bring it up to 8.2.

I'll wait and see,

thanks again!!

My pH is at 7.84 right now and rarely exceeds 8.0 during the winter. The problem is CO2 buildup in your (and mine) aquarium/house that pushes the pH down. Think of it as ocean acidification on a small scale. Your alkalinity is already in the high range of acceptable so I would be careful that you do not raise it much higher with Reef Buffer. That product won't work very well as a long term solution so this article has some more ideas:

Low pH: Causes and Cures
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.htm

However I wouldn't worry too much about it unless you're running a Calcium Reactor or your pH drops even lower.

ok,

thanks for the link,

i already added some prior to reading your post. Its up to 8.0 now and i'll leave it at that and just wait as everything else in the tank is looking quite healthy.

Increasing pH must be done very slowly (or almost any parameter really) to allow your corals and fish to adjust to the changes. In the ocean, things tend to change slowly so that is what the creatures have adapted to.