LT Plate corals not extending

[MarlinHooker]

I've had these 2 LTPs for a couple of months in the same location you see here. For the first month or so they were fine, fully extended but lately they have been retracted all the time. The one on the right does extend about a 1/2"or so towards the evening but nothing like it originally did ...

Any idea what I should try? None of my other corals are showing any stress signs ...

 

[coral_addict]

Flow/lighting? Are you feeding them?

 

[betamed]

the one on the right looks like a short tentacle plate. the one on the right looks like a long tentacle plate. LT plates tend to do poorly in general. Lower/moderate light and low flow do best for me

 

[MarlinHooker]

when they were fully extended I fed them Mysis once a week. The flow on the sandbed in that section of the tank is low to maybe moderate. Lighting is 3 AI Sols set at 65% max for 3 hrs with a slow ramp up starting at 11:30am and a ramp down to 10pm. I have a couple of caves and overhangs that I can move them toward to get them out of the direct light ...

 

[yuckywacky]

I currently own 2 ltp and theyre fully open and their tentacle swell up real nivel...usually when they dont extend over a long period of time its usually an indication of poor water. Make sure to test for Ammonia as very little trace of it can kill ltp. They love clean water. I do a 15g WC religiously every 7_10 days on a 90 gallon tank.

 

[MarlinHooker]

Thx but unfortunately whatever is it, water quality is probably not the answer ... I do a PWC weekly of 10% plus siphon the sandbed weekly which hardly procuces any detritius. I have. CaRx so my Ca/Alk are rock steady, add Mg weekly as well to keep it at around 1350 ....

My PO4 is so low I.can't grow any Chelto in my fuge .... It actually may be too low as I've heard we should keep it at around .02-.03 and nitrates around 1 ppm ....

I fed the STplate a small piece of shrimp last night which he ate ... I would prefer not to move him as I hate taking chances so we'll see if maybe I can coax him toward and area of a little less direct light ...

 

[yuckywacky]

Have you tried a larger wc? Try that first and wait a few days cuz mine take about 3 days to open up to about a dinner plate(no pun intended) if it doesnt respond then something else irritating it...carbon/po4 media dust? Pest? Stray voltage?etc
I feed mine a very tiny piece of raw shrimp ...reefroid/reefchilli/goni power. Low flow w1/s1 mode on a wp25 so its swaying bacck and forth like in the ocean.
Theyre beautiful animal and i hope you find the answer. Keep us posted !

 

[MarlinHooker]

Thx. I managed to move the LT plate into a semi shaded area with lower flow so we'll see. As for for ST he is actually fine. For some reason I thought his tentacles were longer but I checked some earlier pics and he looks the same so hopefully the LT will come around as well ....

 

[corabeauty4]

do you have a clown fish or any other fish that may be trying to use it as a host? Mine did not open up for about 2 months then one day it dawned on me that it was because my clown was trying to live there. I moved it to a different tank and it is doing very well now.

 

[MarlinHooker]

I have 6 clownfish. 5 of which are the stupidest clownfish on the face of the planet ... I have a 10" carpet anemone, 1 maxi-mini, 3 rock anemones & 1 8" bubbletip and with the exception of 1 clown who spends nights in the bubbletip none of them go anywhere near anything wavy ... I also have a large torch, 2 frogspawn & 3 hammers which they are happy to ignore as well ...

 

[corabeauty4]

haha thats how mine are! is it a heliofungia? i can't really tell from the picture

 

[MarlinHooker]

I have a par of black ice clowns so they have an excuse since they don't know what an anemone is but the other 4 ...... 2 of which were actually hosting in the bubbletip which is why I bought it plus to 2 clowns ....

doesn't know what kind of plate it is ....