candy cane questions

[natep206]

hey guys,

i got my first 2 los corals 2day!!!:spin2: one of them being a candy cane with about 20 heads. it will be sweet. once i get it back up to FULL health again.

well one head is completely dead. no flesh with skeleton. all the others are ALOT better then that. so most of them are full fluffy polyps. well about 5 or 6 of them arnt that nice. the flesh is really thining out and u can see the skeleton poking at the flesh and some of the mothes are open can see the holes. is that normal?
none of the flesh has been puncsured by the skeleton yet so i have hope.

basicaly i just want to know what there ideal conditions (light, flow, location) are and what kind of food it likes beck that i can feed it so it will thrive and heal up quick.

thanks
nate :beer:

 

[porky]

Hi Nate!
Lighting I would say it likes high light, I have all mines in the top 1/4 of the tank under 250watt 10K halides.
Flow should be moderate, not strong direct flow, but enought to bring the coral food and keep it clean of detritus.
I like to feed mines at night when the sweeper tentacles are out and it likes meaty foods.
Good Luck w/it!

 

[impur]

I have my candy cane on the sand under 250w MH. It also did fine in my nano under 96w PCs.

Yours sounds like its in trouble. I would place it in low light, low-med flow. Try to feed each head some mysis, that will speed up recovery.

 

[natep206]

i have 260wtt pc and its a little over a foot away from the fixture. is this too much light? onless i put it at the bottom there isnt any LOW current areas in my 55 gal.

the only current its getting is from the filter out put. there is a rock in front of it. should this be good flow?

and as in low light do u mean in the shade or just on the bottom or what???

and do i feed it like i would feed a sun coral? like the cup method?

thanks
nate ::

 

[natep206]

oh and if and when it gets better how often should i feed it and what? mysis and brine? should i soak them in any thing?

thanks
nate :beer:

 

[impur]

I would put it on the sand for now, until it recovers. Place it so it gets random low flow, the heads should sway slightly when extended.

Just suck up some food in your turkey baster and slowely let each head get a mysis or 2. You might have to drop some food into the tank to initiate the feeding response. Once you see the feeders extended, they are real sticky so food will adhear to them easily. Then they pull in the food to their mouth and close around it.

I frag my candy cane monthly it grows so fast, i usually cut it in half and each frag has 15+ heads. I never feed it directly, it gets what food it can catch when i feed the tank. Here is mine eating

 

[natep206]

omg.... ok so my candy dane has NO flesh on the banches of the skeleton and i woke up today and none of the heads are fluffy anymore all of them are hard and poking with REALLY thin flesh. i fed my tank last night and no tenticals came out like that.

i just tryed to feed it and with the lack of tenticles is immpossible to get them to eat the mysis.

im going to call the place i got it from and see what there policy is on dead corals.

ill post a picture of its condition soon

nate

 

[impur]

Thats too bad. If they won't take it back, keep it in low light low flow. These are real hardy and i've seen near dead heads come back with time and good conditions.

 

[natep206]

im returning in for full refund. ill let u guys all know wha i get with my money. im leaving now so ill be back in an hour or so. thanks for all the help.

nate :beer:

 

[natep206]

i got back from the store and right now im acclimating a midas blenny and a anmone crab. im very happy with me trade!!!

nate :beer: