Has anyone brought a Cynarina or Scolymia back from the dead?

[babblack1]

I purchased a coral skeleton from my LFS about 2 months ago that turned out to still have live tissue attached to it. It appears to be either a Cynarina or Scolymia, over the last two months it has regained / recovered about half of the skeleton size. But it has stalled its grow as of late. Originally i was not feeding it or doing anything special for its care it seemed quite happy to recover on its own. But with this stall in regrowth i think it needs some care.

Currently it is under (1) 96w 10k PC & (1) 96w Antic, sitting near the bottom of the tank, i have moved higher up in the tank but it appeared to not like that change so i moved it back down.

As i mentioned above i am not feeding it directly right now, but i am considering target feeding at this point. Perhaps doing a feeding dip in a separate container with a mixture of DT phytoplankton and CYCLOPEEZE, letting it sit in the soup for 20 or 30 minutes. I have done some research on the feeding habits and a few places note that there are feeding tentacles that extent in the evening to feed, i have not noticed any tentacles as of yet, so i am assuming it has not grown big enough to have them. So any food it could consume would have to be absorbed.

Does this sound like a good plan for recovery?

Cory

 

[babblack1]

Edit - I was doing further reading on the feeding options for LPS corals and instead of phytoplankton i should feed zooplankton, can some one confirm this for me?

 

[airinhere]

Correct. Phytoplankton is food for zooplankton, clams and featherdusters. (and some gorgonians.) Most LPS actually eat pieces of meat (like cyclopeeze, Mysis shrimp or even krill).

 

[seapug]

Phytoplankton= microscopic plants/algae

Zooplankton= microscopic animals

LPS are largely meat eaters so you want Zooplankton.

If it's recovering I would really focus more on creating a healthy environment for it than feeding it. It was probably initially killed off by bacteria, so keeping it in hospital like conditions (focus on proper light and water quality) is probably best before you try to start fattening it up again. Overfeeding can degrade water quality and promote the infections that you are trying to fight off.

Keep it shaded and in reduced flow for the best expansion. Once it starts showing healthy feeding tentacles (usually at night) you can try feeding it.

 

[babblack1]

Thanks for the information. Not sure what caused it to die probably just general lack of care at the LFS.

In regards to the shading suggestion, I would think it would be better for a more moderate level of light, wouldn't the shade be too dark?

As for the over feeding, my thought was to remove it from the display tank to feed it in a separate container to minimize the added food to the tank as well as give it plenty of time to eat, similar to the cover method used for flower pots and sun corals. As I mentioned before it doesn't appear to have any tentacles that extent at night, could my ID be incorrect? I will try and find a camera and get a picture tonight as I was basing my ID on the skeletal shape and look.

 

[seapug]

cynarinas and scolymias do best (in my tank) underneath overhangs. They will inflate more to expose more surface area to capture light. Don't put it in the dark, but at least keep it away from direct HM light. If you feel comfortable moving the coral to feed it I guess it's okay, but be careful it's not bumped or lifted out of the water, they have delicate tissue. I'm not a big fan of the coral food gorging trend nowadays, but if it's worked for you in the past, go for it.