Corals Making Me Mad

[Tetra1]

I just recently bought corals and they were doing really well, and then overnight they started doing crappy. I have not changed anything that I was doing, the water temperature dropped a bit, but, they still are not bouncing back yet as the temperature is rising. What can I do? :frustrat::grumble:

 

[little_fish]

what are your water parameters? When was the last time you did a water change? Is anything like shrimp or something bothering them?

 

[Bifferwine]

How much is "a bit" and over what time period did it drop? Temperature swings can cause corals to be unhappy.

 

[Tetra1]

The temperature dropped from around 80 degrees to 71 degrees over roughly a two day time period. The one coral never did open and just died and all of my others have shrunk. The water parameters are fine no issues with that.

 

[little_fish]

ouch!!! How fast did you bring the temp back up?

 

[Tetra1]

Still working on it currently

 

[SeaBee]

Thats a big drop in temp. What caused that? What about your salinity, what is that and is/has it been stable?

 

[Tetra1]

Yeah salinity is good, my tank water got a little low and the water just started cooling off. Weird I know.

 

[sen5241b]

Yeah the temp is most likely the issue. The ability to keep a tank stable in the long term is very important when you start getting into expensive corals. Unstable parameters will kill corals.

In general the tank temp should not change by more than 3 degrees in a 24 hour period. Most coral reefs in the ocean have an annual average temp of 81F and higher!

 

[d2mini]

ya, 71 is pretty chilly for a reef.

 

[Ashna]

what is a good temp for corals?

 

[marcah]

IMO around 78-81 degrees would be good :sfish:

 

[BL1]

+1 78-81 is optimal but stability is the key!