Is this cyphastrea dead?

[RaulJulia]

I've had it about 3 weeks at this point and it's never 'blossomed' like it should.

Supposed to look somewhat like this: https://worldwidecorals.com/wwc-jingle-bells-cyphastrea.html

It's color has never been great, but I do think it's been getting browner the past week. How am I supposed to tell if it's dead or not? And if I just leave it there for a while could it harm the tank? The rest of my corals (and fish) seem fine so I don't think there's anything completely out of whack with the tank. Lighting on this one could definitely be wrong though. WWC says it likes low lighting, so I placed it near the outer edge of the tank.

 

[RaulJulia]

 

[RaulJulia]

https://imgur.com/DMctSr6

 

[bertoni]

It will die over time if it refuses to open. At three weeks, I'd start to worry. Water quality and lighting are the first items I'd check.

 

[PatW]

I don’t think it is dead. Corals can look as dead as a door nail and for a long time and then come back and be fine. I would recommend not to give up prematurely. Your coral looks unhappy, but I would not give up on it.

I have cyphaestrea that are in enough light for acrphora and they have grown just fine and had good color. I run pretty high flow also. On top of that I run low nutrients. These corals are supposed to like lower flow, lower light and higher nutrients. But mine do fine. Go figure. I do work at keeping things stable and that might be what makes these corals ok in my system.

Just keep looking for things to improve and eventually you will hit a magic combination.

 

[reefteaser]

Have you looked at it after lights out? Check after 3-4 hours in the dark. If there's any extension try relocating in a lower light space.