Problem with my Kenya Tree

claq50

Reefing newb
Its been about a month now and my kenya tree has not opened up like it used to. I check my water and do water changes every 2 weeks, about 24 gallons on my 75 gallon tank. my nitrates, phosphate, salinity, calcium are all good. I also noticed my toadstool leather has shrunken up as well over this same period of time. My other corals seem to be doing alright though. My mushrooms and polyps are going good as well as my goniapora. Any ideas on what could be doing this. My toadstool also has what i can only describe as looking like sabs. Thanks for the help.
 
Hmmmm.... I've read that it's normal for kenya's to do that. My Toadstool will do that for about 3-4 days then open back up larger. Thats my guess. Just give it time and maybe a higher flow rate. Are you spot feeding? Man, sorry... I completely overlooked the fact that it hasn't opened up in a month. Is it dropping over at all? Or standing still.
 
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Water tested last night was

Nitrate: .10
Phosphate: .5
Calcium: 380
Hardness: 7
Salinity: 1.024

Its been almost 2 weeks since my last water change and i know i have nirates and phosphate, but this has been going on for maybe a little over a month now. The kenya is still standing up straight but just not getting any bigger during the day. It was doing great for like a month, then it just stopped. There has been small amounts of slime every once and a while coming off of it but thats about it. My toadstool has been like this for maybe two months. Every once and a while it will look sort of ok, but there are always these "scabs," on it. I add phytoplankton twice a week and i have been spot feeding them phytoplankton as well. I even went so far as to buy copapods, hoping they would do something. Any tips or ideas i greatly appreciate.
 
I just read an article that stated that some speices of toadstool leathers can produce toxins that can hard other tanks habitants. I was wondering if this might have happened and some how effected my kenya.
 
Theres nothing that effects kenyas.You could pour gasoline on them and they wouldnt be hurt.
It looks like your alkalinity is just a tad low,if thats 7 DKH.It really should be 8 to 10 DKH.
I dont know that would cause your kenya to stay shriveled,but its worth a shot.
 
You never know.AN iodine dip may help it.
Anyway you can post a pic of your kenya?That would go along way in enabling us to help with your problem.
 
I picked up a Kenya about 6 weeks ago and its was a large seemingly healthy coral. I glued it to the rock and it opened up a bit. Over the weeks that followed it shriveled up and dropped limbs until it was just the stalk and 1 limb. The limb still had polyps that were opening every day so I left it alone. It's about 2 weeks later and now it has 5 or 6 limbs that all have polyps opening every day. I got it from a guy that lives about an hour from me and it was a hot day. I think that it was out of the tank too long and possibly got a little cooked on it's way to me. Mine seems to have turned the corner and is making a come back. I would suggest that if your params are all good and there's nothing obviously wrong, just give it time and if you think that your toadstool might have realeased toxins into the water perhaps a large water change is in order (though I would think your Kenya would be the last man standing if that were the case). Good Luck
 
Edit:

I just re-read your post with your params and I think you have some room to improve there. like yote said, bring up your DKH a bit, get your calcium up over 440, and I didn't see a posting for PH? Can you test for PH and post back?
 
Sorry, havnt been able to get on here over the past few days. My pH is at 8.3. The only thing i could think of was the alkalinity, so i got some new buffer and will see what happens with that. I dont have pics at this time, but ill add some soon. It seems to be the same though, some of the polyps open during the day, but the coral itself does not expand. Good news is the toadstool is slowly making a comeback. I took the toadstool out and found this white hairy looking crab on is, it looked as though it was eating it. So i tossed him out and now the toadstool looks like it may be coming back.
 
did i read this topic correctly? your having problems with a kenya tree but you also bought a gonipora (one of the hardest corals to keep out there) and you are having 0 problems with it? Personally if i had a kenya that wasnt doing well i would be happy. once they grow and spread there is no getting rid of them. I have little kenyas everywhere all from just one small little 2 inch piece from 3 years ago. its spread through 3 tanks.
 
So far that is the case. Ive have the Goniopora for almost 2 months with nothing going wrong with it. Thats why im so confused here. All the corals that were supposed to be easy (toadstool and kenya) are not doing great, and the ones that are supposed to be hard(Goniopora) are doing good.
 
that's really odd. I have a toadstool that i thought was for sure going to die at one point in time. did the same sort of thing then snapped out of it and has since about quadrupled in size. Leathers can change a lot. they shed and really it could just be a flow problem if its in a lower flow area. have you tried to mess with the location?
 
I placed both the kenya and toadstool into the higher flow area, with both reacting in a negative manner. im keeping both in a moderatre flow area right now with only the toadstool looking better. I think its problem with from that crab i found. I still have not been able to ID it. But the kenya shrunk up even worse with the high flow. Maybe its just a bad peice?
 
Are you 100% sure you got a kenya?
Like Alexander,I had a heck of time getting rid of kenyas.They'd live and smother other corals out.
It took a 99% tank crash to finally wipe my kenyas out.
But since you seem to like yours,heres something to try.And it took you stating that a crab we eatting your leather for me to think of this.
Take your kenya out and give it a 20 minute soak in Lugols Iodine.Follow the directions on the bottle for the dosage.You may have some kind of parasite thats feeding on the kenya.
 
Thanks for the info. I know they are pretty invasive, i just hate to see a coral die off and not know why. Ill try the dip and see what happens. You may be right about it being a possible parasite or something.
 
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