Ricordea shrinking fast...

Maverick00 · #1 08-22-2011, 02:01 AM

the past few days ive noticed a massive drop in mass with this coral. All other corals appear fine. Parameters are in check other than a 0.06ppm phosphate reading i detected (hanna) and ive done several w/c after that. The only cause i can think of at the moment is the temperature, it shot up to 84F today. I installed a fan blowing across the top of the tank today hoping it will drop a degree or two. Durning the summer the temperature has been stable around 80-82 rarely reaching 84. Can anyone think of any other possible causes? It looks like some of the tips or bulbs of the coral have either fallen off or been ripped off (emerald crab?) because i can see little orange spots on the rock beside the coral itself. any ideas appreciated, this was one of my favorites :\

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RuGlu6 · #2 08-22-2011, 07:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maverick00

the past few days ive noticed a massive drop in mass with this coral. All other corals appear fine. Parameters are in check other than a 0.06ppm phosphate reading i detected (hanna) and ive done several w/c after that. The only cause i can think of at the moment is the temperature, it shot up to 84F today. I installed a fan blowing across the top of the tank today hoping it will drop a degree or two. Durning the summer the temperature has been stable around 80-82 rarely reaching 84. Can anyone think of any other possible causes? It looks like some of the tips or bulbs of the coral have either fallen off or been ripped off (emerald crab?) because i can see little orange spots on the rock beside the coral itself. any ideas appreciated, this was one of my favorites :\

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AFTER

if you see orange spots then it is definitely some sort of a pest

tang daddy · #3 08-22-2011, 05:57 PM

Sometimes rics will shrink when splitting, if it was a Yuma I'd be worried about temperature as they are far more sensitive but yours are florida which are very hardy and can withstand higher temps. Keep and eye on them and see how it does, are all the rics shrinking or just 1?

Maverick00 · #4 08-23-2011, 01:44 AM

all of them are shrinking and pulling apart from eachother, so there is like 4 or 5 "separate" pieces. I touched a couple of them and they feel stuck to the rock. Ill keep and eye on them and hope its just part of the process. Thanks guys.

Maverick00 · #5 08-24-2011, 04:50 AM

tank temp has dropped to 80F and ive changed over from biopellets to GFO. The Rics have completely separated from eachother (one 'mouth' for each piece). Im wondering if i should try and split them up into different areas of the tank of just leave them as they lie. One piece has already fallen off and has been relocated. Ive had this piece for around 10 months, just haven't seen anything like this before.