Candy canes show off

[Zoa_Fanatic]

My name says zoa fanatic but candy canes are my passion. Anyone else love this coral? How big is your colony?

 

[maleks.reef]

Hey man. Your candy canes look amazing. On the other hand, mine are struggling and its really driving me nuts.
Background: I got these candy canes 4 months ago (a while after i lost all my euphillia over 3 days). They were doing ok for a month then suddenly its like the tissue was melting away, no brown jelly but its like someone sliced it up. I immediately gave it to a friend and it barely survived in his tank. After keeping it with him for 2 months or so I just took it back 2 weeks ago. As you see, it does NOT look good whatsoever and i really don't want to lose it. I thought they were dying the first time around because of some copper, but I've had cuprisorb in for about 9 days and they don't seem to be getting any better. My po4 is at 0, no3 around 15 but i suspect the no3 has gone down because ive been trying to kill off an algae issue. A month ago my alk was at 7.15 dkh, but ive done 2 WCs somce then so I suspect its about 8 now. Im at the end of my rope rn and I really dont know what else to do. As i said at the beggining, something similar happened to my euphillia 6 months ago where they slowly got smaller and smaller and one day the polyps just left the skeleton. Ive asked SO many people about this issue, no one could figure out the issue. After finding my rusty WC pump I assumed that its heavy metals that killed off my euphillia and almost killed my candy canes.

PS: My po4 hasn't always been at 0. It was at a steady 0.03 for a while

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

Hey man. Your candy canes look amazing. On the other hand, mine are struggling and its really driving me nuts.
Background: I got these candy canes 4 months ago (a while after i lost all my euphillia over 3 days). They were doing ok for a month then suddenly its like the tissue was melting away, no brown jelly but its like someone sliced it up. I immediately gave it to a friend and it barely survived in his tank. After keeping it with him for 2 months or so I just took it back 2 weeks ago. As you see, it does NOT look good whatsoever and i really don't want to lose it. I thought they were dying the first time around because of some copper, but I've had cuprisorb in for about 9 days and they don't seem to be getting any better. My po4 is at 0, no3 around 15 but i suspect the no3 has gone down because ive been trying to kill off an algae issue. A month ago my alk was at 7.15 dkh, but ive done 2 WCs somce then so I suspect its about 8 now. Im at the end of my rope rn and I really dont know what else to do. As i said at the beggining, something similar happened to my euphillia 6 months ago where they slowly got smaller and smaller and one day the polyps just left the skeleton. Ive asked SO many people about this issue, no one could figure out the issue. After finding my rusty WC pump I assumed that its heavy metals that killed off my euphillia and almost killed my candy canes.

PS: My po4 hasn't always been at 0. It was at a steady 0.03 for a while

So just for background, I don’t test my tanks anymore. I used to chase parameters all the time but I gave up on that. I have never checked my pO4 levels so I can’t help you there. What I can say is that is definitely not brown jelly or in my opinion any disease. They’re not happy with your water. The number one thing that has irritated mine and made them mad like yours is pH swings. A quick drop or spike in pH really, really, really bothers candy canes in my experience. It took mine a month to recover from a single pH spike when I treated the tank with pH powder.

Mine have also occasionally looked like this in cases where my water was way too clean. I run a biocube 32 and a biocube 16. My 32 has a protein skimmer and UV sterlizer. My candy canes used to be happy in the 32 until I added those two pieces of equipment. Then they started to look like yours. I put them in my 16, where the water is disgusting by comparison, and they are huge and healthy. That big colony was 2 heads 10 months ago. They like dirtier water and a low but constant flow over them. Mine are in a spot that just barely makes the lobes wave when they’re fully extended. Do yours try to feed at night? They may not be able to capture food or fully extend if the flow is too high.

Also to be honest yours don’t look that bad. They look ticked off but mine have looked way worse. When I first got them they were infested with burrowing worms. A FW dip for 5 minutes (yeah I way overdid it lol) basically killed them. I’m talking like 0 tissue left. And not they’re 30+ heads. Don’t give up in your colony. They aren’t done yet. From what I can see they still have a decent amount of tissue extending down the stalk as well they just aren’t fully open

 

[maleks.reef]

So just for background, I don’t test my tanks anymore. I used to chase parameters all the time but I gave up on that. I have never checked my pO4 levels so I can’t help you there. What I can say is that is definitely not brown jelly or in my opinion any disease. They’re not happy with your water. The number one thing that has irritated mine and made them mad like yours is pH swings. A quick drop or spike in pH really, really, really bothers candy canes in my experience. It took mine a month to recover from a single pH spike when I treated the tank with pH powder.

Mine have also occasionally looked like this in cases where my water was way too clean. I run a biocube 32 and a biocube 16. My 32 has a protein skimmer and UV sterlizer. My candy canes used to be happy in the 32 until I added those two pieces of equipment. Then they started to look like yours. I put them in my 16, where the water is disgusting by comparison, and they are huge and healthy. That big colony was 2 heads 10 months ago. They like dirtier water and a low but constant flow over them. Mine are in a spot that just barely makes the lobes wave when they’re fully extended. Do yours try to feed at night? They may not be able to capture food or fully extend if the flow is too high.

Also to be honest yours don’t look that bad. They look ticked off but mine have looked way worse. When I first got them they were infested with burrowing worms. A FW dip for 5 minutes (yeah I way overdid it lol) basically killed them. I’m talking like 0 tissue left. And not they’re 30+ heads. Don’t give up in your colony. They aren’t done yet. From what I can see they still have a decent amount of tissue extending down the stalk as well they just aren’t fully open

I try to feed them reef roids occasionally at night. Ill try to do it tonight. The thing is im cutting back on feeding so my water is pretty stripped of po4 and no3, maybe thats the issue..? You did mention that yours look similar when they were in very clean water. I just got a new CUC today so hopefully, if they do their job well, ill be back to feeding heavily. Thanks for the help!

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

I try to feed them reef roids occasionally at night. Ill try to do it tonight. The thing is im cutting back on feeding so my water is pretty stripped of po4 and no3, maybe thats the issue..? You did mention that yours look similar when they were in very clean water. I just got a new CUC today so hopefully, if they do their job well, ill be back to feeding heavily. Thanks for the help!

I would make a difference for sure. My big biocube has pristine water and my ccs did not like it at all. My smaller cube runs dirty and they’re open and happy in there