Why are my Ricordea dying?

I feel that 78.5 is on the high end for rics. Mine were thriving in the cooler months with the tank at 75-76, but have not been doing well with the tank now reaching 80 on a hot afternoon.

In addition to checking/monitoring temperature, I would recommend doing some carbon changes, water changes, etc. as a precaution.

The problem with reefing is there are so many variables its hard to know exactly what is causing the problem. Specific corals occupy a very specific spot in the ocean. There is a reason why they live where they do and often no where else. In the wild, they get a certain flow, a certain temperature, certain light, even specific interactions with other creatures in their specific spot. They evolve to thrive in those conditions. Then we expect that we can throw them all in a glass box and have them do well.

I took the temp again just now and its 79 so its pretty stable. I never really thought about that being high, but I guess it should be cheaper to keep it in the 75 to 76 range so as ling as evereything else is fine with it I will lower the temp w little and see what happens. I really don't have any other ideas. I did a 30 g water change the other day andchanged the carbon and gfo. Keep in mind mist of these colonies I grew from one head over 6 years so for them to go to **** now is weird.

Your temp still could be higher even with the other thermometer also. I mean it is only a 2 dollar piece of equipment.

Higher water temps plus new lighting that could be more intense is driving the zooxanthelle algae more in the tissue of the rics in turn over producing oxygen and bleaching them out.

If I recall talking to divers, in warm waters they have a hard time finding rics.

I lost all my rics (and acans) two summers ago - when the temps hit 83+... actually one blue ric survived but it's never gotten bigger than a pencil eraser. So sad. I hope you're more successful!

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Originally Posted by dlhirst

I lost all my rics (and acans) two summers ago - when the temps hit 83+... actually one blue ric survived but it's never gotten bigger than a pencil eraser. So sad. I hope you're more successful!

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That is a bummer. Its kinda of disturbing loosing something slowely that you have kept for 6 years, and not having any idea what to do:confused:

So I lowerd my system temp .5 degrees yesterday to 78 and I will probably keep dropping it .5 at a time until I gte it down to 76 I suppose and see if that helps.

If anyone is paying attention here is an update. I droped th temp slowly over the last couple of weeks to 76.5 and they seem more stable but its hard to say since its been such a slow decline anyway. I think Im going to drop it another .5 and then wait a while and see what happens.

Too much light. In nature they are found in very warm waters. The water in the Keys hits 90 in the summer. They also are usually buried in muck. Really they need very little light. Same thing happened to me. I had a great collection for years then added new lights and they were all gone in a few months.

I know 100% sure this problem isn't realted to lights. The ric issue clearly started months before I changed bulbs. I had some of these colonies for 6 + years under almost the exact same lights. They have actualy done a little better since I switched to lights, but I wouldn't same they are cured by no means. I have kept these colonies at the top of my tank in lots of light and at the bottom in lower light. They have always been fine regardless and they actual grew faster near the top. Always under PC or T5s though never anything like halides or anything.

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Originally Posted by slapshot

Too much light. In nature they are found in very warm waters. The water in the Keys hits 90 in the summer. They also are usually buried in muck. Really they need very little light. Same thing happened to me. I had a great collection for years then added new lights and they were all gone in a few months.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by slapshot

Too much light. In nature they are found in very warm waters. The water in the Keys hits 90 in the summer. They also are usually buried in muck. Really they need very little light. Same thing happened to me. I had a great collection for years then added new lights and they were all gone in a few months.

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That's interesting, it always seems like my rics and yumas decline in the warmer months. It would be nice to know more about the natural conditions various corals live.