Brain coral hard and won't open

[joshuacohenjc]

My brain coral won't open and they look all hard and haven't opened since I bought them last month. The water parameters are good and I target feed *brine and mysis everyday. Last week I started adding Aquavitro Fuel (ignites coral growth) and nothing changed. 2 days ago, I started feeding them Reef-Roids and still nothing changed.*
Here is a picture

 

[bjohanson1234]

Picture link is broken.

What kind of brain is it? An open or closed brain? They have a very different appearance than each other.

 

[Bifferwine]

I don't see a picture.

 

[joshuacohenjc]

I'll send the pic again

 

[Bifferwine]

Here you go. Your link was typed in incorrectly.

 

[FishyReef]

Was it open in the store when you bought it? And can you post your water parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, pH) and information on where you have the coral placed, how much flow you have in your tank, whether your coral is getting high, medium, or low flow, and what you have for lights. This information will help us help you!

 

[Bifferwine]

There is a lot of skeleton showing on those brains. All those white ridges are its skeleton where the flesh has receded. That isn't healthy.

These guys won't take food unless their feeding tentacles are extended. The target fed food isn't getting to them if they look like that. They also don't *need* to be target fed to be happy and healthy, though, so I would stop trying to feed them.

What kind of lighting do you have? What exactly are your parameters (temp, pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, alkalinity)?

I've found that those types of brains are especially sensitive to changes in alkalinity or too low/too high alkalinity levels. When I'd have changes in alkalinity in my tank, the first corals to look distressed were the various types of brains.

 

[joshuacohenjc]

They are under t5 High output lighting. The water paramaribo are exactly how they are supposed to be but it's not the first time my test kit has made a mistake. I'll be going to my local fish store in about half an hour to get it retested there because for some reason mine is inaccurate.
Therer is alot of flow in the tank but the brains are in low flow, they are pretty high up in the tank because I had them at the bottom but I was told that that is why there are opening so I moved them

 

[joshuacohenjc]

They are about 6-7 inches bellow the water, and the lights are 8 inches off The tank

 

[Bifferwine]

How many T5 bulbs?

 

[chichimom79]

How old are your bulbs?

 

[bjohanson1234]

Brains also tend to like lower light and to be in the sand bed versus on the rock work.
Also, once again
what are the parameters? Exactly where they are supposed to be isn't an answer. We are looking for numbers.We need those to see if there is something out of whack.

How did you acclimate them to both the water and light? Going from one system to another can be stressful so proper acclimation is needed.

 

[Bifferwine]

Also, once again
what are the parameters? Exactly where they are supposed to be isn't an answer. We are looking for numbers.We need those to see if there is something out of whack.

This, specifically, as I mentioned, alkalinity.

 

[joshuacohenjc]

I have 1 white, 1 blue, I had 3 blue 1 white but the other 2 does out last weekend, ( the brains weren't any better before)

 

[joshuacohenjc]

Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrates - 0ppm
Nitrites - 0.1 ppm
Ph - 8.3
Dkh - 9.8
Calcium - 350
Magnesium - 1275
Phosphates - 0.1ppm
Temperature - 25.7-26.3C
salinity - 1.025

 

[joshuacohenjc]

i bought the bulbs about 3 months ago

i drip acclimated them for 2 hours then i used the coral dip for 5 minutes

 

[joshuacohenjc]

I've been feeding them love shrimp from the grocery store all week and I think it's helping, they get all fluffed up (like how they should look) after eating but 2 hours later it's back to normal