Black Sun Polyp not doing so hot

[PhysicsMunkey]

I just received a new black sun polyp from liveaquaria. I waited about 3 months for it so I was super excited when it came. I acclimated the coral to the new water for about 2 hours and added it. I have other similar corals in the tank, namely an orange sun polyp and a dendro. I tried to feed it last night; no luck but the dendro and orange sun polyp ate. I came home today to find my new guy look like this. It hasnt even been a full 24 hours in the tank. The fish and other corals seem fine. The black "skin" part to the coral is being eaten away by the fuzzy cloud part around it. Any suggestions? I am broken hearted after waiting so long for this guy and he doesnt even make it a full day.

 

[WSI2406]

I can't see the pic(at the office) but I suggest wait, keep trying to feed it. You should use Cyclopeeze, Suns love it. It took my last sun coral colony almost a week to open up. They just need time to adjust to your tank. I hope this helps.

 

[aphenes]

The image you have provided really looks like a Helicostoma sp. ciliate attack.
Helicostoma sp. ciliates are generally described as "brown jelly disease", notorious enemy of Euphyllia sp. coral keepers.
I am not familiar with it attacking Tubastrea sp. corals, but, I am no expert, nor can I justify why it cannot attack Tubastrea sp. corals.
Is it possible to get some tank background information- lighting, temperature, water motion, etc..?
How long had the piece been quarantined prior to you receiving it, and how long was it in transit? What was the water temperature in the bag/ styro when you received it? PH? Ammonia?

 

[glextank]

That pic also looks like a fungus that attacked a new zoa frag I bought recently. I couldn't save it, but was told to do furan-2 dips for it.
On my zoas it almost looked like sponge-y type material growing on it, and I could blow it off but it would completely regrow wthin hours. Very fast moving, had to qt.

 

[WSI2406]

The suns don't look so good. I think that it might be some type of fungus, |think it will eat the coral, or kill it. If you put the sun in a high flow area it might blow away, and you might save it. Good luck with the coral.

 

[coltrref]

or fragmented parts of the suns that are not damaged by the fungus

 

[aphenes]

Several of you have indicated that the T. micrantha infection looks like a fungus.
Do you have any links to any sited literature on this marine fungus?
Is it a primary infection, or secondary infection to a parasite/ protozoan?
Is it a secondary infection due to poor water quality during shipping?

 

[WSI2406]

One thing that might be the cause is the tempture changes in shipping, as I did see this on one of my colonies when I move from my house to another house and the bag was ezposted to climate change and water temp dropped and then went back up too fast. I just put it in a high flow area and it blew it off, but I don't remember if it healed.

 

[tom499]

black sun polyp

black sun polyp

It looks like a fungus that i've had before on suns. Has it ever opened? My orange ones open all the time but the black one i've got has never opened. Going on 3 weeks and still midnight black. Indirect water flow saved mine orange one. Good luck. Post the secret to getting it to open if it does. I've tried everything.

 

[PhysicsMunkey]

Oh my goodness I am the worst forum poster ever. I subscribed to this thread and havent been getting email alerts so I assumed nobody was interested. Im so sorry for ignoring you guys!!

So I finally got an answer from liveaquaria specialists and they said that the coral wasnt getting enough flow..? I questioned it because i didnt think a coral could decay in a matter of 6 hours from not getting enough flow...

Sad to report that I was never able to get the little guy to open. The fuzzy part never got any worse, or better. After the first full night it had already eaten most of the black flesh off the coral. I still tried to feed it and encourage it to open but with no luck.

You know it may be a temperarture issue. When the coral arrived it was packed with a really chilled ice pack. I thought I had acclimated it to the same temp as the tank, but maybe it was just too much of a change.

I dont think it was any kind of an infection like the brown jelly. I've had that on a little torch frag before and it didnt have the same "gooey" look to it. I was really worried thats what it was at first though!

The good news is that it never spread to any other corals. There was a torch coral right behind it and the other suns and dendros and everything stayed happy and healthy. The other good news is as soon as the coral died, the fuzzy-ness completely disappeared.

liveaquaria was pretty awesome through the whole thing and gave me a credit for a new coral when they come back in stock.

I am open to any suggestions so the same thing doesnt happen when the new one arrives. Maybe a slower/longer acclimation process for the temperature change?

 

[dpdp225]

Yes a longer acclimation. Mine slimed really bad when I exposed them to air, didn't hurt them but scared me. But for a new coral stressed from shipping maybe it makes a difference if they were exposed to air. I've stayed away from T. micracantha as I've read they are more difficult to keep. I purchased sun corals from LiveAquaria before and they were very healthy. I would only order sun corals from them if I decided to get some more. Sorry for your loss.

 

[PhysicsMunkey]

Thanks dpdp225. I have read mixed reviews of the black sun polyps. Some books say they are impossible to keep because you cannot duplicate their natural environment in an aquarium and others say they are no different than an orange sun polyp. More recently I've seen more success stories so I thought I would give it a shot. I've had pretty good luck with other non-photosynthetic corals. I think, if liveaquaria gets them back in stock, I'll give it another try. In the mean time, I'll scope out the LFS for a frag of one and do a trial run. The one store not too far away from me had some small 10 polyp frags not too long ago.

 

[dpdp225]

If you go local try and get them as soon as they come in... the longer they're sitting around the LFS most likely they are not being target fed and they'll be harder to bring around. Good luck.