Open Brain Coral

[FishyReef]

I recently picked up a beautiful rainbow open brain for my new 42g tank - this is my fist brain coral so I'm not totally sure what is normal behavior for a brain. I've placed it on the sand and have a kessil 360 over it. I've had it for a little over 2 weeks now. It opens up nicely during the day and seems happy almost all day long. But a couple of times I've noticed that it retracts about 30m to 1hr before normal lights out. I often feed around this time of day as well, though it does this before I feed and not in response to feeding (and it doesn't put tentacles out for feeding, only at night after lights are out). Is retraction during or near the end of the normal light cycle typical behavior for a brain? Or is this an indication that is is unhappy with the amount of light or length of time it is getting light? I have my lights set to come on around 11am and turn off at 9:30pm. I have intensity setting pretty low right now to give the corals time to acclimate. Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[kbuser92]

That's a long cycle in my opinion, but it may just be that it knows what time it is.

 

[Civicdemon]

Sounds normal to me, Mine do it also. What kind of brains are they ?? I notice that my Wellsos Don't really extend there feeding tentacles at all and actually my Green one does not take any food as my red will take food when it falls on it, But both have ben doing great for over a year now and growing, I do notice that my small Lobo does extend its feeders at night. But as far as starting to close up before lights out I think its pretty normal.

 

[FishyReef]

Thanks Kyle and Civic! I might try cutting the light cycle by an hour and see if that makes any difference otherwise I'll just assume its normal brain behavior - color is really nice and it gets really fluffy during the day so I think its mostly happy.

As for species, it's either a Trachyphyllia Radiata or Geoffroyi but I'm not sure which - too hard to tell the difference between the species in pics from LA. Last night it definitely got food when I fed and puffed up like a donut around the center with an open mouth and tentacles out - it was really cool to see! I'll try to get some pics tonight with my phone to post!

 

[kbuser92]

Is it more metallic in colour? Pics help.

 

[mariobrothersleeve]

Normal fishy... I run my Kessil the same way with ramp up and ramp down. I start at 8th and down at 1030. Max intensity is 75. My trach does the exact same thing. Everything is doing great

 

[d2mini]

Sounds like it's doing well to me. All normal behavior.

 

[FishyReef]

Okay guys, this brain coral did well for about a month, but I just got back from 10days of vacation and its seriously dying. Tissue has receded and is almost sloughing off around the edges, mouth is gaping open. Color is still good but no polyp extension or fluffliness to it. What's going on? I've been keeping water quality decent, feeding, adequate lighting and flow. I'm wondering if something is preying on it, though have no idea what - tank inhabitants are a midas blenny, flame fairy wrasse, brittlestar, tuxedo urchin, and snails/hermits. There are two snails I can't identify - one came with the nassarius snails but has a smooth shell, the other was sold as a cerith but looks more like a small red footed conch. Could either of these be preying on it? I'd really like to save this thing but am at a loss. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!