dying suncoral

[kichimark]

I got a lfs that I do not visit very much anymore due to their treatment of the animals (lots of sick fish, dirty tanks). Before yesterday I was there probably a month ago. In their display they had a nice tubastrea sun coral. I asked them how often do they feed it of which they said they don't...all they needed was light :mad2:. I then told them they need to feed it and about the basic husbandry. Yesterday I went back because they are the only ones close that sell live brine shrimp which I needed. I then saw the beautiful sun coral reduced to what you see. I asked them what they are going to do and they said either sell it cheap or let it die. I was really bothered by that and asked how much they wanted. At first he said 15 bucks but we settled on 8. I just couldn't let it completely die.

The pic shows the coral in a cup with some mysis. I don't expect all the polyps to live but about 7 polyps are eating. Probably the first feeding they have had all month. Sad thing is they replaced this one that was in the display with another beautiful one that is sure to meet the same starving fate.

 

[WSI2406]

It is sad when un educated, or people don't know hwo to care for the animals they bring in to sell. Well good luck and hope they all come back. Please keep us updated.

 

[despot101]

Wow that looks rough. Suncorals are easily my favorite coral, sad to see how many places let these coral starve and die off.

 

[kichimark]

Yeah it is in bad shape but I know it has a chance in my hands than having it there and for it to furthur die. I will be honest, I got extremely upset because I TOLD them they have to feed them. I bet many of these corals end up this way.

You know for some reason I got all kinds of corals including a nice colony of utter chaos but for some reason....I LOVE my dendros and tubastreas the most.

 

[kichimark]

Here it is about a month and a half later. I have been feeding it every other day and had to feed it in a cup for the first three weeks due to no polyp extension. I am guessing due to being starved. I have saved what you see so far and the "skin" is starting to grow down the sides.

 

[SushiGirl]

Nice job, good for you (and it)!

 

[djmurray]

Nice work man!!! Looking much better!

 

[kichimark]

Thanks for the compliments. I knew I could save something on it thats why I did it. I will post updated pictures every couple of months. I want to restore this beauty to its previous glory.

 

[pinksakura]

we have some that were dong great, we feed it everyday and they have started dieing. we do not understand why. all the other corals and fish n the tank are doing fine and the fish are doing fine. just over night we lost 4 more polyps. do you know anything we can do to save them?
thanks

 

[Aww7979]

Sun coral trouble.

Sun coral trouble.

I did me research and knew what I was getting myself into. My rookie mistake was believing the online supplier I bought the sun coral from knew what they were doing. Take a look at these, are they beyond saving? I am currently placing the top of a 2 liter bottle over them, then target feeding them with brine, mysis, and cyclopeze. Once in a while I throw a little Chili in with them just for a small particle option. It's been 2 weeks of small daily feedings and I have only seen a 10% improvement. I plan on hanging them upside down in a cave if they make it.

Adam

 

[MarineSniper]

Skip the Cyclopeeze and brine. Mysid are the best option, preferably soaked in Selcon and Zoe. Best to feed them in a bowl so that you can overfeed without worrying about polluting your water. The upside down thing sounds cool (most of we nps keepers have thought about it) but the problems with feeding them in that position make it extremely tough.

If you want to bring it back, put it in a bowl, squirt a bunch of vitamin soaked mysid (Cyclopeeze, you could add; in the bowl feeding but I wouldn't feed just that right now) and do it every night. May take a month, could take longer but, ime, any sun that can eat, can be saved. The Selcon is like tripling the amount of food they consume vs plain rinsed shrimp. Brine are far more lacking in nutritional value, is why I recommend dropping them. In that shape, they need maximum value for every piece they ingest. Good luck: if you put the effort in, they should come back well

 

[MARINECRITTERS]

I'm in the same situation, dying sun coral from a lfs that does not seem to be very educated. Right now I am feeding it mysis shrimp every day untill it opens up, once I can get it opened I will probably feed it every other day, it is possible to over feed and the tissue will grow faster then the skeleton can calcify.
So far the coral is starting to inflate and I can finally see a small amount of their tentacles, everything is looking good.
BTW congrats at brining this coral back, without you it would of died.

 

[Aww7979]

Thanks for the advice, I'll post some updates as they happen.

 

[KatyMunoz]

The out of tank method for feeding is far superior to any in tank method in my experience.

As for feeding, I do not rely on mysis 100%, but a mix of the cyclopeez and other small foods with some mysis thrown in, you can over feed nps rather easily, and while this won't kill them most likely, it's unnecessary. The mix of the large and small food items has tremendously cut down on the regurgitation of almost entirely undigested material of which I saw when I was feeding mysis alone.

 

[elio]

all these "reviving corals" methods are really helpful. I've jotted some ideas down on my notebook (just incase). Thanks guys!
-Elio

 

[MarineSniper]

@Katy
I agree thaw mysid alone isn't what you want to feed, regularly. I use about 8 different types of food, including Cyclopeeze, krill, chopped shrimp and silversides, etc. I mentioned not feeding the Cyclopeeze on its own, trying to revive suns or dendros, as a starving nps needs a lot of food. It's a great food but takes quite a bit, to satisfy a sun's needs; in that condition. As long as you're feeding it in a bowl, it should be great but attempting to do it in tank would make it hard to get enough to them, without harming water quality

Felt I should clarify that. I don't believe in feeding just a single food to nps or fish, regularly. With starved/distressed suns and dendros, however, I've had the best success feeding larger shrimp; like mysid, daily, after bring soaked in a quality vitamin supplement like Selcon and Zoe. They won't be eating much at that point and you want to maximize everything they do consume

 

[Aww7979]

Here is a little polyp extension. The most as of yet and this is in almost full light.

 

[MarineSniper]

It will come back fine, just keep feeding. Add Selcon or Zoe, if you're not already and you'll see fast improvement. Even the brand of mysid makes a difference, imo. I no longer buy the red boxes of cubes as I can see a difference feeding Hikari. When they're large enough, PE brand seems to be the best, and doesn't require rinsing. They're too large for smaller heads but are very good for small colonies of adult only and fatheads

 

[stunreefer]

You can chop up PE Mysis for smaller polyped species. Unlike picky fish, these corals don't care how the food looks With that said PE did just release a smaller version of the original.