taking care of friends Gorgonian...New lesson.

[Ed Hahn]

I had a friend that was having issues with his tank. He asked If he could put some of his corals in my tank. I agreed and thought nothing of it. One of those corals was a gorgonian. I read today that gorgonians are highly toxic to other corals. They are even more toxic than Leather corals to my SPS. That might explain why my new millipora has died that was close to it. I hope this helps someone else.
Ed

 

[Angelscrx]

Oh man I am sorry about that Ed. I hope you don't have any other problems. Anyone have a milli frag for Ed?

 

[Ed Hahn]

Angel,
I am fine, Thanks. I may have to visit Fragman again and buy more frags. I just read about it after it happened. Eric Bornemans book Aquarium Corals gave me a heads up on why my milli was destroyed. It was about 4 inches from the Gorgonian.
I will give it back to owner when he is availible as soon as possible.

 

[Angelscrx]

Any loss is still a loss. And I feel for ya!

 

[nananurse]

gorgonian

I have a gorgonian, I have two corals that aren't doing very well could this be the reason? One has white stuff on it, does that mean it is dieing?

 

[Ed Hahn]

Hello Nananurse,
There are many things that can cause a coral to bleach. I actually had a coral that was doing great and added the gorgonian. I thought it was due to too much direct flow hitting the coral. I adjusted my flow angle, still did no improvement. I later read Eric Bornemans Book. I grabbed bits and pieces and learned that some gorgonians are more toxic than Leathers to SPS. I made a assumption because that was the only change in my tank was adding that gorgonian. I would highly recommend reading Eric Bornemans Book of Corals. I borrowed it from a friend and its hard to put down. Please read about gorgonians in there and look at the pictures to cross reference. I hope this helps.

And definitely welcome to Reef Frontiers..The people here are fantastic!
Ps..I am definitely looking forward to reading some books from Anthony Calfo too. I just have not gotten that far yet(smile).
Ed

 

[nananurse]

Thanks. I will read the book!

 

[reeffan]

oh yes, gorgonians =(. I had this problem few years ago and almost wipe out my reef. I didnt figure it out until i ask someone in reef central. He told me that when they start decaying, it will release some type of toxin and can be deadly for our tank. Sure enough it was the gorgonian. I manage to keep some coral alive after doing alot of water changes.

reeffan