a little help with sun coral

[cmacld]

So this evening i was at my LFS and i decided to buy a couple frags of Sun polyps. Knowin that they were not in the best of shape, i hoped to save them. I was hoping that someone here would have some tips for their best road to recovery, they have not opend up in my tank as of yet, however they have only been there for 6 hrs. I did try freeding some brine, with no success. the lady at the store said that they never opend for her ( and she has had them for at least 3 wks), but im pretty sure that she is not target feeding them, and as i understand they should be feed at night (please correct me if in wrong). Anyway, any help would be great! thanks in advance.

 

[Freed]

To get them to just open up you need to put them under a feeding bell or take them out of the tank and place them in a bowl of the tank water. Then, squirt a small amount of food juice on/at them and let them sit for several minutes. Squirt them again and you will probably start to see the tentacles peering out. They won't come out all the way the first day or two or even for a week but you need to do this every day until they come out and you can place a piece of food on each of the polyps so they can pull the food in and eat it. After a week or two or three you should be able to get them to come out at the slightest smell of food in the tank water but you have to be very patient. You might not even see a hint of a tentacle for a few days but keep at it and you will. If they still haven't come out after a few days or a week or so you can place a small piece of mysis on each individual polyp and it will pull it in even though you won't see the tentacles themselves. You have to get each one to eat soon or the tissue will start receeding.

 

[cmacld]

thanks soo much for your advice, i was able to feed my polyps this morning, took about a half hour but they all ate and are looking wonderful and starting to bloom. Cheers, Chad

 

[Freed]

We have to have pics to make this a complete thread.

 

[cmacld]

LOL, i guess that would be true. ill see what i can do.

 

[cmacld]

ok, sorry for the pic quality, my camera is not really macro friendly. but here are pics of both frags, i wish that i would have taken pics of them before and after, but here is were they stand as of now. Looking forward to seeing them grow.
<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c171/cmacld/PRKshow10.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c171/cmacld/PRKshow10-2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>

 

[Freed]

Remember you MUST feed them at least several times a week for them to live or even grow.

 

[cmacld]

oh there gonna get fed alot! looking forward to it, such an amazing experience. thanks again freed

 

[dippin61]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8342665#post8342665 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cmacld
oh there gonna get fed alot! looking forward to it, such an amazing experience. thanks again freed

make sure you feed EACH polyp. it may looked connected, but when it comes to food they are not. Each polyp needs to be fed by hand at least 5 - 10 mysis shrimp (or equivalant) each.

mine can put down 10 mysis per feeding. and watch your nutrient levels, you COULD get elevated levels from the amount of food you use. especially if its not all getting eaten.

 

[WarrenG]

When I've seen sun polyps in the wild they were in near darkness, up on the ceiling of a small cave or swim-through, or under a ledge where there was only indirect light. Other places were below 80 feet deep where the light levels were also low. I'd move them to a similar location in your tank-definitely not out in the light as shown in your pictures.

Considering their food sources that I've seen I think live baby brine or similar size would be a good to try.