Is my orange plate fungia ok? *pics*

[shinosuke]

Hello,
I recently purchased an orange fugnai plate coral. It is in my 12g nanocube, 72 watts of PC lighting on a 2-3 inch sand bed, stable water.
I put it in the tank on Sunday evening, Monday evening I fed the tank. I put a specturm pellet on the coral, nothing happened after 5 minutes. I put another pellet on the tip of the coral right on its mouth, nothing happened. I heard these guys are voracious eaeters.. A pair of frilly (maybe hairy.. can't tell the difference) mushrooms that I got at the same time both ate a pellet as soon as it touched them. Here are some pictures of the fungia.. does it look healthy to you.. should I be worried?
(please ignore the white epoxy everywhere, I've added a few new frags recently.)

On the top down picture, you can see the pellet food on the coral, close to the marauding peppermint shrimp.. the other "brown stuff" near the mouth of the coral looks similair to the algae that a mushroom spits out when it's not doing well. It has been on there since I first purchased the coral, when it was in the dealers tank.

(notice the fully open mushrooms at the bottom right in the first picture, and see the second picture at the right where they are closed up after feeding them)

 

[JetCat USA]

did you at least give it the opportunity to acclimate to your tank and open before trying to feed it? i can't tell from the pic, if the white spot on it is the pellet food, take it off and let the coral open and extend tentacles then try feeding, preferable something meaty not pellets.

 

[shinosuke]

Hello JetCat USA,
Well, I gave it more than a full day in the tank, but its tentacles have not yet expanded. I don't really have anything meaty.. everything in my tank loves the spectrum pellets.
The white spot on the plate coral is a lump right by the mouth of the coral, I was told this is a "filter feeder" part of the coral and is normal. The brown stuff coming out of the white spot looks like the beneficial zooanthele (I can't spell..) algae that is sometimes spit out by corals.
Thank you for the quick reply,
~Adam D.
The brown spot that's closer to the shrimp in the first picture is the pellet food.

 

[Hormigaquatica]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10601527#post10601527 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shinosuke
The white spot on the plate coral is a lump right by the mouth of the coral, I was told this is a "filter feeder" part of the coral and is normal.

Well, that is a complete load of BS- these corals dont have any special filter feeder parts like that, but I dont know that its necessarily something thats going to be a problem for you. Might be a barnacle that attached itself to the coral, but just cant see it that clearly.

Plates do feed, but they also can have difficulty adjusting to new tanks, so I wouldnt expect a fast feeding response for a while yet. If you gave him a very long/slow acclimation and your water quality is in good shape, then its likely that the coral will settle in and start to inflate normally within a few more days. After that you can try feeding it again- it probably wont eat before it is adjusted though. As JetCat mentioned, something meaty would be much more preferable for this too- mysis shrimp would be my choice. Variety in food is good for the rest of the tank inhabitants anyhow- dont just rely on the pellets for everybody, all the time. Good luck with him!

 

[JetCat USA]

be patient, let it expand, then when it extends tentacles too you can try feeding it Something Meaty you can pick up a deli shrimp and chop it up into small pieces.

 

[mikekman]

Definitely give the fungia more time to get adjusted to your tank. Plus never heard that fungias have a filter feeder part to them, dunno who told you that. But if you see something coming out of that bump then its probably a barnacle or some kind of filter feeder that is not associated with the fungia. Give it a few more days and report back.

Hormig and Jetcat know their stuff so follow what they say

 

[shinosuke]

JetCat USA - Thank you again for the quick reply.. I will see if one of my local reefer buddies has something more meaty I can try out.

mikekman - Thanks for the insight into the bump. From your explanation it sounds like if it is a barnacle, it's not a very big deal and won't hurt the coral? Also, thanks on the reassurances =)

Hormigaquatica - Thank you for the very in-depth and informative answer! Once again, you make it sound as though if it is a barnacle, it's not a big deal. I hope that's right. If I can find some other food that the rest of my tank enjoys I will attempt to feed the coral again when it starts to inflate and send out its tentacles. I'll post an update in a few days.

Thanks again to all three of you for the great answers!
~Adam D.

 

[mikekman]

Adam, don't worry about the fungia. From the pictures you showed, it looks like its a pretty healthy coral. No tissue recession, etc. I just got a fungia from a fellow reefer and I myself will give it a day or two and see if it will eat anything. I'm not worried about it.

Fungias are photosynthetic corals so if they don't eat, then not too big of a deal. Now if they were non photosynthetic I would worry. You may have a little barnacle from what you were describing. They are not harmful at all and barnacles are filter feeders. Just looks funny to have that on top of a fungia, lol.

Report back in a few days. You can get raw shrimp or scallops from the supermarket and chop it up and feed it to the fungia, those are meaty foods.

Oh by the way, nice coral! It has a very nice orange color to it. Almost liek a orange sherbert color.

 

[Sk8r]

Squeeze a piece of frozen people-shrimp [raw] right near its mouth. You may get some action.

 

[mikekman]

shinosuke, the fungia I got a few days ago ate some mysis blown right over its mouth yesterday. Took it quick!

Hope yours did the same.

 

[shinosuke]

Hello,
mikekman - Thanks for the compliment, it is a pretty cool looking color. Part of the reason I got it was because it was so much different looking than everything else in my tank. Mine has yet to extend its tentacles or expand yet.. yours that just ate the mysis, had it expanded yet?
Thanks,
~Adam D.

 

[mikekman]

Hey shinosuke, mine expanded the same day I got it. Yours could still be a little stressed. Give it some time. Do you have good flow? Fungias like some flow over them and mine has a little bit of a current blowing over it.

I will take a pic of my fungia when I borrow a friends camera or buy my own.

 

[chaungo]

I have one of those too. Sorry but it doesn't look too good. Like everyone else said, let it acclimate. If it doesn't extend its fingers between the bone ridges within a week, I think it's a goner. Don't feed the thing anything right now. How mine eats is some floating food (I use frozen food) will pass by, it gets caaught on the tentacles, then the coral passes the food from one tenacle to the next until it reaches the middle. Then I guess some small hairs or something pushes the food into the middle (mouth). It opens up pretty wide according to how big the food item. It's really cool!

So, let it inflate and acclimate. Don't feed it a thing until you see the fingers. Otherwise, you are stressing it out. Then try some frozen food and blast it a little with an eye dropper amount of food. Good luck.

By the way, if it deteriates a little, the dead part will spawn new babies. I have no idea why, but I've seen it before. So, don't throw it out unless it is completely white.

 

[JetCat USA]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10627023#post10627023 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chaungo
........... If it doesn't extend its fingers between the bone ridges within a week, I think it's a goner........

i took a green from my old 29g under 4x65w PC and moved it to my 180g under 400w MH and it didn't expand out for almost a year, i wouldn't worry myself over a week, patients is a virtue.

 

[Jamokie01]

Chaungo I think you need a bit more experience under your belt before you start giving sound advice.

 

[suppressivefire]

and how do you know his experience just by post count he could be new to the online thing but not to reefing.

 

[Jamokie01]

You assume I even looked at his post count. I guaged his experience by the advice he just gave, it was unfounded and largely incorrect. Stating that its a gonner if it doesnt open in a week is ridiculous, and any significant experience with this coral would tell you that. Also, if the coral deteriorates it will start making babies is stating it much more as a fact than a possibility, if the coral dies, it may produce anthocauli, but it isnt certain. Implying that it is may cause someone to neglect their coral and let it die, assuming it will become a mother colony. Not to mention, the coral in question is way too small to produce offspring.

Also, if you read that post and think hes a marine biologist, youre likely in the same boat he is.

 

[shinosuke]

Thank you everyone for your advice, especially JetCat USA, your experience gives me hope =)
The vendor I got it from had it under metal halides, but the lights were more than a foot off the water, and of course the coral was on the bottom of the rather deep holding tank.
I've got it in a modded 12g nano, about a foot and a half away from 72W of PC lighting. Maybe it's just slowly acclimating to all the extra light it's getting? I'm sure the spectrum is different, as well. Its color has stayed the same bright orange the entire time (except where it's white and puffy around the barnacle, or whatever it is), so I'm taking that as a good sign.
I have adjusted the locline on the return pump from the back chambers to point more down towards the sand bed. The fungia was getting <u>some</u> flow before, but I'm sure it was not very much. I can tell it's getting more flow now as the 2 frags of green star polyps to either side of it are noticeably receiving more flow.. I hope that will not hurt them!
The coral is roughly 2 inches in diameter, and I know it's not a long tentacled. When it does finally expand, roughly how long should the tentacles be? Also, when it does expand will I be able to see a noticeable difference in the looks of the coral?

Thanks again to everyone for their opinions,
~Adam D.

 

[Jamokie01]

Its noticeable but they are only like 1/4-1/2 inch long. And FYI, metal halides are much more intense than pc, so the coral is getting less light, not extra.

 

[suppressivefire]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10630336#post10630336 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jamokie01
You assume I even looked at his post count. I guaged his experience by the advice he just gave, it was unfounded and largely incorrect. Stating that its a gonner if it doesnt open in a week is ridiculous, and any significant experience with this coral would tell you that. Also, if the coral deteriorates it will start making babies is stating it much more as a fact than a possibility, if the coral dies, it may produce anthocauli, but it isnt certain. Implying that it is may cause someone to neglect their coral and let it die, assuming it will become a mother colony. Not to mention, the coral in question is way too small to produce offspring.

Also, if you read that post and think hes a marine biologist, youre likely in the same boat he is.

no.