coral

Question
QUESTION: i have a coral i bought at a store. i think they told me its called a hawaiin alien eye.  im not to big into this hobby yet, fairly new so im not positive of the name.  Its about 2 inches tall and when opened up its about 4 inches in diameter.  the middle turns neon green and outer ring section is a blueish.  i moved houses and ever since the coral has not opened up.  it lost all color and its like shriveling up and skeleton showing.  what do i do? i paid 85$ for it   hope its not dead. had water tested everything is fine.

ANSWER: Well Brandon, corals are not an easy task, expecially the one you just purchased. corals in general need good watler quality and proper care. but still some are harder than others. soft corals and polyps are usually considered the easiest to care for as they are the most forgiving. then you have hard corals which are separated into two categories. large polyped and small polyped. yours you purchased based on your descriptions sounds like some sort of brain coral or some other similar coral is a large polyped stony coral. LPS' are not quite as hard as small polyped but are still fairly challenging and should not be taken lightly. they also require quite intense lighting (t5, led, metal halide.)

it would help me alot if you gave me a list of your tank parameters, there could be many reasons your coral is not doing very well. it could be water quality, lighting, maybe even a fish bothering it.

Marcus.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: it's a 14 gallon biocube. small clownfish and orchid dotty. got water tested and everything was fine. salinity at about 1.022-1.023. 78 degrees.

Answer
Brandon,

with saltwater aquariums the smaller the aquarium is the less stable the environment is. there is alot less room for error in a 14 gallon tank than there is in say a 150 gallon tank. or even a 50 gallon tank. this is because in a larger tank there is alot more volume so the water cannot be contaminated as quickly. in a 14 gallon biocube the temperature will swing quite rapidly, this is very bad for any coral.

also as for water, salinity and temperature is not the only factor you have to take into consideration. you must test for phosphates, nitrates, nitrites, ph, calcium, ammonia, and countless others. the coral you got is not an easy coral to care for, i would suggest returning it to the store if they will take it and trading it in for another piece that is much more manageable. such as kenya tree coral. or another sort of soft coral.

hope that helps!

Marcus.