my new mushrooms and kenya tree are dead, what happened?

[noobaquariumust]

so i checked my levels within an hour of a 30% water change. I went to a friends house to get a couple mushrooms and a kenya tree, and after a few days they were shriveled and colorless. I was talking to a friend and he was saying that my levels weren't that out of wack, but it might be my light? I own a 175watt metal halide over my 24g aquapod. It's on a homemade canopy about 10-12 inches above the tank. could i have to much light for the softies?

 

[Scooterman]

Did you acclimate them any? What or how much light did they have before?

 

[noobaquariumust]

what does acclimate mean?! and they were in a 55g with a single 400 watt over it

 

[Peppie]

Not a seasoned vet here, but If the corals were low in his tank and you placed them high in your tank, it may have been to much light for them.
Since he was also using metal halide I dont think it would have been that much of a shock to the corals. There are many other variables that will effect this and not just the lights. I would help some of the more experienced reefer to have your water param. posted to give you a better educated reply.
From what I have read, I understand that if you were to add corals to your tank and it is lite with, lets say 400watt of MH. and the tank they came from only had CF. You would need to acclimate them to your 400watt a little at a time. Weather it be with layers of screen on the top of the tank and remove one layer at a time over a week or so. Or by reducing the amount of time the 400watts were on during the day and slowly over a couple of weeks be up to a full light cycle.

I hope this helps, I am sure some one will slap me if I am out in left field.LOL

 

[luisse25]

you said your metal halide is on a homemade canopy?is your halide hqi or single ended? if its hqi does it have the UV shield?
kenya tree and mushrooms are tough to kill....
acclimate means when u get new corals u should temperature acclimate it(float the corals that is in the bag in your tank) and then light acclimate it depends on what kind of light it was from where u get it....whenever i get new corals i always put it first in the bottom of the tank and see how it does,then when it gets use to my tank(environment and light) and gets happy then i move it to where i want it.....

ps
whenever u acquire new frags always dip...theres chemicals u can use(lugols,melafix,revive etc)....these are use so u can dip new corals that way u dont get pests that will give u headaches...and also inspect.

 

[TJL]

Hey welcome aboard and hopefully gained some valuable info on importance of acclimating and dipping new corals for pest/disease prevention . Could you please tell us a bit more about your system like how old/ established it is, what test kits you have and used and those readings. If your willing I'm sure someone close by could help you out one on one to figure it out. I'm in SE Everett if that is convenient for you shoot me a pm.

Todd

 

[noobaquariumust]

i have a single-ended mogul 175 watt 20k metal halide bulb. 30 minutes ago before my water change my param. were at 0 nitrite, almost no nitrate, almost no ammonia(between 0-.25) and my pH was about 8.3. my tank is about 1-2 months old and has 2 damsels in it. yesterday I added a bigger snail to see if it could survive. i got home about an hour ago and the little fella was cleaning and being a snail. So if one of you knows what could of happened please clue me in!!! i never did acclimate them, i just threw them in...:doh: but the mushrooms in his tank are higher and lower, they've reproduced like rabbits and are on all levels, but the tree was more mid range and i put him more towards the topish...:doh:

 

[Peppie]

How long were they in your tank before you decided that they were dead? When I added my tree (I did it like you did, Just threw it in there) it shriveled up for 3-4 days before it perked up. Never had that happen to my shrooms.

 

[noobaquariumust]

no dude this thing started to get shrivled and i was even like it will start to get better, but it didn't. they both melted literally!

 

[vegita51]

What is the temperature of your water?

 

[noobaquariumust]

temperature is at 75 ish

 

[user 26995]

If you have not figured out what could have cuased this yet, it could be a number of reasons.
How long has your tank been set up?
Do some more tests and post the info here.
Give us the readings for ammonia, nitrates, nitrites and ph at least.
Calcium, alkalinity and magnesium levels might help too.
What kind of lighting were the corals under before you got them? Where were they placed in the tank under that lighting?
Where did you place them in your tank? How close to the light?

If they were under low light before you got them and they were placed under high light in your tank, that would be most likely what the problem was.
Coral should be temperature and light acclimated.
Here is a link from the "Favorite links, info and discussions: CALFO" Sticky in this forum
Acclimating Photosynthetic Reef Invertebrates to Captive Lighting
See if that helps you understand Acclimation.