Candy Cane Coral Not Looking So Hot

[izib]

I received 2 candycane stalks about a month ago and they are starting to not look so good. The inside is still bright green but the outer part is changing from red to a dull brown and looks like its receeding. Also, Ive noticed that the feeder tenticals arent coming out at night.

Any ideas?

Ive got several other corals in the tank, they all appear fine.

 

[broreefr]

Too much flow on a candy cane coral will cause the tenticals not to come out at night. check and make sure you dont have flow directed right at it

 

[vettesarebest]

When this happend to mine I tried putting it in the sand and now it is growing like crazy and the feeder tenticles are about half an inch long. I would give this a try.

 

[hng]

My candycane likes it better under medium to low light and low flow too. Try moving the frag around until it finds a good spot.

 

[izib]

Thanks for the advice. I stuck them in the sand and that night the tenticals were out. What do these things eat? Im assuming they are too small to eat mysis shrimp? Now that they are feeding again, will the color come back?

 

[flipturn88]

Caulastrea (candy canes) will usually eat frozen mysis shrimp, but make sure your flow is turned down - or off - and there are no other critters around that will steal the food; they are slow eaters. You could also try pieces of silversides, clams, and/or squid, provided they are very small portions.

The color may have been lost to a variety of factors (lighting changes, inadequate nutrition, etc.), but my guess is that with proper feeding and a bit of time, it will bounce back. Candy canes are pretty resiliant corals.

Hope this helps.

 

[kevin]

If you have their flesh resting on rock, it will likely change colors. Good luck with it.

 

[george]

I feed Cyclopeze to my tank (I re-hydrate the freeze dried with RO water). I also have a blend based on Eric Borneman's mix that includes Cyclopeze and oyster eggs. If you got them from me at the ARC meeting, that's what mine have been fed in the past.

Though it should be noted that I had those corals for almost 4 years before I had anything in the tank that I actively fed, so it isn't absolutely necessary to feed them beyond what's in the water column if they get good light.

They have also been under pretty intense lighting over the past year plus (250w MH over a 25g tank), so there may be an adjustment period to less intense lighting.

 

[izib]

<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Mine are under 2 250watt mh and 140watts of actinic in a 90gal. They are on the bottom of the tank though. The feeder tentacles are coming out fully now that they are stuck in the sand. Should I move them up higher in the rocks to get better lighting?</span></span>

 

[vettesarebest]

They are fine down low in the tank especially with two 250 watt bulbs. I have a 75 with two 150's and it is at the bottom in the sand and it is doing REALLY well.

 

[gclackum]

I have the frag I got from George at the meeting stuck in a rock up high under PCs and they are doing very well. Where do you get the Cyclopeze?

 

[george]

I got my freeze dried from Drs Foster & Smith. I only found the frozen stuff around town which is pretty expensive. I reconstitute it and keep it in the fridge. A couple squirts and the whole tank goes berserk.

On the subject of lighting, these guys can take all types of lighting. I've had them high under 250w and low under PC's. Many of the frags I hand out at meetings fall off my rock (thank you blue legs) from time to time and end up in crevasses but continue to do just fine. It's a very, very hardy coral.