hydnophora brown spots

Marshall Jamison

Reefing newb
My hydnophora has a bunch of brown spots. They seem bits of exposed skeleton, that, when exposed they are immediately Brown. My parameters are good except for high calcium about 500. Temp is at 80.i recently rose the salinity in the tank from 1.022 to 25, slowly over about two weeks since then it has been getting the spots.what is it and is there any treatment. Thanks
 
It would be helpful to see all of your parameters and pictures, as well as pertinent information about your tank. What other fish, corals and invertebrates do you have, how long has it been set up, what's your lighting, how long has that coral been in your system, are any other corals behaving oddly, what new additions have you, how large is your tank, etc...
 
If its a hydo, depending on which type, mine is green with a brown hairy coat. Spots sounds like decay or the right flow. Here's a picture to help in comparison.
20140212_110911.jpg
 
Thank you for the responses. My tank is a bio cube 14 its been set up for over a year.the lighting is stock plus an led bat i fitted into it. 1.025, nitrates 0, ammonia 0, phosphate .25, dkh 10, calcium 500, ph 8.1, temp 80, med flow, carbon added, protein skimmer on medium high, i use sea chem reef salt.the fish are two clowns a shrimp goby. Snails, hermits and two emerald crabs, one of my Kenya trees has gotten whitish tips, but seems to be fine. Mine is hydnophora exsesa, the encrusting kind. The spots appear to be dead
 
The coral had been in the system for four months and had been growing well until about two weeks ago.i added some more acans but the problem had already started, nothing else seems to have any problems, candy cane, torch, favia, acans and Kenya trees
 
The stock lighting will not support this animal. If you had the rapid led lighting in the tank, these leds would support them. Your stock lighting is no more than 10k. Min on this coral should be 14k preferred 16 to 20k. All the rest of your corals listed are low light which stock biocube florescent bulbs will work for, but nothing else. You could try moving it up to directly under light with medium flow. Good luck.
 
It could be the carbon. I think I remember seeing that it can cause problems for some SPS. When did you start running that?
 
Mario, the Kelvin rating is for colour only with a minimal correlation to PAR. PAR is the measurement of brightness, if you will, Kelvin ratings are corresponding to what colour the light would be if it were a star burning at that temperature.
 
Mario, the Kelvin rating is for colour only with a minimal correlation to PAR. PAR is the measurement of brightness, if you will, Kelvin ratings are corresponding to what colour the light would be if it were a star burning at that temperature.
Thank you for for the tutorial. I was more on the impact of spectrum. Where did you place you hydo?
 
Really the only thing that I've changed is the specific gravity, the calcium raised when i started to raise the sg, the coral was growing rather fast at 1.022, but i raised it thinking it would be happier. Would the change cause it to be susceptible to a bacteria infection?
 
No. Salinity should be at 35 put or 1.026. This will give you cal. Alk, mag, and minor elements proper in your tank for any sps. It's hard for me to belive all your numbers are dead on for the lower salinity unless you dose. This is very unnecessary for a nano. You can always pull the coral and place them in a dip if you believe there is an infection.
 
The lower salinity had lower calcium,i use liquid tests and do water changes two times a month to keep in balance. But the recommendation was to treat it as lps from my lfs and online so the range was to be 1.024 to 1.026
 
? You were told to treat your sps like lps? You are stating your sal. Is 1.022 and cal is 500?

If you have corals, it should be at 1.026 nominally. I use a oz scale, which is 5.05 oz per gallon if this helps you. I promise you'll see vast improvements in your tank if you keep sal. Up and constant.
 
? You were told to treat your sps like lps? You are stating your sal. Is 1.022 and cal is 500?

If you have corals, it should be at 1.026 nominally. I use a oz scale, which is 5.05 oz per gallon if this helps you. I promise you'll see vast improvements in your tank if you keep sal. Up and constant.
Yes on treatment, that's the reason i originally raised the levels, the tank was at 1.022 when i first put in coral as that was the level for my mix and the calcium was around 400 then, what salt do you use, and what would you recommend for a dip. Thank you for all your responces
 
I use instant oceans, reef mix. Pretty reliable. I tried red seas because of the pretty tub...... not very wise. I couldn't keep any thing constant. Even tried their weights for mixing, I found the sal to be off. I am not sure why it would take more salt for one brand and less than the other?

Now, a picture of the hydno would be the easiest. I use straight home defense pesticide for lawn care. I wouldn't recommend it, I'm sure they have some gimmicks that work sole purpose of killing....... what ever. Now I use the pesticide b/c it's cheap and I purchase from 2 people directly w/o anyone else and they have been using it for years. They have found that what is on the market reduces polyp extension on the corals and recovery time after the dips.
I run a up light from emperor aquatics, this is not the cure all for issues, but more of the fuzzy feeling in that blue light kills bugs.
With that being said, I would try to trade off the coral for some other lps or softie until a light upgrade has been done. I wouldn't see a long term success on sps besides birdsnest in a biocube. The favia will survive but it will not thrive. Have you thought of a Kessil a150w? They offer some decent lights and will offer you an open top that will allow for proper c 02 exchange? Right now I think it is lighting and nothing else.
 
Yes advice of it being an lps was one of the killers. I have all lps because of the light limits and retrofitted the additional led bar to combat that. Even the birds nests ive tried years ago have died, quickly. I had no intention of keeping sps in this tank. Btw would an iodide dip be beneficial in this case?
 
I'm not sure what you mean by retrofit leds, and keeping stock lighting. The only thing you can do is completely remove stock lighting or add the biocube extra moon leds. I haven't heard of anything else?
 
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