Saving a Sun Coral

[pinkneyss]

I was given a Sun Coral a couple weeks ago by someone who didn't know how to care for it. So far it hasn't opened & I haven't been able to feed it. The centers of some of the heads push out, but never open up. Is there anything I can do to help get it to open so I can feed it?

 

[adam82]

if its small enough, cut the top off of a 2 litter put it over it. then using a turkey baster squirt in some frozen brine or mysis. at first just a little bit. wait for them to start opening to put more in.

 

[Echidna09]

I was told that cyclop-eeze or DT's will influence them to open more. Right now you will probably only want to try it during the night and get them to open then first, then you can start trying to get them out during the day. When they are open feed them meaty frozen foods.

 

[michika]

I've had sucess with a mixed variety of frozen, and freeze dried foods in bringing suncorals back. Just as mentioned above use a cut off pop bottle top, to keep the food circulating near the heads. I used to feed a mix of brine, mysis, cyclopeze, phytoplankton, and amino acids to my sun corals.

 

[sufunk]

All good suggestions for feeding but i had the best success with zoecon and selcon for getting them to open up initially. Put a few drops in the tank and they should open up a little after 10-15 minutes, then you can try feeding what everyone is suggesting.

 

[bobafett]

If you just got it I would suggest you try feeding it at night when the lights go out since they take a while before they get used to opening during daylight. I would also try a variety of foods and see what they respond to best. When I first got mine it reacted best with Formula One frozen food. It now eats just about everything I give it.

 

[pinkneyss]

Thanks for all the help. I put a 2 liter bottle top over it & added a little food. So far i've tried brine, mysis, cyclopeeze, phyto & squid. It did open just a little more than before, but still not enough to feed. I could just see the tip of the tentacles. I'll try again tonight & hopefully it will open more. If not, I'll order some Selcon or Zoecon & try that.

 

[cpl40475]

jsut curious i also have a sun coral that i got from a LFS thats not doing good i took some suggestions from this thread and another on here.I was wondering if I could add like a small beta tank 1/2 gallon or less towards the top like a hang on filter sets and put the coral into it for feeding my cleaner shrimp kept trying to get into the top of the bottle.
thanks for the help
Tracy