Caring for bubble coral

[dusked6]

I've got a large bubble coral that's not expanding like it normally does - it's only about halfway. Our other LPS corals seem fine, so that's a plus. This has only been going on for a day or two, so I'm not too worried yet. dKH is pretty high, like 11 or 12, but I haven't added anything. I'm thinking of running some tests to see if I can figure out what's going on.

[Ravynox]

It might just be adjusting, some corals take a while to settle in though. I'm curious, where's the bubble coral located in the tank - I've found LPS does better in the sand bed initially, then can be gradually moved up if needed.

[dusked6]

It's been in the same spot for about a year. Not moved it recently.

[Ravynox]

No idea it's been there that long, thought it was new

[zeno9]

I've had my fair share of bubble corals, three large ones in my tank doing great for a while. One day, one of them didn't open up as much as usual. I used a turkey baster to squirt some water on it and inspect it closely, that's when I noticed a corner with tissue infection. After that, it only got worse and the same thing happened to my second bubble coral. To prevent it from happening to the third one, I decided to dip it in iodine and it's been doing fine for about two months now.

From my experience, these corals seem to be more prone to bacterial infections. All my other LPS corals have been fine for about a year, so I'm not sure what triggered it. Maybe something in my tank made it more susceptible, but I wouldn't just wait and see. Bacterial infections can spread fast in fleshy corals.

It's weird how it can happen overnight - one day they're huge and open, the next day almost all closed. Do you have any inverts that could be bothering your coral? I have emerald crabs that I see picking around every now and then...

[dusked6]

I haven't seen any signs of infection and we don't have any inverts that could be bothering it. This bubble coral usually has a pretty aggressive feeding response, so I'm thinking it might just need a bit more food. We've had bubbles before that can decline quickly, so I'm not too worried yet. I'll try target feeding it some more and check the lighting to make sure that's not the issue. Also, going to run some tests for Mg, CA, NO3, and PO4 levels - usually our parameters are stable, but you never know what might be off.

[dusked6]

I dug up some interesting stuff. CA was way off - usually 450/500, now it's around 300. PO4 was a bit high at 0.10, and NO3 was super low, 2. Normally it's 12.5/25. Had a couple of old T5s too. Got my LFS to double-check the values, and they use the same tests. Their take is that LPS like a bit of dirt in the water, and my SW is too clean. Never seen a nitrate reading that low before - go figure.

[lumenox]

When bringing your chemistry back up, do it slowly, no need to shock the system. Agree with others, dipping's a great idea. For me, keeping LPS happy means nitrates around 2-5 ppm - can't imagine that's the issue here, especially with the other things mentioned.

[dusked6]

Just seems like a mix of factors all coming together at once. The bubble coral just reacted to it.

[VoyagerA]

I've had a bubble coral for almost 15 years now, they're pretty hardy and can tolerate some dirty water, but sudden changes can cause them to react. I've never had a bacterial problem with mine, even when my water quality wasn't the best. Stability is key for all corals, and CA levels of 300 aren't ideal.