plate coral

from time to time i feed chunks of "gel food" to my fish, especially my CBshrimp.. well my plate coral got a hold of a chunk, i saw it stuffing it into its "mouth" and it was amazing, i didnt even know it had one.. well it hasnt had its "tentacles" out for a day or so. is it possible its "hibernating" from all the food or can he possibly be dying, i dunno. He was fine before, tentacles out and waving about in the current,,

 

Hi welcome to 3reef!
Yes, plate coral will love you for target feeding them.

 

Hes not dying Just digesting

I'd feed him every 3rd day or so. He'll look alot brighter and be happier

 

okay whew.. thanks so much guys, glad hes just digesting.. happy day!!

 

Target feeding a plate coral has something to do with growth as well as aiding in its ability to create a mucus coat used for protection especially and health!

 

okay update.. My plate still hasnt opened and im gettin a bit worried.. going on like three days now, is is possible hes still digesting? he did seem to eat a lot. the plate is about palm sized. just worried if i should be acting on something or just leave him be. Whats a usual period for them to stay shut down after having a hearty meal?

 

What is Gel Food?

I don't think I would do anything to it just yet. Moving it could just stress it out.

Are you talking about fungia plate coral or heliofungia long tentacle plate coral? (The second one looks more like an anemone than a coral).

 

http://www.3reef.com/forums/coral-m...-plate-coral-39850.html?highlight=reefkeeping

What do you mean by staying shut? If it is a short tentacle plate, they don't ALWAYS expand their tentacles.

I agree with the above about not moving it (unless it has too much flow on it). Does it expand - kinda looks puffy and filled with water. <When you wave your hand you should see the plate stiffen up the tissue a bit and expel some water.

If you're saying the mouth isn't open...nothing to worry about at all. If the tentacles are out, try putting some food on the tentacles and see if he'll grab it. < Mine does this sometimes and the tentacles will take the food to the mouth

Coral Feeding by Andrew Trevor-Jones - Reefkeeping.com

Check out the time-lapse photos of the plate coral (and the others are cool too). It's under Observation and Results (in black - the title)

 

okay well, by "gel food" i mean, i bought this frozen food that is binded in gel, so i chop it up serve it to my CBS. its called "special formula VHP" my shrimp loves it and hell sit and chew on a nugget for half an hour. but i got a few small nuggets on the plate when the tntacles wre out and the mouth just sat and ate three big chunks over a two hour period. and was the end of the tntacles. yeah he looks (looked) like an anenome, with a mouth in the middle. now the tentacles are completely withdrawn and he looks like a stone cookie, with no polyps out at all.. i dunno, i hope i didnt kill him. and yeah i think its the heliofungia, the long tentacle, dark green... thanks guys for the help

 

Yikes.....a fungia with no polyps for a couple of days is no biggie

A heliofungia that has been withdrawn for that long is definately something to be concerned about. Can you post a picture?

On a side note, you do thaw those out in a small glass of water before feeding your tank don't you? If not, I would suspect that to be problematic for the coral but nothing in the food itself. There is another issue but I doubt that's it.

Caulerpa is a known toxin for SPS corals. However, I've never heard of it causing problems for LPS corals.