plate coral help!?

[jaydm93teg]

ok i have plate coral frag a little bigger than a quarter that i got in a trade it is mounted to a frag plug. When we got it my g/f glued the plug inside a hole in a piece of LR the rock was about 6 inches off the sand bed and the coral was out and the tentacles were out.

I read it was supposed to be on the sand bed so i took it off the LR and just stuck the plug down into the sand bed so that the plate coral was sitting right on top of the sand bed. And now none of the tentacles are extended and it looks closed up.

The move occured maybe 24 hours ago.

all params are in check, the plate is the only coral in the tank acting up.
there is not a powerhead pointing at it does it need more flow?
i have 8 t5's so i think lighting is ok.....
i dont see any sand on top of it so i dont think that is the problem...

these are not actual pictures but they are pretty close to what it looks like:

this is how it used to look

>http://hollcraft.ws/reef/Critters/Plate%20Coral.jpg</a>

and this is how it looks now

 

[flyingarmy]

How far down did you move it? It could be just adjusting to the new lighting conditions. Give it a few days and see what it does.

 

[revhtree]

Yea bro it can take time to adjust and once moved may be upset.

 

[jaydm93teg]

o ok yeah i figured it was just stressed i just wanted to make sure about the flow. it was moved down maybe 6 inches

 

[flyingarmy]

6" is quite a difference in PAR. Let it adjust and it should be fine.

 

[jaydm93teg]

ok will do,
Thanks

 

[glxtrix]

I know the plate coral I had was pissed because it was getting too much light. I've moved it to where there is little light and its extremely happy now. I believe indirect light is best for these guys.

 

[jaydm93teg]

really? I will give it a few days and if it doesnt come around then i have a few smaller shelf pieces of LR that i can wedge together to give it a little coverage so the light is not so direct

 

[glxtrix]

See I thought they liked light but mine never had any tentacles out when the lights were on and alls you could see was pretty much skeleton....the flesh was receding into itself. I moved it to a shaded part and now the tentacles are stupid long! Here is a way to tell....do the tentacles and flesh look puffed and better when the lights are out? if so, it's prolly getting too much light.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

Is it still ona frag plug? I would take it off. I see no reason for a plate frag to be on a plug.

 

[glxtrix]

Leave it on there if its attached to it, you may risk cracking the skeleton and thus causing damage. It'll be fine how it is.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

glxtrix;187412 wrote: Leave it on there if its attached to it, you may risk cracking the skeleton and thus causing damage. It'll be fine how it is.

No Lee, you're wrong and I'm right!!! Joking aside, I have seen more plate corals die than most probably, and the first area to go necrotic has been the underside. Well all is said and done, maybe more damage would be done from trying to remove it. But get water circulation to the underside is also important for healing.

 

[jaydm93teg]

yeah its still on the plug but the plug is stuck down in the sand it its not moving or anything there is no chance of it falling over i mean there is no room between the bottom of the plate and the sand so the plate is pretty much sitting on the sand.....i was to scared to take it off the plug cause i didtn want to hurt it........when i go to turn the lights off tonight and just my actinics are on and when my moon lights come on i will keep an eye on it and see if the tentacles start to come out right now it just looks all closed up like that 2nd picture i posted up at the top of the thread

 

[haninja]

<span style="color: black;">My plate likes "floating". It fills itself with water and uses the flow to move itself around. I would say that being glued to a plug is less the desirable for him. If it’s not too hard, I would un-mount him.</span>

 

[jaydm93teg]

how would i go about even trying to unmount it? i think its glued down

 

[revhtree]

The plate came from me as a hitchhiker so I glued it down last year to a plug to keep it from floating away. It was literally the size of a pencil eraser. It has been like this for a good year now and has been growing just fine. If you want to remove the plug it will be easy. Just grab the end of the plug in one hand and the plate in the other. Wiggle the plug back and forth and it will snap off pretty easy.

 

[jaydm93teg]

haha im still scared to do stuff like that.......but i was just watching my tank and noticed my eibili angel that is supposed to be reef safe was nipping right at the mouth of the plate coral.......im thinking that could be the cause of it being closed up......

 

[linda lee]

Some plates like the sandbed and some attach to LR. I have both.

I bought a large piece of LR covered with 'shrooms and a plate. Someone told me it should be in the sandbed, so I made a brief attempt to pry the thing loose. It closed up, became hard as a rock and held on for dear life. Then I got some advice from Melissa and from BigD who actually have plate coral *trees* which drop plates from time to time onto the sandbed. I guess that's what mine is. The plate eventually dropped from the LR and left a baby plate in it's place, no bigger than a pencil eraser. Now that baby is full grown and has a baby of its own underneath.


http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=10505&d=1209344441" alt="" />

Also, when mine closed up for the first time, I thought it was dead for sure. I got reassurance in [IMG]http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showthread.php?t=7220">this thread</a>. Sure enough, in a day or so the plate was once again fully extended.

I imagine it won't be long before yours is happy again, if it's not already.

 

[revhtree]

You know what leave it attached! I forgot that it was attached to LR when I first realized I had it.