Sun Coral Help - Pics

[ellevan11]

I had seen this sun coral in my LFS for about 2 months, i usually stop by about 2 times a week. I never saw it open. It was always slammed shut. I asked them what they feed it and they said that they just sprinkle some some cyclopeeze wafers in the tank. It appeared that the sun coral was also receding. I knew after doing research that it wasn't a very good diet, i don't even think it would eat anything (2 months is a long time with no meaty food for a sun coral). So i took it home in the hopes of feeding it better and see a recovery.

I have had this sun coral for about 3 weeks now. It has never extended its polyps for feedings, but the mouths will open a little when it gets a smell of food. I have tried everything that i could find online about getting them to open and nothing has worked.

I have tried taking it out in a Tupperware container for direct feedings, and i have tried placing the top of a soda bottle over it in the tank. I have waited late into the night to keep checking it when lights are out. The only reaction i get out of it is the mouths on each polyp will open a tiny bit but not extend.

I have read online that without food, they eventually get to weak to open up and cant catch food. Anyone know if this statement is true?

While doing my morning tank check, it appears that 2 of the polyps have taken a dive, they have gaping mouths, and they wont close there mouths even after placing mysis manually inside.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to bring this beautiful coral back from the brink of death?

I would hate to see it die just from neglect from the LFS.

You can see in the first picture that the polyp on the right with a open mouth appears to be deteriorating.

Params as of this morning:

Amon 0
Trite 0
Trate >5.0 ppm
PH 8.2
Temp 77.9
SG 1.030 (I get pre mixed water from LFS, i usualy test it everytime with it at 1.025 but didnt test this last time )

[BEELZEBOB]

get raw cyclops shrimps, mysis, and seclone.

thaw and soak the frozens in seclone and tank water.

then drain the seclone enriched water (ONLY) into that there sunpolyp isolation chamber you got there.

that nasty water should excite the hell out of them. then use a turkey baster or like a eyedropper to "set" food on the coral.

they look soo weak that your gonna kinda have to force feed them...

[Dentoid]

There is nothing wrong with it that a little shade wouldn't remedy. These are understory corals and generally reside in caves or in the shadow of other corals. Generally they don't open in bright light. However they can be induced to open, as Bob so eloquently stated above.

[slakker]

I rescued a dying clump of Sun Corals as well... I've only been feeding it pellets though as anything else is difficult. Either it floats away or it gets stolen by the fishes and shrimps. I'm too lazy to use the Tupperware or cut plastic bottle method.

What I've found is that once the water is "dirty" some of the polyps will extend. I then drop a few sinking high quality pellets into the polyps and within a few minutes, ALL the polyps will bloom... day or night. I also keep them in a bit of shade. Here's the clump just starting to expand.

[ellevan11]

Originally Posted by BEELZEBOB

get raw cyclops shrimps, mysis, and seclone.
they look soo weak that your gonna kinda have to force feed them...

by force feed them, you mean push mysis into its mouth? or just leave it on top of the polyps?

[slakker]

Don't push them in, you'll damage the corals... sprinkle them on top and let them come out to get it... but while you're waiting, you have to prevent other animals from getting them...

[GSELLERS]

both of the corals are by far starving...they look like healthy colonies to me. you will see each tube orange while the base is dead...where the whole clump is orange. Easier way to feed these guys, 1 get a bar of cyclopeeze. 2 a 2 liter bottle. 3. cut the base of the bottle off. now cut a tiny sliver of cyclopeeze (frozen bar) place it in the tank. the polyps should open up within minutes. Place modified 2 liter bottle over the colony. feed accordingly. you will need to feed each additional polyp too. you can feed foods soaked in SELCON, or a easy substitute ZOECON. you can use mysid shrimp pink shrimp, spurlina etc... find what it likes and then continue feeding regimen

[vdituri]

Add to that maybe some liquid coral food?
And you can use a turkey baster to squirt into the nozzle of the 2 liter bottle to swirl things around to all the tentacles.

[DML08]

I would like to see some pics of the 2 liter bottle method. Frist time I have heard about this.. I thought a turkey baster was the easyst to use to target feed.. (Noob)

[ellevan11]

Well after a week i just wanted to post some pictures and update on the coral. Things seem to be improving alot. The coral is no longer sunk in in, and will puff up when i add food to its feeding pool. Cyclopeeze and frozen mysis seem to be what it gets excited about.

It still doesn't put out its food traps, but i manually place mysis on the mouths after they have puffed up and the mouths open wide and pulls em in.

Why wouldn't it put out its arms if it gets excited?
Would the neglect from the LFS cause it to lose its arms?

I am just happy she is actually eating now

[vdituri]

Congrats 11. Looks like you are on the right path.
When they are really weak they don't fully extend their tentacles.

[slakker]

Just curious, but are you taking it out of the water everytime you feed it? I just noticed you have it in a "tupperware" container that's not in your tank... if so, are you putting it in the container while it's fully submersed in your tank first, then taking it out to ensure it's always in water? It may be getting stressed if you are taking it completely out of the water to put it in the container, hence it's not fully responding to the feeding... just a thought.

[ellevan11]

Yea, i place her in the tupperware under water, and let a siphon slowly drip water to maintain temp. Doesnt seem to get stressed, she starts puffing up around 5pm, same time everyday i feed and hasnt retracted from the move yet.

[lcstorc]

They do seem to prefer to eat at night unless trained to eat during the day.
The bottle method is quite simple. Take a 2 liter bottle and cut about half of the bottom off. Then you are left with the top (where the lid was attached to half of the bottle. Put the bottle over the coral and gentlu squeeze the food into the top of the bottly. You must add the food slowly or it floats right back out the top. This keeps your other critters out leaving the sun plenty of time to eat.