Trouble with my Ricordea

[Shaunv]

So, I picked up some corals at the Reefed and dipped my corals using Reef Dip by Seachem. All of my corals seem to be doing fine except one Ricrodea. I purchased 3 ricordea in total and these are the first and only ricordea I have had. Right as I was heading out the door I noticed this morning that something brown and slimy looking was on the edge of the coral. The growth is not coming out of either of the 2 mouths. I just did another coral dip and set the ricordea on the sand bed and now a Nassarius snail is poking around it. Here is a couple of pictures. Sorry for the quality but they were all I could get. I am wondering if maybe I could have accidentally gotten a dab of glue on the coral or something. Any ideas on what it is or what I should do? Tank parameters are stable
salinity 1.0245
temp 79.9
alkalinity 10
ph 8.1
nitrites 0
ammonia 0
nitrates 5
phosphates 0
calcium 450


View attachment 14517 View attachment 14518

 

[Shaunv]

Of course right after I posted this, the snail had cleaned it off completely. Still don't know anything about it though.

 

[Munch]

what lighting are you running?

 

[Shaunv]

I am running Kessil 350w at 60% blue 20% white. The light is about 8" off the surface of the water and about 20" above the coral.

 

[sethsolomon]

it looks like its splitting sorta

 

[Shaunv]

When I bought it I had noticed the two mouths so I figured it would split soon. Would it leave dead tissue behind during a split? I have a lavender mushroom that has split a few times but I have never seen dead tissue left behind on that species.

 

[Munch]

I could never raise ricordeas with that light, coulda just been me...

 

[Shaunv]

It has shrunk in size by at least half as of now. It also has the brown stuff all the way around the edge. It seems like I can rub it off with my fingers. I am worried that it won't make it. My other 2 are doing fine.

 

[jahmic]

Touching it won't help it heal.

Leave it be, give it some flow, and maybe put it in lower light for a while. I've had ric yumas shrivel to almost nothing and come back to the size of a half dollar. Time and patience is all you can really give it now.

 

[Shaunv]

Thanks Jahmic. That's what I'll do. Hopefully it comes back. Only time will tell. I just wanted to know if there was anything else I could do for it other than the coral dip and wait. I can't give it too much flow because it isn't attached to anything right now and will just fly away. I have it sitting in a small snail shell on my sand. Hopefully it will attach so I can move it to somewhere with good flow.

 

[jahmic]

Re: Trouble with my Ricordea

Get a shallow Tupperware/plastic container and toss some rock rubble and sand in there. Cover the top with some bridal mesh and secure it with a rubber band or zip tie. It'll look unsightly...but place the ric in there and it should attach eventually. That way, you can hit it with some flow without losing it, and you can keep snails and hermits off of it and maybe keep it from getting irritated.

 

[Shaunv]

Ok. I'll give it a try. Thanks.

 

[jahmic]

Re: Trouble with my Ricordea

No problem, good luck. I've nursed a couple back to health after inadvertently damaging them...they're pretty hardy.

 

[Shaunv]

I have also read varying information on lighting. Would I keep this one towards the bottom of my tank while it tries to recover or give it stronger lighting?

 

[jahmic]

Re: Trouble with my Ricordea

When my yumas shriveled up and looked half dead, I found that moving them to very low light helped them recover. Once they started to open back up I was able to gradually move them back into the light.

 

[HondaHound]

How are the rics looking? I lost a couple a year ago under similar circumstances. I did not act quickly enough in making the necessary changes.

 

[Shaunv]

The one is completely gone now. It just melted away. The other two are doing fine.

 

[jahmic]

Ahhh...sorry to hear. Good luck with the other 2, hopefully they stay healthy for you.

 

[Shaunv]

Thanks. I hope so too. Only time will tell...