When Corals Die...

With zoanthids, it can go either way. I've got some that responded perfectly
and did quite well. Others looked great and shortly thereafter withered away.

A small cluster that dies away will be consumed by the cleanup crew and won't
affect water parameters.

When hard corals die, they bleach first of all their zooanthellae, and then
green or brown algae will begin to grow on the skeleton. You'll note hermits
and snails on the branches looking for food where the rest of the live coral is
left alone.

I think you need to wait for the owner to come in and talk about a price
reduction. I offered a low price on a bleaching table Acropora, but the store
wouldn't budge from $100. Later I heard it died. Glad I didn't buy it! Btw,
that store closed its doors last month. Uh-oh, looks like they should have been
a little more reasonable.

Marc


Mort wrote:

What happens to corals when they die? Do the bleach? I assume it's
different for hard or soft corals?

The coral in question would be a zooanthid.

I was at an LFS today for the first time. Although they had a fair
selection, their equipment was very under sized. And their prices seemed
very high to me.

The wanted $52 for ALL assorted corals. I had my eye on this zooanthid with
a bright orange center. But the rock they were on would fit in your hand,
the colony of zoos were a little bigger than a quarter with the individauls
being a little larger then the diamer of the cap of a pen. Not to mention
half of them were closed and almost white and that this rock had green
bubble algae on it. I wanted to rescue the poor thing but for $52, they can
stick it where the sun dont shine. I offered $20 but the lady said only the
owner could change the pricing and he wont be in til Friday.

Anyway, will introducing half dead coral cause an ammonia spike?
I was counting on the deadones to just bleach out and be done. Is this
correct?
I am sure the cause of death is inadequate light and poor water quality. I
bet the nitrates were really high. The water had a brown tinge to it.

What do you think?

~Mort

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