jyi2101 October 3, 2011 Share October 3, 2011 For my 20 gal's 10 months anniversary (a month ago) I decided to add my first coral: a green Ricordea. It was a big step for me - I felt I was going one level up on the hobby. Points scored! For the first 2 weeks I did the light adjustment period. Glued it to a rubble rock and set it on the bottom of my 24"H tank, making sure it wouldn't get too much flow nor too little. Got "coral frenzy" and Two Little Fishies' MarineSnow Diet. I added a AquaBeam 500 (Aqua Ray) to my Nova Extreme T5 Actinic 18" 24 W - it was probably not necessary for the Ricordea's survival but I'm planning to add other varieties of corals. A month has passed and the Ricordea was thriving, glowing and growing. Today, though, it was "cleaning day": 35% water change, wall scrapping, vacuuming the gravel, the whole nine yards. Before starting to clean, I moved the rocks around then I noticed my coral was smaller like it had shrunk due to stress. And some black dots on it's "tentacles", like scabs. I tested for ammonia and phosphate immediately fearing maybe something died in the tank and had caused a spike on my levels. But everything was pristine: Ammonia and phosphate ZERO. I also have a AquaC Nano Remora PSkimmer. Next think that comes up in my mind was "it's sick". I sit on my computer googling here and there then I come across some forum discussions that Scutus eat SPS corals. Is that true? I have a black Scutus - that hitchhiked with my first batch of live rocks. It grew from 1 to 2 inches in ten months. It takes care of the algae and never bothered anyone. It actually looks pretty big in a 20 gal tank. If it's true, then wouldn't the scutus eaten the coral from day 1? why only after 1 month? is it maybe because there isn't much algae or food around? I only feed the folks every 3 days. But this past week I had to travel so they were without food for 5 days. I have 2 peppermint shrimps, a maroon clown, a yellow belly damsel, and about 4 hermit crabs.... and the scutus. Should I get rid of the scutus asap? should i try to feed a little more often? Would any aquarium shop take a scutus? Thanks for any advice you can give me!! Ricordea Sick? October 2, 2011 Ricordea Healthy - September 29, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surf&turf October 3, 2011 Share October 3, 2011 Keep an eye on your Peppermints, they could be the culprits as well. They like nems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanglandJoshua October 3, 2011 Share October 3, 2011 I have 5 peppermints in my 160, and 5 anemones with many many mushroom anemones and a clam. Yet, never once had a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypertech October 3, 2011 Share October 3, 2011 I'm convinced they eat feather dusters and I'll never have them again. But, when I did keep them, I never had any issue with rics. It looks like it could be a sting as well. Is it near any LPS? I also see two mouths. It doesn't look quite like mine do when they split, but keep an eye on it and see if it starts dividing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunWyrm October 3, 2011 Share October 3, 2011 My peppermints have also never had problems (and Josh! They're breeding!) but I have an abundance of food and algae in my tank from overfeeding. I have 5 (plus the babies) and my feather dusters are spreading like crazy.... this also means however, they aren't eating any aptaisia. But I know of many peppermints that do attack corals, I think they just aren't getting enough food. Try spot feeding them or at least making sure they get some food too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanglandJoshua October 3, 2011 Share October 3, 2011 (edited) Good eye with the mouths. It could be splitting. Mine did. Another picture would help, because it does look like there could be damage to the anemone. As for the shrimp, everyone has their own opinions. Feel free, to cmon by and check out all the little feather dusters I have. I'm thinking about getting some big ones once I am finished with the systems upgrades I am doing. YaitzOfEden Congrats on your shrimp! Maybe some will survive! Edited October 3, 2011 by LanglandJoshua Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hypertech October 3, 2011 Share October 3, 2011 They left my little ones alone. I could never keep a big one more than a couple months. Got rid of the peppermints that weren't eating the aiptasia anyway and now no problems. The more I look at that pic the more it looks like a sting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LanglandJoshua October 3, 2011 Share October 3, 2011 I have some tan snails like that, they are fast little guys and have been populating quickly. I have only had some zoanthids die from constant hermit pummeling and face dives into sand. No signs of lost coral since I put it all on a frag rack/puttied them to rocks. I suggest moving it to a part of the tank that has no other corals. If there is something there that is stinging it, hopefully the problem will be fixed for now. At least to show any improvement in the anemones health so then we can "lay blame" on another suspect. Coral can be confusing to diagnose. I preffer moving to another location before we consider flushing something down the toilette, or making a donation to a LFS. As long as your happy with your tank hyper, thats all that matters! I enjoy occasionally feeding my peppermints peices of thawed shrimp. They actually will grab it from my hand sometimes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k October 3, 2011 Share October 3, 2011 FWIW, I'd recommend that you do the following- 1) Do small, frequent water changes once a week like 10%. 2) Don't vac the gravel. You're trying to establish a live sand bed and you need the detritus for the detritivores. 3) Stop feeding marine snow or other liquid foods unless you're target feeding individual corals. 4) Don't move the rocks around at cleaning time. Corals tend to grow better if they're left alone in one place. 5) Make sure your non-coral inhabitants have enough food or they will eat whatever food they can get- even if it means eating corals. 6) Stop worrying about things and stop jumping to conclusions. 7) Test for the right things- with a reliable test kit like Salifert. Ammonia shouldn't be an issue once the tank has cycled. Nitrate should be your main concern, Calcium and Alkalinity second, P04 last. 8) Use bottled or r/o water for all w/c. No tap water with dechlorinator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmubeach October 3, 2011 Share October 3, 2011 I had a money cowrie and stomatella and other snails that are algee grazers .... also had peppermints....Never once did they touch a ricodia... I've had peppermints mess with zoothids though... Also maroon clown in a 20g? I'm not expert and I'm out of the hobby, but you want to minimize nutrients if you want to keep coral.. I didn't and had alot of nusciance algee and stuff:) The attack if it is an attack doesn't look like a snail bite.. watch them eat they eat in circles.... Anyway if you want to find out turn off the lights and check with a flash light if its dark snails and peppermints will begin to feed... Also is your clown hosting it in? if so this may be the cause... Also you have 2 very agressive fish in a 20g tank? I'd be careful of what if anything you put in next. Again 5 years ago when I started out I had no clue wamers won't stear you wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jyi2101 November 5, 2011 Author Share November 5, 2011 gosh I only noticed these replies a month later. Wow! thanks everyone for your input! I caught my peppermints eating the ricordea so i returned them back to the store -- that was bf being a serious WAMAS member. otherwiese I woudl've sold'em here. Ricordea is recouping. Also, in the past month I got a finger leather, birds nest, kenya tree, toadstool leather, forest fire digitata, frogspawn, green tree coral, and 2 zoas (too small to tell the color yet). yellow belly damsel is giong... but maroon clown is staying and will be migrated to a 50 gal breeder i got today. next project: current 20 gal tall will become a pipefish and seahorse tank. thanks to Chad's help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind November 5, 2011 Share November 5, 2011 I'm glad you found out what was eating them. I figured it was going to be the shrimp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jyi2101 November 5, 2011 Author Share November 5, 2011 I'm glad you found out what was eating them. I figured it was going to be the shrimp. Good call!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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