Sun Coral Has yet to open

bignick

bignick

New member
I bought a really nice healthy piece of sun coral from aquatic reef last Thursday and it has yet to open up in my tank. How do i get it to open? I have it in a shaede area in my tank and i am worried that it may soon start dieing.

Sherwin fed it right before i bought so i have some time before i hit the danger zone but does anyone have any ideas? No fish pick at it. The only coral near it is a plate coral and a tiny apstasia. Do i need to wait a little longer before it will open up or should it have opened up by now?
 
they hardly ever open during the day.. check it out at night and I bet you it will be open.

If you want something that will be open during the day try dendros
 
if your water parameters are good and there's no predators - did you try to feed it? usually, they don't open until you feed them 3-4 times (at one time) or at night when there's no light. Also it could take a week sometimes for them to get acclimated.
 
try thawing out some mysis shrimp and pour the water right over it, see if that entices it to open.
 
When i bought them they were open under a 250w 14k bulb so i don't see why they wouldn't open under mine. I'm pretty sure that this morning when i went downstairs before i left for work and the lights were off he wasn't out either. Unless they close really quick.
 
I bought one at Aquatic Reef on Sunday and have also been having some difficulties.

I used cyclopeez on Sunday night with just the actinics on and that got the coral to open, not all of the polyps but I'd say 80% of them. I tried to feed Rod's food at that point and it didn't look like any food was sticking. I was happy that the coral opened so I wasn't sweating it.
Last night I also tried added cyclopeez to get the polyps to open to try another feeding. No reaction at all. First I just added to the tank, nothing, then I doused the coral and still no polyps out. I then added Rod's food and nothing also. I waited for the main lights to go off and tried again and . . . nothing.

I can't think of anything else that I can do except try again tonight.
 
Well Sherwin told me to feed them brine shrimp and garlic mixed with rodi and then to drop it on them from above verses squirting the food directly at it.
 
You can coax them to be open during the day. If you feed your tank rotifiers, dt's plankton, oyester eggs etc... Something that is tiny they are filter feeders, they feed on tiny matter in your water table. If you feed your tank when the lights are on they will usually get the hint that there is food in the water and will open. I have some that are open most of the time the lights are on.
 
Actually, they are not filter feeders at all--they are meat eaters. I've seen them eat krill even. I feed mine Rod's & mysis. You're waisting your time trying to feed them anything smaller.
 
The cyclopeez is to train them to open during the day, then the Rod's Food for the actual grub.

I'm not sure about "dropping" the food from above. That sounds like you'll be spending a long time trying to hit the right spot.

I think I'm going to use the 1/2 plastic bottle trick to see if I can get the polyps out tonight.
 
I have a had tubastrea for over a year now. They only open up when they are hungry. I would not worry right away if they don't open up right away. The best thing for them is good flow. Granted in nature they are ususally found in dark places, under over hangs, etc. I have never seen any issues with having them in high light vs low light.

That being said I put a pinch of cyclopeeze in front of a power head let it blow around the tank. After about 5-10 mins they all start to open. I then hit them with rods food (much easier than making sure all get a mysid shrimp IMO). Over time you can train them and they will open when ever you put the cyclopeeze in the tank.
 
I would not start to worry about them, until you start to see each poly sucked way in. They usually come from the store like that, because they don't get the attention they need at LFSs. If they are plumped up and bulging out they are probably in good health.
 
atalylo13 came over tonight to take a look at the sun coral. Thanks Brandon. Well we turned all the pumps off of the tank, first time I've ever done it individually and it was not easy. Before turning the pumps off we put cyclopeeze in the tank and nothing, no reaction. Then we based the coral gently with Rod's food, nothing. Waited 15 minutes, had a beer, did it again, nothing.

Same thing for about 45 minutes and nothing. Brandon went home and I got impatient and put the coral in a tuperware container full of Rod's food. I'm getting a reaction now! No polyps but I can def. see the mouths on all the tubes and the tubes are slowly starting to fill out. No real polyps out yet though.

I'm not sure about this coral, I already have three kids and this damn thing is proving more difficult!!!
 
although it was open before you bought it, it is adjusting to your tank. they have different water quality than yours and their light might be the same as what you have but the height is different. i bought 3 sun corals from them and it all survived.
 
Hey bignick, this is what I came up with so I'm not polluting my whole tank while trying to get this coral to eat.

I took the coral out of the tank and put it into a tupperware container full of Rod's food. I was having problems keeping the temp up in the container after 15 minutes so I jimmy rigged the container into my sump to keep it at tank temp. Finally I got a bit of polyp extention and it looked like a couple of tubes had a good feeding.

The coral is now in the sump and I can easily do the same thing tomorrow without pouring all that food into the tank. I'm sure you can come up with something similiar and save yourself the high nitrates! Good luck.

CIMG4764.jpg


CIMG4765.jpg
 
well i tried feeding it last night and nothing. I had doubts about getting a coral that i regularly have to feed and now i know why. Its a cool coral but this is a pain in the a** to have to try and feed it like this everynight. If i can't get it to open i'm gonna see if sherwin will let me trade it in for something else.

I really hope it doesn't die.
 
These guys can be a little challenging in the beginning, but once you get them eating they can do very well.
 
do what Pat did, but seriously try the mysis water like i suggested, the one i had would always open for mysis. You dont have to feed it everyday either, mine were kept happy with 3 feedings a week.
 
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