Soft Corals....

[Phang]

Hi Guys,

Need some advice here ....

I seem to have a major problem with soft corals....

Just recently lost a Xenia coral and recently some Polyps..

My leather coral never grow at all...have to surrender it to another reefer...

Dunno what's wrong as I have been trying to figure out why I'm not able to handle these corals.....

Now comes the funny thing....

My Hard corals are doing well... in fact the LPS are budding and growing buds off their stalks.....

even the Pocillopora frag I recently obtained 2 weeks ago had shown growth...

Is it because of Chemical warfare...

or I don't have the nutrient levels for successful keeping of Softies??

Anyone can help with this...

as I hope to keep some pulsing Xenia

[Achilles Tang]

Xenias apparently need iodine.

[Phang]

I have been dosing iodine weekly......

[mv3i]

are you using bottled stuuf iodine ... eg corallife ........

btw , can someone help me understand what does strontium does to the water ??

[hongqixian]

Xenias can be delicate. Perhaps your tank is warmer than the xenias like, or the alk is too low for them or something? I think they like around 12dkh.

[CKS]

Em, i heard soft coral would benefit from Antinic light, how true is that?

im speaking in term of soft coral in general, not xenia

Oh and i agree on xenia been delicate, they're known for bad transporter, and they're the first that died in my tank after 8hours of poweroutrage.

They dont do well in tank with carbon too i heard.

[Stenopus Hispidus]

Hi Phang,

There is a wealth of info stating that soft corals release toxic compounds such as terpenoids and sarcophine to deter predators upon provocation (direct release). Then there was another more potent study that suggest that these compounds are also released into the water as a way of maintaining living space & prevent encroachment by other corals by retarding their growth while the toxin releasing colony clears the path and takes over the space (indirect release).

On the other hand, hard corals accomplish the same objective of colony expansion through conquering and self defence mainly by contact, using their sweeper tentacles laden with nematocysts or throwing out mesenterial filaments to "digest" their enemies and create space for their expansion. While there are reports that hard coral do secrete their own brand of toxin, the general view seems to suggest that in a tank with a diversity of soft and hard corals, hard corals are the first to succumb in a chemical warfare of sorts possibly due to the advantage had by soft corals through their indirect means…poisoning the water the hard corals live in...and they don't even have to come in contact with the hard corals.

That's why there are some SPS loving people who are weary of keeping soft corals esp. leathers and zooanthids for fear that their inclusion might result in the slower growth of their SPS corals, if at all. In either case, your situation seems to be an anomaly where hard corals dominate over soft. Wonder if anyone have any reference material to this situation so that I can soak it in but I guess the whole issue at this point is still moot. I have been keeping soft and hard corals together for quite some years now and don't seem to face any difficulties so far. Both category of corals still grow anyway. Question is...at what rate? My hard coral growth although evident could have been slowed down somewhat but I can't answer that as I never had a pure hard coral tank or a pure soft coral tank experience before to know what the standard growth rate is like. Wonder if there are any purist around?

Not too sure whether the toxic compounds produced will accumulate or break down over time. Don't think there's any studies done on this yet. Nevertheless, if you do suspect that your water has been intoxicated, here are some steps you can take to alleviate the situation. You may use it as a combi for better effect.

- Increase/renew your chemical filter (A.carbon, resins, etc)

- Get a good & efficient skimmer to export out the toxic compound

- Take the good 'ol advice - change your water…the more the merrier, and last but not least,

- Due to the chemical nature of these toxic compounds, ozone should render them susceptible to destruction (M.Paletta)

MV3i,

Strontium is supposedly required in the calcification process of hard corals as it was found present to some extent in the calcium skeleton of all hard corals. Its application is more on hard corals although I personally find dosing it controversial. Iodine is more of a requirement for soft corals.

[Stenopus Hispidus]

KS

                          Posted on Dec 20 2002, 11:32 AM

                          Em, i heard soft coral would benefit from Antinic light, how true is that?

                          im speaking in term of soft coral in general, not xenia

                          Oh and i agree on xenia been delicate, they're known for bad transporter, and they're the first that died in my tank after 8hours of

                          poweroutrage.

                          They dont do well in tank with carbon too i heard.

CKS,

You have 8 hour power outage? I had that too, not just once but 3 times...leaving me with an organic swill of a tank when I came back from work. Sick!! This is an expensive problem man!!

[CKS]

hehe tough luck huh

I lost $30 worth of stuff to the poweroutage

imagine fitting water from 8hr unlighted sump(2ft tank) with full bed of macroalgae into your display tank!!

anyway lots of hairalgae & other microalgae went away with the outage

[Phang]

Hey Steno,

Thanks for the infor....

But think maybe I stay away from softies for the mean time....

There's definitely some weird stuff happening in my reef....

[hongqixian]

Carbon will clear chemical warfare.