Sun coral help

I had the same problem, and didn't realize what was going on till it had shrunk a lot. And a peppermint shrimp that would steal all its food.

I stuck a clear cup over it with live brine shrimp in it. They come out with the smell of food, and a couple weeks of daily brine shrimp treatment the tentacles were getting bigger. Then something larger, like mysis.

They can live for a very long time without food. I finally got sick of fighting my peps over the food and let it go, and it had color/tissue for months before it was gone.

 

It's non-photosynthetic. Drop that puppy into a rubbermaid tub with a powerhead and hit it with food a couple of times per day. No light nor filter is needed. That way you won't pollute your reef tank while getting it to eat again. Keep the nitrates down with waterchanges.

They want meaty foods primarily. This is one of the few corals that will ingest phytoplankton but still concentrate on meaty foods. Zoplan, Cyclopeeze, Coral Frenzy, Reef Chili, Reef Pearls, Golden Pearls, chopped up Mysis, baby brine shrimp, get a prawn from your grocery store and chop it up in your blender, etc. Don't lose faith....just keep at it.

 

Good advice. That's the important part, keep at it. Once they get used to being fed, they are very hardy.

 

I have no problems doing this but would take a large container as I do not have a powerhead smaller than an old maxijet 900... That would even be to strong for a 5 gallon bucket wouldnt it?

I am trying to figure out how I can do this as I think its great advice...

 

Here is a picture but as I see it looks better today than yesterday so I have little doubt its dead...

 

That my friend, is one super healthy Sun Cora. I wish mine were half that healthy when I got them. Seriously.

What I do, is take any of the foods that Inwall75 suggested, turn off all of the flow, and gently squirt the food directly on each head. You will need a turkey baster or feeding tube. If you have crazy fish, feed them first, or do it later at night when the fish are asleep. The tentacles may not come out right away, but they can't resist meaty bits. Good luck!

 

makes me feel better.. Thanks.. However, it didnt look like this yesterday as it was more withdrawn...

 

Oh heck yeah! A picture is worth a thousand words.....those puppies are going to be just fine.

When we get them in at the store, it's often been sitting in a wholesaler's system for several weeks.....un-fed. The tissue in these corals is not even remotely close to the top of the cup. In fact, they look like cups because the tissue is so receded that they are cups.....the tissue might be a quarter inch from the top. I typically can't sell them for several weeks. I put them in a fish trap in the coral system. Water is allowed to flow through it but it is slowed down substantially. They usually reject food for a bit.....not uncommon at all. However, after a couple of weeks of persistence, they are good little piggies and I offer them for sale.

In all honesty, I wouldn't worry about a heater. They live in caves 10 feet down and they live in caves 100 feet down where it's quite cold. They don't care about light nor temp. They care about flow and nutrients.

You're going to be fine. Once they are regular eaters, you can move them back to your reef, turn off the flow, feed them, turn the flow back on to feed the fish the leftovers.

It's all good! I do have to admit being a little disappointed that the person at the frag swap called them "Easy" when they sold it to you. They won't be hard once they are eating regularly, but I wouldn't call them an "easy" coral.

 

Day 2 of enticing and seems its going well. They are really poking out right now.. I have live view camera on them and up close.. Look if you want.. Hoping they will come on out shortly or tomorrow.. Live view is in my signature if interested in watching/looking... I have also recorded a short video you could view on the ustream of what going on with them right now..

 

Looking better already. Flow looks good, too.