A
Anonymous
Guest
After some of this weeks readings I was wondering if I should be concerned about the toxic effect the Lobophytum/Devils Hand coral I have may have on any corals in the tank, and wether I would be better off removing it. See Aquarium Corals pg 129
I ask with good reason, since I acquired it from a fellow reefer along with a number of very small xenia cuttings, both pulsing and 'umbrellata' types. Both types did well for about a month and then they all began to shrivel up and died, at least the ones which were within 3 to 4 inches of the Lobophytum. One piece of pulsing xenia was placed at the far end, about 4 feet away, and is surviving but growth is slow.
Also, we added a really nice Caulestrea a few weeks back, our first stony/hard coral. It was placed about 15 inches away from the Lobophytum. Before the week was out we moved it out to our other tank after noting that the Vrolki angel was taking the occasional nip at it, although it didn't appear to be doing serious damage. Now, 5 weeks later from a colony of 40+ healthy polyps only about 8 have survived. The decline in the others happened very quickly, within 7 to 10 days, the current survivors have not deterioirated any further since the coral was moved.
Other corals in the tank with the lobo seem fine, so far, and it has been in there since feb.
I reckon I ought to remove it before adding any extra hard corals, anybody else have any oppinions? If my remaining piece of xenia gets large enough to cut, I might try a sort of proximity experiment.
Sorry, for the long post!
Chris
I ask with good reason, since I acquired it from a fellow reefer along with a number of very small xenia cuttings, both pulsing and 'umbrellata' types. Both types did well for about a month and then they all began to shrivel up and died, at least the ones which were within 3 to 4 inches of the Lobophytum. One piece of pulsing xenia was placed at the far end, about 4 feet away, and is surviving but growth is slow.
Also, we added a really nice Caulestrea a few weeks back, our first stony/hard coral. It was placed about 15 inches away from the Lobophytum. Before the week was out we moved it out to our other tank after noting that the Vrolki angel was taking the occasional nip at it, although it didn't appear to be doing serious damage. Now, 5 weeks later from a colony of 40+ healthy polyps only about 8 have survived. The decline in the others happened very quickly, within 7 to 10 days, the current survivors have not deterioirated any further since the coral was moved.
Other corals in the tank with the lobo seem fine, so far, and it has been in there since feb.
I reckon I ought to remove it before adding any extra hard corals, anybody else have any oppinions? If my remaining piece of xenia gets large enough to cut, I might try a sort of proximity experiment.
Sorry, for the long post!
Chris
