In need of a coral expert.

[TimH07]

and i mean an expert, i am tired of speculating on what is causing my tanks odd issues.

my corals are growing and dividing, and yet im seeing:

*hyper inflation of my frogspawn and hammer corals

*birdsnest is growing branches but polyps appear just protruding.

*a few Zoanthds or palythoas (unsure which, these dont share a common mat) are oddly misshapen (imagine you have 20 fingers on one hand and you break every bone in off directions)

*almost all of my various montipora's have the strangest cases of inflated flesh (little translucent pockets of fluid that can be popped without killing the coral) and yet their growth rate is fantastic

i am puzzled to death to the point of stress over it, nothing is dying but im going through hoops trying to solve the issue.

currently i have switched to brightwell aquatics neomarine salt and am doing 5g water changes every day to achieve a full system change over from IO. on gallon 25 out of 110g today.

switched to brightwell 2 part additive from B-ionic 2 part alk-calcium.

changed my lights from current usa bulbs to Giesmanns 48" T5's
3 aquablue+ and 3 actinic+

i dont know what else to do to resolve this.

i cannot for the life of me find on any web site another case of any of the afore mentioned.


tank specs before i started the water change regiment (no point in testing all parameters untill im done, or half way through)

temp 80
salinity 35ppt via calibrated refractometer
ph 8.2
calcium 420
alk 3 meq/l or 8.4 DKH
mag 1280
amm nitrite nitrates all 0 (could be false, calurpa growing like weeds in fuge)

picture examples....


translucent bubbles in rainbow montipora flesh



same in orange montipora flesh



candy cane corals that NEVER close... why??!?



birdsnest bleached on the bottom, growing branches as we speak



messed up looking zoa's no clue why



and of course my balloon euphyllia's






DOES ANYONE KNOW AN EXPERT THAT I COULD CALL OR EMAIL TO GET SOME KNOWLEDGE ON THIS?!?!?!

[Parrothead]

Tim,

PM Kevinpo, Charlie, and Zhenya,

These 3 are about the only ones I think might have an idea......
Sorry, I hope all works out, that is some strange stuff going on there

[TimH07]

its all been like that for like 6 months, nothing of it is dying, its all growing, its odd

[Parrothead]

It's weird, that's all I can say, I wouldn't even know where to think of starting, did you hit the 3 I mentioned

[Holyreefer]

My thing is if its thriving, growing, not dead and living...let it be and be happy your investment is thriving

[zhenya]

Hi Tim,

I believe we discussed this issue before. If you want an expert opinion try posting your questions here. Be prepared to post clear images and clear questions with full water parameters. I don't know of a better coral expert than Eric Borneman that is available via online forums.

Good luck!

[Parrothead]

Thanks Gene

[TimH07]

thanks Gene, i'm still struggling for answers, i'll definitally shoot eric a message maybe tommorow, i just emailed WWM as well. i feel this may provoke a different response as the last questions only focused on the euphyllia but i forgot to mention the sps issues then.

[TimH07]

sent him an email thank you Gene

[Parrothead]

Good Luck Tim,

I guess as long as everything is alive, it's ok, but like I said weirdest sh!@ I ever saw