Is my Coral dead?

[namlessdude]

I am new to salt water fish tank and honestly, i jumped in a little too fast. I bought this coral which i can't remember the name of and 1 feel like it is dying now after being in the tank for about 5ish days.
The coral initially was fine and standing up straight, but today it got like this. Is it dead or is this normal? Can it be saved?
My parameters are a 7.9 pH, and a 1.019 salinity

 

[Dread Pirate Dave]

How are your nitrates and phosphates reading? I think salinity could be higher. It definitely does not look like it is happy right now.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Thats a leather coral, it likes higher water movement to help it stand up. Do you have any powerheads in the tank? They like higher nutrients in the water, what is your nitrate and phosphate level? What is alk and calcium level? What type of light do you have? The salinity is too low for the corals, what type of measuring tool are you using?

 

[namlessdude]

Thats a leather coral, it likes higher water movement to help it stand up. Do you have any powerheads in the tank? They like higher nutrients in the water, what is your nitrate and phosphate level? What is alk and calcium level? What type of light do you have? The salinity is too low for the corals, what type of measuring tool are you using?

I am using a 7 in one measuring strip to check parameters. My reading from a few minutes ago is:

25 nitrate
5 nitrite
40 alkalinity (unit of measuring is 30s mg/L
40 carbonate (30s mg/L)

I have to say my nitrate and nitrite did go up significantly from two days ago as my readins were 0 on both. Could this be it? And if so, what do i need to do? There's so much to learn!

 

[namlessdude]

How are your nitrates and phosphates reading? I think salinity could be higher. It definitely does not look like it is happy right now.

25 nitrate
5 nitrite

It makes me very sad to think that i killed it or could have prevented this. Any solutions for a fix?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

You will need good quality test kits for keeping corals, those test strips are not reliable, 40 alkalinity is impossible. Salifert or hanna are the brands most use.

All corals need a reef like environement in terms of lighting and flow, and they need reef parameters. At this point, we don't know the parameters, and the salinity is way off. We want to help, but we need all the info.

Can you list your equipment?
Lighting
Flow
Filtration
A tank pic really helps.

Meanwhile, here is a good guide that explains the basics of keep a saltwater tank.

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium This article was sponsored by @MarineDepot at www.marinedepot.com. Introduction The marine environment is one of the most complex systems on the planet. The aquarium you are about to set up is only a tiny sliver of the vast ocean...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

By the way, its not dead, its far from dead, and its condition can easily be improved, we just need the info to figure out what needs correction. Making a coral happy is about lighting, flow, and parameters, so we need info on all 3 to figure out whats wrong.

 

[Dodge Ram]

Got that coral too. It shrinks and expands regularly. Like the seas and oceans, it is a tide.

 

[twentyleagues]

Sg at 1.019 is to low to keep corals slowly increase it to 1.025-1.026. I also do not believe the alk reading although I am not great at calculating the mg/l to dkh but I got 2.2 dkh which is very low. Might be possible at the low sg but I am unsure.

 

[namlessdude]

By the way, its not dead, its far from dead, and its condition can easily be improved, we just need the info to figure out what needs correction. Making a coral happy is about lighting, flow, and parameters, so we need info on all 3 to figure out whats wrong.

Here is a pic of the light and pic of tank.

I don't have the means to test other than the strip, so i need to go buy some when stores open tomorrow.

As for filter, i have the Amazon.com
https://www.amazon.com › ...
Aqueon QuietFlow 30 LED PRO Aquarium Fish Tank Power Filter For Up To 45 Gallon ...

Water temp at 78f and the flow is basically whatever the filter causes.


I removed the coral to its own tank using the same water from the original tank (hence the lower water level) in case it was dead and so it wont cause any further issues. It was shedding things (pic included) which made the tank messy. Hoping the filter will take care of it.

What should I do from here?

 

[namlessdude]

I would really appreciate it if you dumb things down for me as I am very new to this and learning. I realized that i jump in too fast because i was too excited but i don't want to lose what I currently have. I will work on increasing the salinity over the span of a weak as to not shock the fish. The tank is currently only 10 gallons but I just bought a 40 gallon that I will be cycling starting today.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Your light is super overpowered for a 10 gallon tank, but will be perfect for a 40 gallon, you'll have no issue's growing corals with that. What intensity is it on? This might be the issue, you might be cooking it with light

 

[namlessdude]

Your light is super overpowered for a 10 gallon tank, but will be perfect for a 40 gallon, you'll have no issue's growing corals with that. What intensity is it on? This might be the issue, you might be cooking it with light

At night i turn it at max brightness for the blue light and in the morning i have the white light on also at max. I just assumed it needs light.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

150 watt light in a 10 gallon tank at 100% lol
Thats ok, funny newbie mistake, you'll laugh later.
For now put it down to about 25% until you get your 40. Lucky its a very hardy coral that doesn't mind high light, a lot of other corals would have been cooked.

 

[namlessdude]

Ill decrease the light and get a better test kit. Any recommendations for test kits?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

salifert is very good, low cost, but need to compare colours which is hard for my old eyes.

I like hanna, which is digital and just gives a number, but its expensive, and buying testing regeants every month is expensive.

I think these are the 2 most popular for most hobbyists that I know.

 

[namlessdude]

salifert is very good, low cost, but need to compare colours which is hard for my old eyes.

I like hanna, which is digital and just gives a number, but its expensive, and buying testing regeants every month is expensive.

I think these are the 2 most popular for most hobbyists that I know.

Thank you for your answer! I will look into that and adjust the brightness of my lights. I hope my coral comes back stronger than ever.