ORA Tort Questions

[Illusion]

For some reason I cannot keep an ORA Blue A. Tort.. I can keep anything else in my tank except the impossible Blue Tort.. I have gotten 2 of them from Etropicals.com for 89.00 each and they both go down hill really fast... I acclimate them just as i do with any other frag.. 1/2 cup tank water per 5 min for approx 30mins.. I have never really had any issues with any SPS except this one.. I think i have just about given up unless someone wants to donate a frag of one to me It seems as those the first few days everything is great polyps out like crazy then it starts to get kinda whitish tips and looks really bad... I have tried an iodine dip on this last one but its not helping..

Here is an image of it 2days after being in the tank

and here is a pic of it as of this morning

,y levels are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, Ca 460, alk 10.6, Mg 1500, po4 0, nitrate >5

Thanks again,
James

 

[NaH2O]

I'm tagging along for the ride to learn.

What kind of lighting do you have? What other kinds of corals are in close proximity?

 

[Illusion]

There is no other coral within close proximity of the coral.. I have 2x250w 14k MH and 2x55w Actinic PCs.. Its really frustrating.. Nothing seems to bother it and no other coral is stinging it.. I have my mind set on shipping stress because its happened twice for no reason and its only this coral..

James

 

[esmith]

Looks as though you might have some algae growing around it...is this the case? If so, it could be a combination of shipping stress and algae. Some of my corals will look terrible if any algae starts growing too close.

Depending upon where you live you might want to source these locally if you can, since you've already ordered them numerous times and had the continue to die on you.

Why don't you try gently blowing it off with the good ol turkey baster to remove that slime, and then keep us posted.

One more question, what size tank is this, and what do you have for flow? I'm not experienced with torts, but it may be needing more flow if this slime is continuing to accumulate on it. I'm sure some experts on these will chime in shortly though.

HTH,

Eliyah

 

[Illusion]

The algae was already removed... And I have already blown off the tort with the turkey baster...

The tank is a 55g tank with 2 maxijet 1200s on a wavermaker pro and a mag 9.5 for a return pump that dumps in both real corners.. I have the maijets in both the front corner.. There is plenty of movement in the tank... I doubt that I will ever buy another one again if this one dies... Its just crazy

Thanks Again,
James

 

[bradreef]

just picked up an ORA frag of tort for Blue seirra this morning and hope to have a better fortune.

 

[Illusion]

Anyone????

James

 

[SueT]

James, I don't have any experience with the ORA people but have you thought of trying a tortuosa from another place. Sometimes it's just that particular frag and yours{or my} particular tank that they don't go together. I know ORA has great stuff but if I were you, before I ditched trying to keep a tortuosa I'd try another place. You may have all the luck in the world with someplace else.

I wonder if you did a frag job on the frag you pictured and tried to super glue just the spots you trimmed if you might bring this frag back?? It looks to me to still have a good main branch and if you super glue spotted some areas it may still make it.

I would't consider this one a total loss yet.

 

[kevinpo]

Sorry to hear of you challenges with such a desirable coral

How far below the bulb is it placed? Also is it directly below the center of the bulb?

It appears that it might not be getting enough flow (but it is only a guess). They like very high flow environments. They also like very high light but it's best to start them near/at the bottom of the tank for a few days just to be safe.

Keep us posted.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[Illusion]

The last bad picture was when it was placed on the bottom.. I have since moved it all the way up about 12" below the center of the 250w MH bulb... I have as well Increased the flow.. There is 2 maxijet 1200's and 1 via aqua 480 (300gph) all hooked to a wavemaker pro.. As for a return pump it is a Mag 9.5 ran at about 2' head.. and dumped out into 2 return lines in each corner... Should be plenty of flow.. On the side where the tort is there is a return, and 2 powerheads about 6" or so away from it.. Not directly hitting it pu blowing in that general direction..

Thanks Again,
James

 

[ProPs]

how old is the tank? water param.?

 

[Illusion]

The tank is about 10months old All water params are posted in the first post.. I have SEveral 20+ corals in this tank.. The only problems i have is with this one particular coral.. I have had some of my corals since the tank was a Week old because of having 80lbs of cured full of life LR that was added.. There was a 3 day cycle and all levels flat lined since... I am pretty aware as to what I am doing as well...

James

 

[chewie]

Well, how's it going with your tort?

I agree with SueT, there's enough tissue left on that piece to save. You just have to be real tricky with some clippers, and superglue. I would put it at the highest point in your tank closest to the MH bulb. If you have an extra PH, toss it in and direct the flow right over the top of the frankenstein frag.

I've got the same piece(actually babysitting for charles) and it is about 8" directly under a 400w. It polyps out during the day and the polyps get blastedwith about 1000gph for a good 15-20 seconds every minute from a 1" seaswirl. Kick up the flow.

Good luck.

 

[chewie]

P.S. Send me your # via PM, I lost it on caller ID.

 

[Illusion]

Sent... I added another powerhead and its looking a little bit better but not much... Not Dead yet.. LOL thats a good thing...

James

 

[reefout]

blue tort

i know all the ones i have seen that are healthy have been very close under a 400w, also i know that there are different blue tort colonies as well, the portland tort seems more blue to me than the ora tort, but i thought you said you got it from e-corals, which is a portland store called waves. if i was you i would DRIVE down to portland, go to waves, upscales, and soutas and GET your blue tort and run, run like the wind back home. you might want to do a little dance as well just to appease the sps gods, mabye even a soft coral sacarfice or two
but seriously, i feel your pain, it's pretty bad to spend that kind of money and hope just to watch it melt away. you seem like your basses are covered inso far as your tank parameters are concerned, what kind of additives are you using? is your water ro or ro/di, do you use uv or ozone? there are so many potential ways to improve your water quality, you may want to experiment. also, just because your phosphates and nitrates test at low levels it doesnt mean they arent contributing factors,you mentioned you have algae in the system, that probably means that they are just absorbing your phos and nitrates to reproduce, not that there isnt any. but this is coming from someone who put a uv and a euroreef es5-2 on a 20g acro tank, i like a clean tank.
that way i can add what i want ie; cyclopeeze, golden pearls, dt's
and not worry about over feeding or polluting my tank, it's all gone after 6 hours or so. i also use chemi-pure and poly filter.
anyway,i hope mabye i mentioned sopmething that might help you,good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Illusion]

For Equiptment the tank is a 55g tank running 2x250w 14k MH and 2x55w Actinics.. SKimmer is a AquaC Ev180 and I am running a Korralin 1502 Ca reactor... I have 4 PHs-- 2 Maxi 1200s and 2 via aqua 200gph and 300gph hooked to a wavemaker pro... I also use a mag 9.5 for a return pump that returns split into Each corner... I dont dose anything as the Ca reactor should be plenty for all trace Ect... As for Upscales I just got a few Frags from them and 1 of the 3 had Red Bugs on them.. Now my tank is infected.. I hear that Waves And Soutas has them as well... I am just thinking that its Etropicals.com that has the issue... I had a few other corals that died from the same shipment as well.. BTW all my change water is RO/Di and using Oceanic saltand no Ozone or UV.. Thought about UV but I see no point as of yet... As for my Algae it is slowly but surely dying off finally.. Knock on Wood LOL..

I guess better luck next time...

James

 

[reefout]

red bugs??? what the heck are they? are they coral eaters?
also, i noticed that you said etropicals, not e-corals, my mistake.
i guess i wont be going to upscales for coral this month.