Candy Cane Recession

[Myka]

I read through my coral book, and have a mental list of the ones I can get, and the ones I can't get in accordance to my setup, and I knew Candy Cane was one I could get. So, after buying the Candy Cane, and not studying a photo of one very well, I realise that the one I bought is rather receded!! Can it come back to health?

After reading all the details about the Candy Cane in my coral book it says they can be sensitive to metal halide lighting and strong flow. The Candy Cane was placed about 2/3 of the way up on a MH lit tank and I am told it was there for about a month. Could this be the cause of recession?

I have it placed near the top of my tank lit by 2x39W T5, is this lighting going to be too strong? It is in a spot on the tank which the Xenia didn't like for flow...it was just a bit too strong for my Xenia to pulse. Will the flow be too strong here?

 

[Illuminati]

It doesn't look to bad, I've had candycanes come back from worse.

You have to move it down onto the sandbed if possible and put it in a lower flow area, I have 7 morphs, and all of mine get angry if they are in a high flow area like that.

 

[musty baby]

Your lighting should not be a problem for it, I have three separate varieties under a great deal more lighting and no problems. I'm not sure of how direct the flow from your maxijets is onto the coral, but so long as it's less than direct it should be fine. The coral must not have liked something about the previous tank, but they tend to be fairly bulletproof so my suggestion is to leave it be and see what happens in the coming weeks. You should see, soon, the polyps puff up more than they are in the photo.

 

[Myka]

Thanks guys!!! The polyps are now puffed up quite a bit more than in the photo (which I took this morning), and are actually already bigger than they were at the LFS. The flow from the MJs is not direct, the one one the left blows low and straight across the back so it blows all the detritus to the front of the tank, and the one on the right is pointed up and back towards the back glass. It was just barely too much flow for my Xenia...my Xenia wouldn't pulse when it was there.

Do I have to move it onto the sand??? All my corals are on the sand!!! Hahaha! I bought the Candy Cane because I thought I could put it in the rockwork...?

 

[JokerGirl]

Your Candycane doesn't look that bad. Mine looked about like that when I got it, and it's so puffed up now you can't see between the polyps. Give it some time, and I'm sure it'll do alright!

My Candycane is at the upper-mid level of my tank, and I have a MH. It's done great there. No bleaching etc.. It should be fine where it is.

 

[phurst]

Mine is in the rockwork, more than half way up the tank under MH lights too. It's plenty happy there. In fact, when I got it a couple of the heads had some pretty bad recession and have come back nicely in about a month. They're in medium/low flow and I feed them mysis a couple of time a week.

 

[musty baby]

All of mine are in the rockwork, except the last two polyps of a colony I sold, which are on their side, on the bottom, in a pile of crud I need to siphon out, and still puffed up and looking happy

 

[danch]

Maybe they're snacking on the crud!

 

[theop]

Even though it doesn't look terrible, I don't think it looks that great either. When happy they should really inflate during the day and put out feeder tentacles at night.

I'd put in lower light and lower flow. Then gradually increase. Mine really likes the back of the tank out of the intense light and with little flow.

 

[Myka]

Thanks guys! It's looking better and better everyday. It put out feeder tentacles on the first night I had it, and every night since as well. Corals seem to be very happy in my tank. The only one to take awhile to be happy was the Xenia. I didn't know I could feed the Candy Cane, so I'll start feeding Mysis once a week now.

I feed small daily feedings of Phyto...once in the morning for the daytime feeders, and once in the evening after lights out for the night feeders.

 

[GobyJohnKenobi]

Most of mine have looked like sticks when I brought them home and now they look great. I'm glad to hear it is improving.

It's putting out feeders at night because it's hungry. I spot feed mine mysis with a pair of forceps. One per mouth, once or twice a week.

After 6 months of feeding like this, my first trumpet has tissue completely covering its skeleton all the way down to the live rock. When I bought it, it barely had rings around the ends of the stalks. They like to eat!