Dying coral

GiannisK · Nov 1, 2023

About a week ago I bought a ricordea florida frag for my 20 gallon. The tank has been running for a bit over a month and has a firefish and clean up crew. This is the first coral I’ve ever owned.

I initially placed it on the sandbed, per the seller’s advice. I had a cheap light which I don’t think is intended for coral (picture 1). Nevertheless, it was pretty bright. The coral seemed to recoil, closing up, even when shaded slightly by rocks (pics 2 and 3). I was surprised at this. Given how cheap the light is, I thought it would be far too weak, not too strong. The coral would open when the light was off.

I assumed it just needed to acclimate, but I bought a better light anyway. I chose the NICREW 50 W Hyper Reef, which can have white and blue levels adjusted and maintain schedules. I started it at 5% white and 10% blue, and moved the coral a few inches up but under rock shade so it wouldn’t be hit directly. It seemed to be…ok (picture 4). It wouldn’t close up nearly as much, and I thought it was finally acclimating.

My firefish stays hidden in the rocks whenever the light is off. It was hiding in the rocks 80% of the time with this setup, so I decided to increase the light, which brought it ought more. I created a ramp up starting from 6 am that would bring it to 5% blue by 8 am, then 10% white and 20% blue by 10 am, then go down to 5% white and 10% blue from then to 8 pm, and from then shut off by 11 pm.

On day 1 it was open but somewhat droopy. I thought this was an improvement from before so I didn’t think too much of it. It was the same this morning. But when I got back from work, it was rapidly losing tissue. There was a bunch of tissue just peeling off from it into the water (pics 5 and 6, light turned up only for the pic).

I did not think this would be too much light. I know it’s a soft coral but it’s 128 PAR at max intensity, and this is shaded. I am borrowing a PAR meter this weekend to confirm the numbers but I would highly doubt if it reached the 75-150 PAR recommended to me for soft corals. So I’m kinda flabbergasted.

Is it just an acclimation thing? Is it definitely the light? My parameters are:
pH: 8.0
Alkalinity: 9
Ammonia/Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5
Phosphate: 0 (I seriously doubt it’s exactly 0, all I know is it’s far closer to 0 on the color chart than 0.25).
Salinity: 1.025

These are API test results so grain of salt. In the process of getting a few Hanna checkers. I have the light currently turned off.

Any advice? This is my first coral so I could be making all sorts of mistakes. Any input would be appreciated.

James M · Nov 1, 2023

That light needs to be bumped up to at least 50%, its not a very strong light and your ric does look bleached from lack of light

GiannisK · Nov 1, 2023

James M said:
That light needs to be bumped up to at least 50%, its not a very strong light and your ric does look bleached from lack of light

That would make more sense to me. I will crank it up.

GiannisK · Nov 1, 2023

James M said:
That light needs to be bumped up to at least 50%, its not a very strong light and your ric does look bleached from lack of light

What does this behavior now mean?

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Nov 1, 2023

GiannisK said:
What does this behavior now mean?

Was it that bleached when you bought it?

GiannisK · Nov 2, 2023

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal said:
Was it that bleached when you bought it?

Yes the first pic of it is from day 1 and it looks the same coloration wise.

Mr. Mojo Rising · Nov 2, 2023

In the pics it seems to be completely in the shade. The poor thing is stretching up in some pics. Give it light. Rics can take more light than other mushrooms

GiannisK · Nov 2, 2023

Mr. Mojo Rising said:
In the pics it seems to be completely in the shade. The poor thing is stretching up in some pics. Give it light. Rics can take more light than other mushrooms

So that’s stretching for light? To me it looked like it was closing away from the light.

Mr. Mojo Rising · Nov 2, 2023

GiannisK said:
So that’s stretching for light? To me it looked like it was closing away from the light.

You mean the way it’s standing up and the mushroom itself is in the shape of a satellite dish? It is begging pleading crying for more light.

It will be lying down flat and suntanning on a rock if it’s happy.

CoralB · Nov 2, 2023

Also it could be from low to zero phosphates. Try to bring it up to at least .05 and in my experience mushrooms like higher nitrates like between 10-20 ppm. I personally would never let my phosphates get even close to zero .

GiannisK · Nov 2, 2023

Mr. Mojo Rising said:
You mean the way it’s standing up and the mushroom itself is in the shape of a satellite dish? It is begging pleading crying for more light.

It will be lying down flat and suntanning on a rock if it’s happy.

Ok I understand that for that picture, but how would you explain this then?

Mr. Mojo Rising · Nov 2, 2023

GiannisK said:
Ok I understand that for that picture, but how would you explain this then?

dude, your mushroom looks like a white eggplant. Its standing up, the polyp looks like a satellite dish thats trying to get reception.

Like I said, a happy mushroom lays flat on a rock and will spread out flat (not standing up). You should not see the stem.

In your pic, you can clearly see the mushroom is completely in the shade, that means zero light. Thats why its bleached white, it has no light at all.

Don't take my word for it. Google pics of ricordia mushrooms, see if you can find even one that looks like yours. You won't. I feel bad for it, its a living animal.

GiannisK · Nov 2, 2023

I understand what you’re saying but its coloration is the same as it was when I got it. I’m not arguing I wasn’t giving it enough light but I’m not the one that bleached it. I even asked the guy I bought it from why it was curling inward like that and he said too much light. To me, a naive, the coral would stretch upwards like the latest pic if it wanted more light, not curl inwards. Again, it laid nice and flat on the rock when I had turned the lights off. It probably just had nothing to stretch towards, but you can see why I might think that it means it was relieved. Not arguing that it needs less light, in fact you can see that I’ve listened and cranked it up. Just explaining why I would make that conclusion in my head.

wdotero · Dec 13, 2023

GiannisK said:
I understand what you’re saying but its coloration is the same as it was when I got it. I’m not arguing I wasn’t giving it enough light but I’m not the one that bleached it. I even asked the guy I bought it from why it was curling inward like that and he said too much light. To me, a naive, the coral would stretch upwards like the latest pic if it wanted more light, not curl inwards. Again, it laid nice and flat on the rock when I had turned the lights off. It probably just had nothing to stretch towards, but you can see why I might think that it means it was relieved. Not arguing that it needs less light, in fact you can see that I’ve listened and cranked it up. Just explaining why I would make that conclusion in my head.

I just read this thread today - in search of answers. My R. Florida hasn't gotten any bigger and lately it's shrinking. Almost all info out there says low light. I just moved mine up in hopes it will actually like more light.
How is yours doing now?

GiannisK · Dec 13, 2023

wdotero said:
I just read this thread today - in search of answers. My R. Florida hasn't gotten any bigger and lately it's shrinking. Almost all info out there says low light. I just moved mine up in hopes it will actually like more light.
How is yours doing now?

Sadly it died within a few days of my last reply. It had been losing lots of tissue for days.

wdotero · Dec 13, 2023

GiannisK said:
Sadly it died within a few days of my last reply. It had been losing lots of tissue for days.

I am sorry to hear that. I appreciate you asking for help. Hopefully we'll both have better luck with these in the future. I've seen some amazing pictures from people who have been successful with them.