Sun Coral won't eat!

[megos1]

I've had my sun coral for about two months now and I have tried everything and I can't get it to come out to eat. my water chemistry is perfect and i keep up with my weekly water changes ... what else can i try?

 

[Devilishturtles]

Where is it placed at in your aquarium? How are you trying to feed it?

 

[melosu58]

They need to be in an area of low light. I have mine under a ledge of rocks and ussualy come out at night in my tank. Sometimes after I feed my tank they come out also. Just make sure they are on the bottom in the substrate with some ledge over them. In the wild they live in caves or other dark areas. Here is mine

 

[Innovator]

I would be more conscientious about water flow positioning (moderate flow) due to the fact that Tubastrea sp. are non-photosynthetic, relying upon current (in nature) to bring them nutrition. As long as they are fed regularly (meaty treats such as mysis) they can/will reproduce. You say you have tried everything, but can you please be more precise as to the fare you are attempting to feed with? Where are they positioned in the tank and what else is neighboring them?

 

[boggerscott]

were i had all my luck was , i had too put in a cap or 2 of photoplankton and then that would make them open up and once i saw they were open i would take a injector and suck up some melted cyclopeez and injected all around it. far as flow mine never liked alot of flow. i had it at the bottom. but i will end with this -- it is a coral you personaly have to care for.. when its little flowers are open you basicly have to spoon feed it persay.

 

[megos1]

Okay, he is placed on the sand bed under a ledge of LR in a shady spot with moderate flow. My first attempt at feeding him was in a dark bucket of water with PhytoPlex. I soon realized that he doesn't eat that ... so I tried brine shrimp, nothing. My next attempt was leaving him in the tank and thawing brine and putting it into a syringe and spot feeding each polyp, he opened up somewhat but not fully, and I don't think he ate. I then tried cyclops the same way, nothing. I have tried putting shrimp/cyclops in the tank and shutting off my filter, skimmer and lights ... nothing. I just purchased some mysis and I'm going to try to cut off the top of a soda bottle and place it over the coral and squirt the mysis in there.

I don't have any fish that would steal the food from him, just my two cleaner shrimp and hermits/nassarius that try to go after the food.

Sigh, what do you guys think?

Thanks for all the help BTW.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Sun Corals and Tubastrea corals in general are cool beacuse they can adapt well to feeding times. I know many a people who feed it nightly or every 2-3 days just after the lights go out. The coral naturally adapts and opens up at night. Trying to place it on a regimen may help. Try enticing it first by blowing some food across it. They can eat large particles, so mysis or adult brine shrimp would be a good choice. Your soda bottle idea sounds like a good idea as well to get it to eat initially but afterwards may not be neccesary.

 

[megos1]

He just doesn't open up, I've tried blowing food past it and even gone as far as shoving bits of krill onto him and no matter what he never opens up fully...like in the pictures, I've never seen his yellow "sun" open up! This is depressing. I just turned it over and noticed the bottom polyps are starting to die! I really don't want to lose this beautiful coral!

 

[melosu58]

Since you moved it it will probably need to acclimate to it`s new surroundings. Give it a few day and you`ll be ok. Be patient and you`ll be ok. One thing I have found out is that when they are hungry they will come out. Make sure also that you wait for them to come all the way out before you feed them. They really cant grab the food till they are all the way out. Hope all goes well.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Sorry megos. Try looking at AFTER you turn the lights of to see if it has opened up. When the coral is starving though...it will not open, and may not again. The best you can do is keep trying.

 

[melosu58]

I know you have tried but I would take a baster and blast a bit of phytoplankton across it. This might be enough to entice it out.

 

[kimberly]

What color is your suncoral?

I have found that the orange ones are the most easy to get to come out to feed and are the easiest to bring back from near death. They will grow on just about anything (see picture with one growing on edge of old clam shell)

I am currently in the exact same predicament as you are with a black suncoral (the black color on its branches are wicking away - it hasn't come out to eat at all) - see picture

Typically, I will squirt a small amount of food around the coral (once they are feeding it doesn't matter if it is light or dark in the tank), to "scent" the water. About every half hour add another squirt of food. The food does not have to be meaty (cyclopeze tends to get lots of cyano in the tank when overfeeding); however, I find that certain meaty foods like mosquito larvae a.k.a. blood worms will cause the polyps to react quicker. (I actually like to feed my suncoral an algae mix that I also feed my fish and the sun coral loves it). It may take several hours for the polyps to extend the first few times you do this.

I have brought back orange suncorals that were down to the last polyp on a rock; however, it takes time to recolonize the rock. (see picture)

I used to move the suncoral to a round fishbowl for feeding - but it was quite tedious and I have since restored suncorals without removing them from the main tank.

I wish you the best of luck and I know how frustrating it can be. The black suncoral I have is a beautiful specimen and I shouldn't have believed the lfs when they said it was eating for them. It just goes to show that when you think you have figured it all out, you are quickly humbled.

 

[melosu58]

Kimberly that is one nice orange sun polyps. I like the little ones growing. You are doing a good job with them

 

[megos1]

It's an orange sun coral, thank you guys for all of your help. Hopefully something will work!