Green Merulina plate coral turning brown at the edges

AntonMorris

New Member
I recently bought a green Merulina coral 6". I am new to the hobby and was looking for a plating Monti but the store had non and advised me the Merulina was similar with the same needs as a Monti.
I have since read on line that the Merulina is a hard / expert coral !
I have had the coral 3 weeks and after a while I noticed a browning on parts of the coral. I have a Red Sea Max 500 with T5 lights. I have placed the coral half way up with medium flow.
Can anybody advise?
My water test ok on all Zero. Calcium 465

Many thanks !!
 

Steve L

Member
I went back and looked at your forum posts since joining RS and it appears that your tank is very new. Practically all but simple soft corals require a well established tank (6 months to 1 year old) before they can grow and thrive. LFS's are always happy to sell just about anything to people who are new to the hobby, this even though they know that it is likely what they are selling won't survive. Until your water parameters settle down it really isn't safe to add much in the way of corals and even many fish.

Do yourself a favor and don't buy anything else until you research it online first, and there are many members here that are more than happy to answer your questions.

Good luck!
 

DianaKay

Princess Diana
RS STAFF
I agree with Steve L. I try to AVOID corals & fish that are rated as "difficult" and LFS will very seldom tell you that they are hard to keep alive. It reads to be a high light requiring coral so it might not be high enough up in your tank. If you see feeding tentacles extended, maybe you could try to spot it some thawed brine shrimp or some phytoplankton. Good Luck, please update with changes.
 

AntonMorris

New Member
So it browning a sign of not enough light?
I put it mid tank to acclimate before moving to the top.
Does the browning mean its dying?
Thanks !
 

reefer gladness

Well-Known Member
Does the browning mean its dying?

It's not good, new growth on SPS corals is normally white.

You really need to be on your 'A' game if you're keeping SPS corals. Pristine and stable water conditions including temps are required and even then some newer tanks seem to suffer from 'new tank syndrome'.

You need to give us the actual test results from your water, not just 'ok on all Zero'. It's highly unlikely that you have zero nitrates or phosphates and you also need to be testing alkalinity and magnesium if you're keeping SPS.

The coral may need to be moved higher but I'd investigate the water first.
 

PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
all good comments here. First off i'd leave the coral where it is for a bit.....no need to add additional stress. As stated above, can you give us the following:
Alk, MG, Nitrate and Phosphate reading as well as the measuring device/test?
What's the salinity at and are you using a refractometer? Is it calibrated?
What is your water change schedule?
Are you adding anything to the tank in terms of supplements?

Where is the browning happening? You mentioned "on parts" of the coral, any trend to it?
 

AntonMorris

New Member
Temp 78, Chiller
Sal 1.025
Ammonia 0
Nitrates 0- 5 hard to be sure
Nitrites 0
PH 8.2
Alk 7 Low and upped dose
Cal 465
Mag 1350
Phosphate .25

I use a dosing pump, Alk/Cal/Mag with Red Sea A B C
Test kits are API on all but Cal and Mag test kits are Salifert

I did purchase this in error and never planned to get into difficult to keep corals
The brown is not on the edges more on the plate in patches. No pattern. Edges are white.
Thanks again!
 

AntonMorris

New Member
I have posted below my water results.
I do 10 gallon changes weekly and 20g one a month.
I have move the coral towards the top after reading earlier post and descriptions on line.
I am adding a MP40 pump due to arrive tomorrow.
Thanks again for the feed back
 

PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
Nice update. It looks like you CA/ALK/MG is unbalanced which is mostly due to the tank being young. Try to slowly correct that. With the patched of brown being on the interior, the following can be issues:
- being stung by another coral
- it could be brown algae growing (can you blow it off)
- and lastly, it could be low lighting although I would expect it to be brown all over but i'm uncertain.

Give that a shot and try to stablize/balance your parameters.

good luck!
 

AntonMorris

New Member
Thanks again for the feed back and help.
When you say Cal/Alk/Mag are un-balanced what numbers should I be looking for?
 

Oxylebius

Well-Known Member
There are a lot of things that can cause a coral to brown (such as lighting, spectrum, nutrition, and alkalinity). But, not quiet sure about browning in patches. Is there tissue recession at all?

Agree w/PSU4Me, don't move the coral up yet, keep it where it is. No need for additional stress.
 

AntonMorris

New Member
No tissue recession that I reconise. I have moved it up as recommended on an earlier post and read on line.
I am going to leave it there now and hope its a light issue.
Thanks again!!
 

reefer gladness

Well-Known Member
Thanks again for the feed back and help.
When you say Cal/Alk/Mag are un-balanced what numbers should I be looking for?

For an SPS tank I like alk between 8-9.5 dKH unless you're dosing carbon in which case 7-8 dKH. Calcium ideally around 420-440ppm, a little less is okay and a little more isn't going to benefit the tank. Magnesium around 3x the value of calcium (ie. calcium 420 then mag should be around 1260ppm. You can safely raise mag up to 1400-1600ppm to combat certain algae outbreaks safely (like bryopsis).

Phosphates are high, I think .06 to .08 is the safe range for SPS but maybe others can chime in.
 
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