Plate coral keepers....Help needed!

[RtReef]

I've had a short tentacle plate coral for about a month now. Over the last few days I've noticed some of the polyps/flesh is dying away. I have it placed in the sand with low flow under LED lighting. I feed it a few times a week with rod's reef food. I do weekly water changes and my water checks out fine.

I'm at a loss right now for what I can do. Any tips or tricks I can do to keep it alive?

 

[RtReef]

No one keeps plate coral.....

 

[Cptn Spaulding]

How did it look when you got it? How big is it? Sometimes plate corals die off and then spawn babies after a few months of just a skeleton. Has it been degrading regularly? What kind of LED lighting? Would it be considered low light or moderate light? Many times certain plate species appreciate higher lighting than one would think, perhaps it needs more light?

 

[romsoccer12]

many times they just die very fast and theres not much you can do for it.

try dipping it. im sure somone can give you a good treatment for it, maybe revive. i would also try not to bug it as much as possible. touching it stresses it out more.

 

[RtReef]

How did it look when you got it? It looked fine and full. How big is it?its about 3-4" round Sometimes plate corals die off and then spawn babies after a few months of just a skeleton.That would be nice if it regrew. I will keep it in the tank even after all this to see if it will grow again. Has it been degrading regularly? It has been dieing off at a steady rate over the last week What kind of LED lighting?It is SOL led lighting. Would it be considered low light or moderate light? It is on the bottom of my 65g tank. the intensities are all around 50% maybe a little more Many times certain plate species appreciate higher lighting than one would think, perhaps it needs more light?It May need more light but I am unsure of this, but to give it more light can I move up higher in the tank? I know they like to be on the sand though.

Thank you both!

 

[betamed]

they definatly like low flow, I've kept quite a few of things and flow was the only thing that would bother them

 

[psusocr]

they definatly like low flow, I've kept quite a few of things and flow was the only thing that would bother them

My plates love very high flow

 

[betamed]

My plates love very high flow

lol mine hate it. nearly killed one in high flow

 

[E.intheC]

My plates love very high flow

Me too. Medium to high flow seems to work best for the short tentacle plates, IME.

RtReef, is this a long tentacle plate or short tentacle?

 

[GPB]

I've had a couple short tentacle plates (fungia) and have found them to be pretty tolerant of conditions and quite hardy. I understand the long tentacle Heliofungia's are a completely different story.

 

[Mr_N1ce]

I have a plate coral and it was like you describe yours when I put it on the sand. Just when I moved it further into the shadow it started to open up.
could be worth a try.

 

[FrogfishFeeder]

These are my last 3 buds from a large fungia skeleton I bought specifically for this purpose.
The skeleton budded 12 new plates, I traded them for other stuff.
The 2 in the back are still connected to the og plate by thier stalks, I brok the rest off, and I kept 3 for now.
This entire process tokk maybe 6 months, the biggest of these 3 is about 2.5inches diameter.
They are directlly under 175w 20k mh and about 300w of t5.
Checkout the expansion and those tentacles, those are happy corals.
Id say flow is med-low, just enough to get a gentle sway, but not enough to curl the edges.
They are green with orange mouths and (in person) the tantacles have turned purple.

 

[chgoblknazn]

My two seem to like a med-high flow. They extend their tents to catch food. On is a LT and the other is a ST.

 

[TheReeferer]

Are plate corals considered sensitive?

 

[romsoccer12]

no, IMO short tentacles are very easy to keep. every once in a while they just die real quick
ive heard they can get an air bubble trapped under them. it can go unoticed and they willup and die

 

[Step Johns]

I had one just up and die not to long ago. It got a little scratch and within two days it was completely skeleton