More Tubestra Qusetions (orange sun coral)

Cope

New member
I been looking at this coral at the LFS for quite a few weeks, and reading about them on here. Yesterday I broke down and bought it.
The LFS has had it for quite a while, and I know at least one guy returned it. I know it is a "NPSC"and that it requires spot feeding on a regular basis.
Here it is while acclimatising (3 hour drip while floating in DT)
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This is what it did after I picked it out of the bowl and placed it in the tank. This pick is about an hour after placement.
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This pick is this morning. you can see brine shrimp in the cups, I blew some in, in hopes it would ketch some and eat or open. I have my doubts about when this thing last ate. I would guess at least a month if not more. It did ketch 2 or 3 yesterday and eat them by sucking them in. (no polyp extension)
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Here you can see it starting to suck in some brine.
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So my questions are how dose it look?
I dont have a spot where a bottle will fit over it, should I continue with turning off pumps and spot feeding the brine?
Thanks
Cope
 
So it tried to open this morning.
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It looks to me like an anemone that has not eaten for a long time and has consumed it's tentacles. The real question is how can I get it to eat when it cant ketch food? when it was exposing it's open mouth I got it to eat, by gently basting mystis on the mouth. Now with the mouth closed It wont ketch food, The tentacles (more like nubs) dont seem to be sticky? I have some reef plankton that is small in size and tried feeding that, It did not appear to eat any?
What have folks had suces feeding these to help bring the back to health?
Thanks for looking I would like to save this, as it is a nice coral. If there is no hope should I just return it like the last guy, before it dies in my tank?
Thanks again
Cope
 
Mine took about 3 weeks to start opening in my tank when I first got it. I ended up putting it in my fuge so my shrimp wouldn't keep stealing its food. It seemed to love the current and opened much more down there than in the DT. To get it to open, just keep putting bits of food on it and it will eventually open after trying that for a few times or so. Just keep doing so until it opens, then feed away.
 
From my small amount of experience with these corals I have found out that they definitely need to be feed a few times a week if not every day. I have had one for a few months and was feeding it mysis and phyto three times a week and it seemed to be receeding. I have upped the feedings to every day and it appears to be doing better. I can be a PITA though trying to keep the other critters for stealing its food. Some suggest covering it with a "dome" (i.e 2-liter plastic bottle cut in half or a tupperware) when feeding it to make sure it gets all the food before the scavengers come around. Hopefully yours will make it, b/c they are awesome corals. Good Luck
 
I have it in a low flow/ light area, would moving it out of it's cave into a higher flow area help? Can they handle full light? (@300 watts T5 & CF)
I know I've only had it for a few days, I'm scared that the entire time it was at the LFS, and the time it spent in the other guys tank it has not been feed.
 
Not sure about the lighting. I have heard from some that it needs to be in a shady spot, but others have it out in the open. Mine defnitely seems to like the higher flow area. Just keep tryin to feed it and hopefully it will come around.
 
You can keep it under any lighting...it won't affect the coral at all. That way you can keep it in a place that you find easy to feed. The best way to entice it to open is using the 2 liter bottle idea. Cover the coral with the 2 liter bottle and squirt just some of the "juice" of the thawed mysis or brine into the bottle. It may take a week or two until it opens for you. When it starts to open then squirt the mysis onto the tentacles. After a while anytime you feed the tank it should open up and you can feed the coral. Unless you have animals that are going to take the food from the coral you shouldn't have to cover it with the bottle.

Hope this helps.
 
I'm sure you can fatten it back up quick like this. I would do this everyday or other day for a while until it looks better. Then, maybe do it once or twice a week. Its a lot easier to get it to eat the shrimp and better for your water quality. Plus, you don't have to try and keep the fish and shrimp away.
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Put the container under water. Set the sun coral in it. Pull the container out with the coral in it submerged in tank water. Set it on the table and throw a few mysis cubes in. Tinker with the rest of the tank like you normally do while the food thaws. While the cubes are thawing in the container with the sun coral it should open. Then, use your turkey baster to stir the water up in the container so the shrimp land on the mouths every few minutes. Mine will easily eat three cubes and all the mouths end up getting some. When your done shoot the heads a little with the turkey baster to close them up a bit. Carry the container over to the tank. Quickly, take the coral out of the container and water and set it in the display. Dump the water from the bowl or container down the sink. Don't put the water in your tank since it will have a lot of shrimp juice in it. It is cool because you can see the coral up close and watch it eat too. I keep mine at the top of the tank also since it is easier to feed it at the top in range of the turkey baster. When it is open it grabs the food pretty quick. If I put a little food in the tank usally 5 or 10 minutes later it is opened up. Then, I feed everything.
 
Hmm, I am having the same problem with my sun coral just not as severre as yours. The tentacles of my three day old sun coral aren't opening on one side, I guess they haven't recieved proper care in most lfs's. Good luck with your coral. But if the coral does finally get better and accepts food, I would switch from mysid to O.N food.

O.N food is the best, better than mysid. Its a huge mixture of different ingrediants which is healthy for the coral and makes them grow maybe 3 times faster.

Check out the thread it was discovered from:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1310698

And it can be cut to any size and be fed to any coral. I highly recomend this food.
 
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