[knutcracker1]

i have a florescent colored open brain coral whose "teeths" on the rim is slowly getting taken over, one by one, by brown hairy algae.

i have good flow throughout the tank, and have been giving it minimal lighting (hoping the meat of the coral will come out more)

Any suggestions would be great. thanks

[Reefland]

Originally Posted by knutcracker1

i have a florescent colored open brain coral whose "teeths" on the rim is slowly getting taken over, one by one, by brown hairy algae.

i have good flow throughout the tank, and have been giving it minimal lighting (hoping the meat of the coral will come out more)

Any suggestions would be great. thanks

Welcome to Reefland!

When you say "teeth", are you referencing fin, bright white objects (I'm not sure how to describe it better, sorry). They would appear to be sharp to the touch. And when you say rim, are you talking near the coral polyp itself?

How does the coral look in general? Does it expand and accept food? Is there tissue recession? If there is no recession and the coral is healthy and has shown no signs of unhappiness, I wouldn't be too concerned. You could simply use a turkey baister to blow away the algae.

Regards,
Scott Z.

[knutcracker1]

the open brain is not meaty to begin with, i was told that really bright flourescent ones are more bony (or the store is just trying to get rid of a dying coral). therefore, i can't tell if there is tissue recession, it just appears bony to me. Yes, By "teeth" i mean the sharp ridges. and rim meaning the very rim of the skeleton, so i suppose it's not near the coral polyp.

also, it doesn't really expand, and turkey baister doesn't work, the algae is firmly grown onto the skeleton and some teeth has losts it flourescent color from the algae.

is there a tradeoff between flow and light? i have changed its position in the tank couple times, but no signs of improvement.

anything would be great. I really want to save the sharpest piece in my tank. thanks.

[hcp28]

Do you feed the coral? I remember that this type of coral will accept meaty foods such as shrimp and fish pieces. It could be a problem with nutrition than lighting or flow. Oh and silversides are supposed to be good for them as well.

Henry

[scubadude]

Hey Henry, and Scott

Im wondering if his problem is possibly a Alk, and or PH problem?...he posted this thread:

http://209.151.83.92/forum/showthread.php?t=10226

I have seen corals decline if your PH is off, that would be one of the first things I would suspect. Knutcracker I did post to your thread above too. Let us know what you find out and maybe we can further help ya.

Rocky