Red Suncoral

tgfrench

Member
Hey folks

I rescued this from a local LFS 04/03/06. When I first saw it in the store, I tried to buy it. Alas, it was sold and on hold. Three months later, "STILL ON HOLD", this is what it looked like. Maybe, I can get it back to its former glory.

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Don't it make you just want to hug your LFS staff around the neck with both hands in a death grip. ;)
 
Maybe it was "on hold" until they could determine if it was healthy and/or dyed -

Have you seen it eat at the store?
 
I'm hoping to get a regular sun coral next week. That's a nice find. Awesome coral! I have my fingers crossed for you!
 
Nice sun coral. You should be able to bring it back with regular feeding.

Post pics once you get it opening up for you!
 
Jeremy Blaze/MadTownMax

I have no clue whether it was dyed or not. Ive not been able to find any references to a "red" suncoral as of yet. Maybe someone will chime in. If it isn't dyed only time will tell. And If not, "what a find" huh. I can see it now LE red suncoral ;).
 
And this is the reason that if someone wants to put something on hold the lfs I work at requires a deposit (unless he/she is a regular customer). I wish you luck, it would be a shame to lose something so beautiful.
 
There is ways to improve the chances of survival by spot feeding them. Do a search for feeding sun corals. basically top of a coke bottle with a tube line attached.

BTW, beautiful coral ...and its not dead.
 
It should make a come back. They are pretty resilient; I fragged my yellow Sun Coral and accidentally split a polyp down the middle. The flesh tore and was on each part. they became two seperate polyps.
 
I have seen others that same color and I do believe it to be a natural color morph for that particular coral species. Not dyed IMO.
 
do you have a skimmer? - if so, check for red skimmate as a sign of a dyed coral - or, if you feel daring, blot one of the polyps with a paper towel to see if any dye comes out

Here's a thread on another red sun coral - http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=577239

I'm not trying to be a "wet towel", just cautious ;) - A red sun coral is quite a find - but if it is dyed, it would be good to let the LFS know so that the practice is abandoned.
 
I suggest makin a feeding hat (lunar Lander) and using that to feed it... I did this with mine that looked in the same condition as your and it is making a nice recovery.
 
Yea shnabbles i've done all that already. I already have a yellow/orange sun that i've had for over a year.

As far as the red color, it hasn't faded in anyway over the past 3 months and there certainly doesn't seem to be any evidence of a dye on the coral skeleton or in the water, so I'm going with the concept that it is the actual color until proven different.

I'll try to get some pics of the polyps extended out at some point. currently they only tend to come out at night at this time.
 
I've seen a couple of those come in in the past I don't think they were dyed, hard to believe but awesome color if it's real.
 
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