Sun Coral Not Opening

I got a new sun coral about a week ago and it still isn't opening. All my levels are fine and I placed the coral in a shaded spot. I've fed it mysis shrimp three times since I've gotten it.

Is there something wrong with it or am I doing something wrong?

 

From what I think I know Sun Corals normally do not come out during day light hours unless the been fed trained to come out, it looks to be retracted pretty deep in their, check it after the lights been out for awhile, you will know more then.

 

+1, but just to be safe, why not post some parameters: calcium, magnesium, salinity, pH, temp, etc.

 

If you aren't feeding them when they are opened, they aren't eating.

And if they haven't opened for a while then it gets very tricky to feed them, especially if you have anything else that might take their food (pep shrimp, nassarius snails, fish, etc).

I almost had success with putting a cup full of newly hatched brine over it for a while, 3 times a week. They open up at night or when they smell food. It started to come back a little before I got so sick of the stupid peppermint shrimp that I just gave up. They've since died (the peps and that sun coral). I don't think I could keep sun coral in my tank with shrimp. My current sun coral is doing great, though.

 

That coral looks pretty retracted. It should look like this when closed:

 

If that is a pigmy angel in the second pic, he could be the reason why it's staying retracted. I've had several of these type of corals which my pigmy and flame love to eat as I know now. I never actually seen them pick at it but I've had much better success with them in another tank without angels in it. This isn't always the case but I wouldn't put it past them.

 

its pretty retracted but it is salvageable. I have saved some that looked far worse. Right now mysis is too big for it. You need to get some finer food to start. As said you have to train them to open during the day and this can take a while to do. However right now you just need to get them to eat period.

What I do initially is to turn off the lights for about an hour or so. Then get some cyclopeeze and oyster feast and just add some into the tank. Let it be for about 35-45 minutes. Go back and check it, if tentacles are starting to come out target feed it. If not add some more to the water and repeat. Once I get some tentacle to come out, I turn off all the powerheads and target feed each and every polyp. Eventually you will get the to come out.

I am not sure how familar you are with sun coral. These are NPS corals which means they get zero nutrients from the light. They require target feeding and require each polyp to be individually fed We have a NPS tank and feed ours several times a day. You will need to feed it at least daily like this. Once you get PE you can start to feed with the lights on and eventually you will train them to be open during the day. Dont try to do mysis until you get good PE for a while. Once I get mine to start on cyclopeeze and oyster feast, I then move to baby brine shrimp and then to mysis. I alternate my feedings with a bunch of different stuff due to the variety of NPS corals we have, but you will have better results by alternating between cyclopeeze, mysis and baby brine

 

Great advice, i'm going to try this myself.

 

I have also known people who will pull their sun corals out into a tupperware container and put a ton of food in the water. Let them feed for what they need and put them back in the tank. this way you are not fowling the water with food to get them to eat

 

i'll write this down in my notes... Seems to be very good advice. Thank you. +1