How soon is it to consider a rescue? The LFS I go to has a half bleached trachy of some sort that I keep eyeing, and the coral guy said he'd cut me a pretty good discount on it. Thing is it looks like it might be trying to recede a bit around the base on one side, and my tank JUST finished the main part of the cycle. I hit 0 for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate within the week. I have other corals in the tank, but no fish or hermits yet(just some hitchhiking xanthid and gorilla crabs that I'm trying to catch.)
Would it be too soon to consider bringing it home with me? About all I know about it right now is that he said the tank it is in is pretty high in dissolved nutrients, so he's only tried feeding it once, and it didn't take the food.
I applaud your good intentions in trying to save a coral, but for many reasons, please do not attempt this. As someone who has rescued a few hundred corals over several years, I can tell you...throwing a sick coral into an unstable environment is not ok.
1. You need a full QT and dipping protocol if you want to rescue coral. Seriously. Most "rescues" are sick because of pests, viruses, bacteria, or whatever else...not because someone didn't love them enough. You do not want this stuff in your main tank. I have a two-stage QT system, and stuff STILL makes it past my crazy dip system, past the first stage, and into the second stage. Seriously...get a QT.
2. Sick corals will continue to release some dead matter, and a new tank is not equipped bacterially to handle this extra dead matter. The ammonia will spike, which may cause things (and the coral) to die...further spiking the ammonia. It's not a good spiral at that point.
3. Sick corals usually require food (especially if it is bleached as in your case). This additional food may spike the ammonia, phosphates, etc. See the spiral mentioned above.
4. You mentioned you have gorilla crabs, etc. They are opportunistic and predatory. They'll probably go after the coral...and definitely after the food you'll need to feed the coral. These crabs are known to rip corals to shreds in order to get at food. Bad idea....
5. Sick corals need to go into the most stable, healthy environments. A new tank is far from stable and healthy. Once you can successfully grow SPS in a tank, then it's probably acceptable for a rescue coral.
Sorry to be so negative, but I want to make sure that the people rescuing coral are doing it for the right reasons...not to get a cheap coral. Plus, there's no need in you wasting money for it to just die.
