Plate Coral not doing well it seems, any suggestions

[saltman1]

Hey all, Just found a very nice 6 inch plate coral with a yellow center and a pink colored edging. The wife had to have it. After doign a little research I decided to buy it for her. Well after about 2 weeks it seems to be bleaching a bit around the mouth area. When I first put it in the tank, I fed it finely chopped up shrimp which I believe it ate. In the last 2 weeks I have a Goby that continues to drop sand all over the thing and into the mouth. So the other day I moved him on the far end of the3 tank where the Goby doesnt go. Still seems he's losing color and doesnt look so hot. I rarely see his tentacles come out at night either..

 

[TippyToeX]

What kind of lighting is it under? Perhaps it's just photoshock.

 

[saltman1]

It's under 2 150 W MH 2 96 W Actnic. I placed it at the bottom on the sand......

 

[saltman1]

After 24 Hours the plate has taken a turn for the worse...it went from 5% bleached to about 60 % bleached white in a day....I tried moving it but looked bad anyway this morning

 

[jman77]

Not sure why it's bleaching.... have u tried feeding it? It wont stop the bleaching, but at least it would get some food into the coral?

 

[saltman1]

I tried feeding it the other day but it didnt take a piece of shrimp

 

[Tammy3770]

never give up on fungiids, some say they can practically come back from the dead, or at least produce daughters.. even from a bare skeleton.
when you feed it some brine watch for a mucus net, if this net is absent that means it has been permanently washed away.

 

[saltman1]

Should it always be in the sand??

 

[Tammy3770]

yes, plates are actually mobile, and will move about if they want.
do not attempt to glue it or place it on a rock as it will fall off and get injured,
they like a light -medium water flow and can adapt to all lighting
feed it some small food, the first try may just blow off of it but then it will sense the food and open up and put out a mucus net then spray some more food on to it.

 

[saltman1]

This guy doesnt seem liek he's moving at all since the first day I got him he was rock hard to the tough and stayed that way

 

[Tammy3770]

yes they are hard, but when they are comfortable, they will fill up with water and become puffy and soft this is how they move.
it looks a little odd, "OMG what is happening to my plate?"
if it is bleaching then it wont have the energy to move.

all you can do now is try to feed it something small like cyclopseeeeese or daphnias maybe a mix with some coral plankton.

then when all else fails, keep the skeleton in your tank under light-medium flow, any light, and you may get a few daughters out of it. I would say to give it up to a year,
Seriously, it can come back from the dead. Its one of the few corals that can.


did you acclimate it well??

 

[saltman1]

We did acclimate it well, I am wondering if my sand goby had somethign to do with his problem. He is constantly picking up sand and dropping it all over the plate as well as in his mouth area. I've come home and seen the mouth drownign in sand. He's actually do it to my open brain as well...

 

[saltman1]

I've had a hard time finding that cyclopeeze in our LFS..who makes it and whats another name for it?? Is it frozen

 

[twon8]

there are two kinds, frozen and freeze dried, the frozen is much better imo. If your lfs doesnt' carry the frozen i would find another lfs. It is one of the best foods out there.

 

[Tammy3770]

drowning in sand is never good,
ground that golby to to his own tank.

cyeclopseeze, minute crustaceans like pods and such, comes freeze dried, frozen, and flake.
and is made by the cyclop-eeze company.
order it online if you cant find it.
I have a 30 gram can of freeze dried here in front of me, 12$ and will last for a year.

 

[saltman1]

Well after a few more days of trying to make it happy, it is all bleached out with this brown (algae looking stuff hanging off it in strings...My hermits are having a field day. I put it in the back corner of the tank where nothing will bother it and see what happens.