Help, flower pot will not open

[bobokity@yahoo.]

We just purchased a flower pot coral, it was open and flowing nice n the store, since we put it in our tank, about 20 hours ago, it will not open. It started to but it's not opening all the way. We have perfect water temps, and moderate lighting. It's in the middle our our tank, with 2 percula clowns, a bleach anenomie, a purple bubble tip anenomie, a damsel and a dottieback. We have lots of live rock. This is a 26 bow with 130 watts of blue/white light.

 

[Illuminati]

Flowerpots are also known as goniopora's and are almost impossible to keep long term in a home aquarium.

Check out www.goniopora.org for tips on feeding, etc...

Good Luck

 

[graveyardworm]

Are the clowns hovering around it at all?

Anything else that might be bothering it?

How long has the tank been setup?

Have you tried to feed it?

I see you've been doin this for 15 years so I assume you acclimated it properly.

 

[bobokity@yahoo.]

No the clowns are not going near it. We've had the tank set up since Jan 1 2007. We had all our water tested by a professional. We are lucky, we have the perfect tank set up, early. We are using Kent Marine Microvert to feed. It's been over 24 hours and nothing

 

[graveyardworm]

Check out the link provided by colinadam, There's a lot of info there which may help. There's also an article in the RK mag archives, I'll see if I can dig it up. The tank is fairly young and while the test kits may not be able to pick it up there's a lot going on in there right now ( fluctuating parameters ). I just picked up a couple babies see new thread in this forum, and the polyps opened almost immediatly.

 

[graveyardworm]

Here's the RK mag article, http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/nftt/index.php .

What kind of flow is it located in?

 

[slukach]

I've read that it may take a long time for the goni to open after it is stressed a bit (i.e., scooped out of a tank, taken on a drive and put in another environment). Wouldn't worry about it too much for now. Give it a few days and see what the story is.

What will you be feeding it?

 

[Thhitman]

They like a good deal of flow, I have a 5" round goni I picked up and it would never open for a couple of weeks. Talked to a LFS store guy, he said they like a lot of flow.

Moved it and its been fine ever since, going on 6 months. They do like a little different food than other corals, I got reed-roids for mine, it seems to like them.

 

[Rovert]

My experience is that it often takes many days - sometimes even weeks - for a coral to adjust to its new environment, no matter how perfect the conditions may be. There is a change in lighting, flow, and chemistry that's probably undetectable to us and our instruments, but obvious to a coral or fish. Give it time, but do be aware that the Goniopora are difficult to keep, so stay on top of it, and read as much as you can to stack the odds in your favor.