I injured my corals :(

[aristeia]

Hey guys,

I've had a saltwater tank for a couple years now but only added corals (other than mushrooms) recently. I tried target feeding them tonight, as directed by LFS. I sucked up a couple mLs of Seachem Zooplankton in a plastic syringe and squirted on my corals (ricordea, zoas, and a euphyllia). Now my euphyllia is visibly damaged and I am completely freaking out. Was I supposed to dilute the zooplankton? Should I have not target fed these guys? What can I do to help my euphyllia recover? I'm so bummed that I thought I was doing right by my corals but I ended up hurting them.

Thanks in advance for your help,
Aristeia

 

[CStrickland]

What does the damage look like?
The way they eat makes them close up, also just squirting at them too hard will. But it isn't that they are hurt

 

[stingeragent]

Careful to not overfeed the really tiny stuff like that. It can throw your nitrate up real quick if it's not all consumed. I'd post a pic. As CS said, most corals when eating close up around the food.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Which Euphyllia is it? Hammer, Frogspawn or torch and can you post a picture please. I agree they will close up quickly when they are touched or hit so more than likely it's fine.

 

[ncaldwell]

I don't know if zooplankton is the same but I remember watching a video a little while ago of a guy that target fed seachem phytoplankton and it killed everything he feed. Something about the PH of the bottled food burning everything and it had to be diluted

 

[aristeia]

Man I really hope it's just closed up and I'm freaking out over nothing. I tried to get a pic of the damaged area. I'm actually not sure what kind of euphyllia; LFS didn't have any further designation - not a hammer or torch, maybe frogspawn?

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Its a Frogspawn and it will be just fine.

 

[theMatrix]

Same as when you manually move a coral in the tank. They close up from the water current moving. That piece that closed up is where you directly fed the force from the tube caused it to close.

Looks normal to me. Try not shooting it like a super soaker. Instead float it, in other words press slowly.

Its fine.

 

[aristeia]

Thanks everyone!! It looks a lot better today (though not quite normal). I'll be gentler next time I try to fatten up my corals!