black sun coral dying

[thatguy559]

okay i bought this from someone in san diego and they shipped it to me and forgot to put my unit number in the address and well long story short it sat in the fed ex depot for 2 days before they called me. there are about 70 heads on it and they are loosing their flesh. should i just cut the dead sections off or leave it alon and hope for the best. its been about 2 weeks and i have not seen them extend at all my lights go out at 630pm and i checked at 2am in the morning.

 

[flying_dutchman]

Have you tried bucket feeding the coral?

 

[sfboarders]

Keep on squirting food on it during feeding time to get the heads to come out. I just bought a dying black sun coral for $10 from a LFS that's got major recession. It's so bad that I can see through some of the heads. However, One polyp has come out to feed. You can save them if you constantly feed them.

 

[thatguy559]

i have not tried to bucket feed them. i will try that what food should i squirt on them?

 

[Western_reefer]

You need to bucket feed them like others said. Here is my black sun coral. Got it for cheap from a LFS when it was dieing and 3 months later its as happy as can be.
Before.

After.

 

[PhysicsMunkey]

Definitely try the tupperware feeding trick. I got my black sun polyps and could not get them to come out at all. Even a small section, about 3 heads started to die. I did the tupperware trick every day for about 6 days with minimal extension but at least I saw the mouths of the polyps sucking in the mysis I was feeding them. Everyday it took less and less time for them to come out. I let it go about 3 days without feeding it and when I put a bit of food in the tank it was starting to extend on its own in the light even. It just takes alot of time and patience.

 

[flying_dutchman]

i have not tried to bucket feed them. i will try that what food should i squirt on them?

mysis, cyclops, or brine shrimp
Read this:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1719839

 

[frozenreefer]

that is one cool coral never seen a black sun befor...now i want one! i hope yours perks up

 

[scalowagreef]

Definitely use the Tupperware method and be patient because it might take some time before the polyps extend. I'm nurturing some for a friend and it wasn't until last night that is showed some progress after about a week and a half and I'm feeding cyclops and mysis. Only the mouths have opened slightly - the tentacles haven't extended.

Once you get it to eat it should make a full recovery after a month or more. I don't think it will be necessary to cut off the dying parts. Maybe you can dip it in Coral Revive to prevent an infection? I'm not 100% sure if it can be dipped in Coral Revive (I don't see why not though).

 

[scolylover]

i have alot of success feeding my sun coral zooplex at night when its lights out.

 

[DxSOR25]

thats coool that you can save a dying coral.. sun corals are one of my favorite!