Help reviving a Sun Coral.

[Blazer88]

I recently got a Sun coral from a fellow reefer for free as they said the excess feeding everyday was ruining their tank and they weren't having much luck with it. I have been trying to feed it with Mysis every night around 9pm but the polyps aren't coming out much if at all. What is the best way to get a feeding response from this coral? I will post a pic as soon as my lights turn on so you can get an idea of the health that the coral is in. BTW, it's in my 20 nano with PC lighting. Any help will be appreciated.

-Rick

 

[Blazer88]

Here is a picture of the coral. Sorry for the quality as just my actinic's turned on and there is not any 10K.

 

[sphelps]

Those reef-roids from polyp lab work quite well for sun corals, also live rotifers and other types of zoo plankton can work well to. I have a sun coral that was doing well when I was feeding it everyday, then I left for vacation and when I got back could not get it to feed again. Most of the heads have died but the ones remaining are actually doing better than ever, now that reef-roids and live rotifers with live phyto is being used in the tank.

I've heard of others having good success with sun corals and reef-roids. Might want to try those first.

 

[fishfanv]

well, can't say for sure but have you tried squirting some cyclop-eeze around it? if my suns are not already out by feeding time i use cyclop-eeze to entice them.

 

[simonf]

While it has receded from the external skeleton the polyps themselves look alive. I got one that looked pretty bad and I initially had trouble getting it to open up as well.

How are you feeding it?

What worked for me was to put it in a little tub of tank water and let it sit there with the food. This allows you to make the food concentration in the water pretty high without fouling your tanks water, just don't dump the water back in your tank when you are done. I've read about others having success using an air pump to keep the food in the small container stirred up but I just use a baster to mix it up occasionally. And initially when a polyp did open I used tweezers to 'give' it a piece of mysis.

As to what food to use i'd agree with sphelps about the rotifers. The first time I got mine to open up was with frozen rotifers. I now regularly feed it mysis and cyclopeze. If you feed in a separate container I would recommend defrosting the mysis in the container water my polyps seem to smell the mysis 'juice' in the water and open up at feeding time.

Also keep an eye on the exposed skeleton for algae growth.

Simon

 

[simonf]

Once you get it healthy you can use a feeding hat to feed it in your tank.

feeding hat

Simon

 

[Blazer88]

Nice link for the feeding hat, I'll be sure to make one of those. I have the sun coral on a rock at the moment since I read sand was bad for the tissue. I have a small piece of LR I can set it one which will make it easier to feed once it starts to open up. As for now, I've tried to squirt some Mysis or Brine shrimp around it to see if the polyps open up, and have even put it into a small tupperware container with a half of cube of Mysis and let it soak for an hour. I think I'll try to keep feeding it in a small container outside of the tank (to not foul up my water) until the polyps start opening up more so I can feed them with an eye dropper. Thanks for the recommendations.

 

[Blazer88]

I thought I would give a quick update on the Sun Coral. I have been removing it from the tank and soaking it in Mysis for two hours every other night, so maybe only three times now. The sun coral is now opening up in the tank and I am able to feed it with an eye dropper. Here is a recent night shot of the coral and the polyp extension. I look forward to seeing more of the tissue grow over the skeleton. Thanks for everyone's advice. Enjoy.

 

[simonf]

Its looking better already!
Glad our advice helped.