Sun Coral HELP!

[revhtree]

I went and traded some frags with a guy in my area last night, and he had this sun coral that he gave to me because he said he didnt have time to keep it alive, and he didnt even know if it was even alive at all. I have no experience with them, but I said I would give it a try. Heck, it was free....

I am looking up info on it right now. I do know that each head must be fed, and it is a low light coral which actually needs no light....I think. Anyway here is a pic of it. Is it still alive? Notice where I put it up in a crevice....

Whats your experience?

[tripper]

It's hard to tell if it's alive right now or not. My suggestion would be to wait until about 30 mins after lights out and use a turkey baster to put some mysis (soaked in garlic) on the polyps and see if they open. Try this for a couple nights and hopefully they will start to open and feed.

tripper

[macman7010]

revhtree,

The coral you have pictured is alive. My gf gave me one of these as a gift not having any idea of how hard they are to keep. In fact most of the fish stores I frequent wont sell them just because they are so hard to keep alive. I had mine for about 10 months before it died. When the coral is dead it will actually bleach and all that will show is exoskeleton.

You want to keep this coral in a low light place, and make sure it is on a diagonal or even upside down if you can since debris settles in these corals easily and the way they are makes it tough for current to blow the debris off. I had a clownfish that liked putting pieces of crushed coral on my sun and slowly it started killing the coral until I put it edgeways on a rock ledege. When I had mine I waited till the lights were off for about 1 hour and you could see the bright orange polyps extended, at that point I would target feed zoo and photo plankton.

James Fatheree had a great article in TFH a few months ago about these types of corals and other non-symbitotic corals. If I were you I would email James and see if he can help you, a quick google search will turn his email. I emailed him with a prob and surpisingly enough he emailed me back and really helped a lot.

[revhtree]

Awesome! I was hoping it was still alive. I just added it to the tank last night, and about 1hr and even 2hrs after lights out there were no poylps. Even this morning nothing. I guess it is acclimating. Hope I can save it.

Have you added any food to the tank/water since aquiring the coral? They are increadibley sensitive to food "smells" and will often open up once added. Cyclop eeze is a good one although too small as a food source. I would not recommend attaching the coral upsidedown though. It makes it increadibley difficult to feed. I would place it in an area with little/no light and med/high water flow. Personally I would go with the sandbed as it can then be "cover fed" or removed from the tank (underwater) via bowl and target fed much more easily without fouling the tank water in an attempt to feed every polyp. More commonly the "removal" method is the most productive.

http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0604/suncoral.html

Cheers
Steve

[revhtree]

I would like to place it on the sand, to remove it for feeding, but there is no shaded spot on the sand with the new lighting. (3) 250w 15k MH..

Maybe I can make a spot, but it will be tough....

[Hara]

I belive Loganj had one that was given to him in an almost dead state and he nursed it back to health...maybe a search on his posts will help.

[austinsdad]

Maybe I can make a spot, but it will be tough....

Got any rock overhangs that provide shade? Mine is doing well like that.

[revhtree]

No not at the moment Ray...

Thanks for the info all...

[brndfrb]

I know a guy that has one and it has gotten sizeably larger since he got it. He has it pretty much out of light on the sandbed. When he feeds it he a a 2 liter bottle that he cut the bottom off of. Then he places the 2 liter over the coral and then uses a turkey baster and squirts the food into the 2 liter. This keeps the food all around the coral and gives it time to eat it and nothing else in the tank can get the food first. HTH

[revhtree]

Nice info brndfrb! I'll def. give that a try!!