Who Gives A Fish Forums

Hi everyone, I'm new here.

I've been running a 30 gallon setup for over 2 years now. Got my trumpet coral about the same time, and it's been thriving - went from 3 heads to around 30-50 now.

There's this one newer head that's deformed, kinda looks like it tried to split but didn't quite make it. I'm not really sure how to describe it.

Now that head's starting to fall apart, and the heads around it are deflating. I'm thinking I should try to remove it, but I'm worried I might cause more harm than good. The rest of the heads look great, though.

I've attached a pic - hope it shows up. Appreciate any advice.

Forgot the pic, didn't click upload.

I've had similar issues with my trumpet colonies before, but nothing that severe. I've got two colonies in my 56 gallon setup, and they've never had this problem, even with a flame angel swimming around. I've noticed they do something similar from time to time, though - it's like they're trying to split to make more room. My guess is the colony's just cramped and the base can't expand anymore. Maybe it's time to consider fragging it, don't you think?

What's your alkalinity level looking like, rizeno? That deformed head could be a sign of something going on with your water parameters.

My alkalinity is around 7, using an old API test kit. Looks a bit low to me. I'm kind of hoping I don't need to frag, that's a whole new adventure I'm not sure I'm ready for. Thanks again for the help.

Just got the test results back.

Ammonia is zero, nitrite is zero. Nitrates are a bit high, around 20-40 ppm. Not ideal, but I'll get to that in a minute.

I went ahead and cut away the dead tissue. Once I had it out of the tank and could take a closer look at the skeleton, I realized I could probably get three decent frags out of it. To be honest, though, I don't think my tank is big enough to handle three colonies of that size - they'd just get too big if they keep growing.

Time for a water change, I think.