Brain coral issues

[RockfordE4]

Just picked up a new calcium test kit from Petco, another API one since that's all they had in stock. Ran the test and I'm getting a reading of 500, which is way off from my old kit that's been showing around 380-400 - and it's not even expired yet, doesn't go out of date until May 2016. One of my hammers isn't looking too great, so I'm getting a bit worried. Hopefully my alk kit is giving me accurate results. Not sure if I should just let the calcium levels drop on their own or do a water change to try and stabilize things. Going to take some water to the LFS tomorrow to get it checked for calcium and alk levels - fingers crossed. My brain coral still isn't looking any better, by the way.

[sunset4]

I've been thinking the same thing, that war coral above it might be causing some stress, could be part of the issue.

[tetraTim]

Honestly, I'd hold off on feeding for now, don't wanna stress it out further. Low flow, shaded area - that's where I'd put it. Just let it be, see if it bounces back on its own. If it starts looking better, then maybe a little food. GL with that.

[finnix25]

I've had my fair share of struggles with unreliable test kits, that's why I'd suggest investing in a Salifert kit for your Calc, Alk, and Mag readings - they're more reliable and a breeze to use.

You might also want to double-check that your heater is working properly, temperature fluctuations can wreak havoc on your tank, trust me, I've been there. I had a titanium heater go bad without a separate thermostat and my temp was swinging by about 4 degrees daily - it was a nightmare to figure out what was going on, some corals showed no signs of stress, while others just gave up.

It's also worth testing your pH to rule out any swings, I'm not saying you should chase pH, but sometimes if your CO2 levels are high or your buffer ratio is off, you can fix pH without raising Alk. In my experience with what I call true LPS corals, they're super sensitive to instability, more so than poor water quality. Temperature and pH fluctuations seem to have the most devastating effect, my trachyphyllia, for instance, always show signs of stress when temps go above 82.

[lumenox]

A low-cost trick I've found helpful is creating a DIY feeding cage using a coke bottle top or eggcrate, this way you can feed the coral generously without worrying about other tank inhabitants stealing the food. I do agree that feeding the stressed specimen now might be too stressful, but I've noticed that feeding at night, particularly, can be a great indicator of their interest in eating - a promising sign for overall recovery.