Brain Problems. *More problem critters found....sigh* - Page 2

MrGoodbytes · #11 09-24-2010, 04:51 AM

It looks like it would be a gorgeous piece when fully coloured up. I agree that lower light and more food would help. Good luck bringing it back and keep us updated

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ScubaSteve · #12 09-24-2010, 05:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zum14

I will do that. Thanks very much. How do you force feed it? I sort of just use a large opening turkey baster and let the food casually drop out of it and float across the coral?? Usually it snags it with a tenticle then.

What I mean by force feeding it is overfeeding. Once it starts to grab food, only give it little bits at eat feeding until it gets healthy, then start giving it more. It takes energy for it to digest food; if you over feed it, it cannot properly digest it all and ends up spitting it out having now wasted energy and not eaten. That's a bad thing for an already weak coral.

zum14 · #13 09-24-2010, 06:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScubaSteve

What I mean by force feeding it is overfeeding. Once it starts to grab food, only give it little bits at eat feeding until it gets healthy, then start giving it more. It takes energy for it to digest food; if you over feed it, it cannot properly digest it all and ends up spitting it out having now wasted energy and not eaten. That's a bad thing for an already weak coral.

Ahhh. Ok well that makes sence. I will definitly watch out for that. Thanks again for the help.

zum14 · #14 09-24-2010, 06:52 AM

So any particular food you can suggest that may be best for feeding it till it gets healthy again?

ScubaSteve · #15 09-24-2010, 07:00 AM

I typically feed chopped up mysis or other phosphate/nitrate free sea food (read: fresh!). I'm been wanting to try the new Fauna Marin LPS pellets as I have seen and heard good things (youtube it... corals flip out over it) but I haven't found anyone near by who has them yet.

zum14 · #16 10-08-2010, 07:21 AM

Well a bit of an update. I have been spot feeding with only my top notch food and raised my lights up to 24" above the tank as it seems the other brain I got from the LFS (long story) isnt taking any food and doesnt seem all puffy and inflated either. So I kept thinking it was lighting (see "lighting question in DIY) , water quality (tested everything again tonight and only things that seemed a little off was my phosphates were at .20 approx and my calcium was a little low at 380 but i am due for my waterchange) , food quality. Something im doing wrong. So during spot feeding a bit of mysis I noticed something very interesting. The piece of LR its near has had the sand pushed out from it. I thought it was just my tigertail moving around a bit as ive seen it in the area. HA! Not with my luck. I just got the two xanthid crabs out. Yaaa. So im totally not sure exactly what it is... I saw these antennae about 4 or so of them 1/2" to 3/4" long flickering. Looked at it and *poof* gone. Instantly I froze, watched. I saw antennae again and a claw come out and grab a small piece of mysis. It seemed a purpleish red color. From what I saw it had a hard dome head. Unfortunatley I dont really have an idea of what the front of this thing looks like all together as I only caught glimpes of it in pieces. I searched eunicid worm and it has the same kind of antennae but no claws. Looked like a crab claw but what i saw from the front quick it was no crab. Anyone have any ideas? Im guessing its going to be a pull the rock he lives in and try for a removal or smash but Id like to make sure hes the problem before I rip into the reef. Sat for an hour watching this area with a camera after and nothing. Ill have it out for feeding time tomorrow and see if I can snatch a pic. *sigh*

whatcaneyedo · #17 10-08-2010, 01:51 PM

A few months ago one of my chalice frags suddenly began to recede while the other one continued to grow under the same conditions. It took me a while to discover a small gorilla crab living very close to it and to remove that crab. Once I did that the recession stopped and the chalice has been begun to slowly recover.

Some threads on here have recommended giving liverock a dip in club soda or something which will cause any hitch hikers to evacuate immediately. That would probably be a better way of doing things instead of smashing the rock.

zum14 · #18 10-08-2010, 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whatcaneyedo

A few months ago one of my chalice frags suddenly began to recede while the other one continued to grow under the same conditions. It took me a while to discover a small gorilla crab living very close to it and to remove that crab. Once I did that the recession stopped and the chalice has been begun to slowly recover.

Some threads on here have recommended giving liverock a dip in club soda or something which will cause any hitch hikers to evacuate immediately. That would probably be a better way of doing things instead of smashing the rock.

I might have to give that a try, im a little on the skimpy side for rock anyways.

zum14 · #19 10-09-2010, 04:55 AM

So this is what scrambled out of the rock along with a good sized bristle worm. Antenna and a crab like claw. not sure why i didnt come up with shrimp. Has a good pincher on it though. At first google i came up with a type of pistol?? Anyone think otherwise or if it is a possible cause of the problem?

zum14 · #20 10-14-2010, 07:18 AM

Dang. So I was spot feeding the brain which is eating with quite an appetite now, doesnt seem to be coloring up much but it is eating so we will see how it goes. Anywho.... while watching him munch up some food I noticed some sand being blown out from under a rock behind it. Watched. Seen it again. Thought it was just my tiger tail which I have seen him do before. Then I saw some legs or claws or something not tiger tail. Dang again. Not sure how it made it through the club soda but it did. I think its another pistol as Im pretty sure I saw a claw come out, a small cloud of sand, and a click noise. Sooo anyone think that a pistol is causing the problem? Im only worried because it is a scavenger and the brain isnt in peak health and also because he seems to be setting up camp near the brain, not near the other brain or any other corals but near this one. Im not sure I will ever be able to spend money on live rock again having all the problems Ive had with this batch, that eco rock sure seems nice.