Sun Coral rescue

[roundman]

I found this nice rock with all of this sun coral on it but it is not very healthy. Can someone tell me what I can do to help this poor animal and get it healthy again.

Thanks
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[glxtrix]

give it to me Honestly other than that, feed it every night when the polyps are out and get it out of the light.

 

[tnyga]

feed feed feed...no fun no fun no fun

 

[flyingarmy]

Light Requirement = None
Food Requirement = Shoney's all you can eat breakfast bar!

 

[roundman]

OK I got the idea feed feed feed anything special I already use Marks wonder juice to feed the tank. Just spot feed with Phyto or is there something else or better?

 

[glxtrix]

thats not good enough for them. I wide varietyof food is best. Something like mysis shrimp and brine shrimp you could also mix in some cyclopeze. Best way to feed them is to spot feed every polyp.

 

[glxtrix]

let me rephrase that, when I feed mine I feed brine, mysis and cyclopeeze all at the same time. This coral gets no nutrition from the lights, they could be kept in a tank with no lights, but for proper health you need to feed them often, every day is best for proper health.

 

[FutureInterest]

Sometimes they are so forgone that they no longer open up. When they're that bad off they seem to digest themselves to survive so they don't have tentacles. Even though they don't have tentacles you can still get them to eat. You just have to put the food right up to their lil mouths and they will suck them in. Eventually they'll regrow their tentacles and start putting them out for food.

I had one that was in really poor health. So I would sit there and use chopsticks to position a mysis shrimp for each lil mouth. Eventually it got healthy enough and started opening up on its own. Then I got tired of feeding it as all my fish and shrimp would rape the poor lil polyps for their food... I would keep them protected with a plastic bottle, but I would have to the bottle on it 24/7 since the moment it came off the shrimp would go into the polyps and pull the food out! So either I keep it covered all the time or it would starve to death. So it went to the North Georgia Suncoral Rescue Program, also known as Alan's house. He's got the mad suncoral feeding skillz.

 

[glxtrix]

yeah I'm Alans new partner at NGSCR, its a great facility with great people

 

[roundman]

well if I pull this off can I join it sounds pretty exclusive.

 

[flyingarmy]

Ironic the name of this coral!

 

[glxtrix]

in a sense Mark, yes it is....but when they are healthy, they are the most beautiful things ever! Too bad you need a **** flashlight to see them when they are at their best, lol.

 

[tnyga]

Heres what I did...took a plastic bottle (whatever size fits comfortably over it. Cut the bottle so you have it go over the coral (I used a Wesson Oil Bottle). Put bottle over coral and turn off powerheads.

Thaw food (I used mysis and brine) in a bottle. Let food settle in bowl and I use a turkey bastor (sp) and suck juice out (no shrimp) and I put the Bastor in the top off the body and "Juice" em. I continue to juice until heads com out then I turkey bastor and spot feed each head. (heads will be sticky and the brine and/or mysis will stick to the polyp)

I feed 2 cubes ot brine and 2 cubes mysis and 2 days. I have about 65 heads on my coral.

Hope that helps...

 

[roundman]

well another discovery now that this is in the tank. the rock that is sticking up between the colonies and the rock that the colonies on the left are not rocks. They are clams. the one on the left is at leat 2.5 inches across and the one in the middle is 1.5 inches across. Very cool

 

[dakota9]

Rawn, an ARC member Platypus (sp) gave me this advice about feeding suncorals, and I think its the best! This method insures the coral is getting a chance to eat, while not fowling your water. Remember to shake off excess food off the coral when you put it back in the tank, or crabs and shrimp will moleste.

use a speciemen cup or tubberware dish and fill it with tank water, put your food in the container, followed by the suncoral, and let it sit for thirty minutes or so. Keep stirring the water so the food stays suspended in the water. I use a speciemen cup that I can hang inside the lip of my tank, keeping the water the same temp as my tank the entire time. It may take a while for them to reopen after they are moved, but wait a while and they'll start feeding (or might not visibly feed in Jin's scenerio above, but still, they'd be saturated with food). I've found this method the best.

Later on after its healthy, you could use fancyfish's (Pam) method, which is to place the suncoral in a good moderate flow and let the current land they food where it may. This is her low maintanace way of feeding her huge suncoral, and its oner of the biggest and prettiest I've seen.

 

[sprayin70]

Yes Lee and I always try to save Sun Corals. We feed Mysis, Brine and, Cyclopeeze every day to every other day. We also dose Amino Acids to the tank every once and awhile. Give it a go and if it doesn't work out give Lee or me a holla. By the way I don't like the taking the coral out of the water method. I personally think it stresses the tissue and it's hard to train them. I have almost got my 3 trained to open between 5 and 7. With the lights on. Here is a pic. These are my three. 1 really colony 1 healthy Polyp and a almost healthy colony. It will be up to speed in a few. Good Luck!!!
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[roundman]

Thanks for all the info everyone. I just fed the tank Phyto and the seafood mix and over half of the sun coral heads opened up and started to try and eat. Guess they were not fed well and are hungry.

This is very exciting.

 

[sprayin70]

They eat alot. I feed the whole tank at 5:00pm with Mysis and Brian then I take a pipette and put Mysis,Brian and Cyclopeeze in a cup with RODI water and target every head at 11:00pm. They stay well fed in my reef! It is a pain and it takes about 45 min but I enjoy it.

Keep that Sun Happy.

 

[tnyga]

Over an hour for mine.....

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