Pagoda problem

[kwajtrader]

I have a pagoda frag that I got at the February meeting that has been doing really well up until today. It looks like one polyp has turned white and shriveled up and the others seem to be retracting away from that one. I had been spot feeding it about once a week with phyto feast. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it. As of Saturday all of my water parameters were good except my magnesium was low at 1063. I've been dosing within the recommended limits to bring it up to 1200, which should take me until 4/1. I've got mushrooms, xenias, zoas and richordia all of which are doing well. What should I do at this point?

I'm about as new as you can get, so any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[jesspete]

Could it be getting stung by a neighbor? It looks different from when they normally retract? Grab a pic!

 

[kwajtrader]

There's nobody nearby so I don't see any obvious source for stinging. I'll take a pict when I get home tonight.

Thanks

 

[mojo]

Be sure to include the surrounding corals in the picture - a lot of times, some corals will only release their stingers in the middle of the night, so you won't know during the daytime.

 

[jesspete]

We have a decent size pagoda, and he pouts when a fish brushes up against him, or if the current makes him brush a rock or something. He can get really antsy about it (apparently all of my corals are male, lol). I see the biggest reaction when he's near other coral. I don't know how it was happening, but I have a tiny purple haze encrusting monti, that apparently could tick it off from three plus inches away.

 

[kwajtrader]

I've got the pagoda sticking out by itself with nothing obvious near by. It's possible the Anemone traveled over in the middle of the night, but he doesn't normally move that far. I'm thinking he wasn't the best purchase....

I can't seem to get photo's to upload so I've posted them here:

 

[kwajtrader]

I guess this is another newbie question, but is there a trick to uploading photos? They were showing in the additional options window but when I click on submit nothing happens. When I removed the photos and hit submit it worked fine.

 

[jesspete]

taking a look

 

[jesspete]

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[jesspete]

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[jesspete]

How long has it been like that now? What's in that bottom right hand corner below it? Could be a fish came around that rock and bothered it by rubbing, or someone could have nipped at it.

 

[ralph atl]

stop feeding it phyto, for one. They are great barometer's to when your tank parems are off including nutrients being too high.

something could also be nipping at it?

do a water change, and just make sure when you feed your fish, some food drifts over on it's polyps especially small itsy bitsy kinda stuff, but not veggies.

 

[kwajtrader]

Thanks for posting the photos!

I'm not exactly sure what the brown things are to be honest. When I first set up the tank I bought live rock from a guy who threw in a hermit crab and he had mounted these brown polyps to the shell. Before I gave the crab away, because he was a brown legged non reef safe type, I took them off and mounted them to that rock. There is a third picture on photobucket where you can see them a little better. The look like large zoas.

Thanks for the advice on feeding. I'll stop the phyto feeding. It did seem like the pagoda would green up and do better after I did though.

I appreciate all the help.

 

[kwajtrader]

It's been that way for the last three or so days.

 

[jesspete]

Move the buttons over some just to be sure, although I doubt that's it. I really think one of your fish has nipped at it. Good news, it's not dying, so far. Just ticked.

 

[kwajtrader]

I've never seen the Coral Beauty nip at anything and the guy I bought him from assured me that he didn't :doh: I guess I'll need to keep a close eye on him. The good news is that he must not have liked it very much if he only nibbled on one polyp.