Sun coral polyps don't seem to come out...

Reef1121

Reef1121

New member
Hey guys,

I just got a sun coral from my LFS about 2 weeks ago. They told me that it should come out (bright yellow tentacle extension) 2-3 times a day if not more. Since that time I've only seen it come out 3 times total and those time only half of the heads came out. It's currently located underneath a cave in my 15g nano. It has medium to strong waterflow that passes over it and I feed the tank with oysterfeast daily half-an-hour before the lights turn off. So far the coral is still fleshy and hasn't shown any signs of necrosis. So if anyone has any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.
 
Try putting it in a small cup in a dark room with tank water and a bunch of coral food. Within 20 minutes or so, the polyps should at least be partially out and catching food. Once the polyps are out, try feeding it some small brine or mysis shrimp. My sun coral will only open up if it's fed both a lot of smaller pieces of food and whole dried shrimp during feedings.

Also, if you've got a lot of nitrates in the water, that could be your problem. I've been having some minor nitrate problems lately, and my sun coral won't open (even for feedings) if they get over about 10 PPM.
 
@Bunnylicked Thanks for the tip. I'll definitely try that out and see how it works. I just tested my water with the red sea test kits and came up with these results. Nitrate: 4ppm, phosphate: .16, iodine: .03, magnesium: 1400, calcium: 420ppm, alk: 9 degrees and with my API ph test I got 8.4.
 
Its not comming out because your LFS havent fed it. Its probably very weak right now. What you need to do is put it in a tuberware during feeding untill its able to gain some energy back. I did this for a week with mines.
 
Hey, I can understand your frustration with the coral, especially if its hard to reach.I went through the same thing when I got mine.

I encourage mine to open up by gently squirting it with a pipet filled with cyclopees mixed with diluted selcon (turn your pumps off). However, that is only part of it. To really get it to work well over the long term, you must "train it". I'd start trying after your lights go out if it's possible. When those lights go out, that can act as a cue for the coral to extend its polyps, kinda like ringing the dinner bell. If they detect food in the water after those lights go out on a reoccurring basis, they will open every time by associating the two events. Once they are opening up, try to gently target feed them (each individual polyp) some mysis and brine shrimp. Be patient and persistent. Its rather amazing how fast they eat.

Bunnylickeds advice is also another good way of doing things, especially in the beginning. The key is persistence. Don't get discouraged.
 
Im going to keep trying putting it in tubaware container and squirting in some of the coral food I got from my LFS, then I have brine that melt down that I normally feed to my fish. Right now the coral food I have is oyster feast, should I switch to the cyclopees?
 
Look into phosphate levels, it is really important. Levels like .03 are necessary. Long term .16 will kill coral and grow a lot of algae. Just add a bag of phosban GTO to your sump or purchase a reactor. I would also try to keep kh below 9 more like 7.5-8.

I have suncoral and dendros. They are very interesting and need to be fed, like above in the dark in a tub until they are healthy. Then spot feeding will work fine.
 
Since i bought mine a couple weeks ago i have been feeding fish paste and a blend between coral frenzy and cyclopeeze inside the tuperware, 2 or 3 times per week. Amazing how it opens up but as soon as i take it back to the display it closes up really quick.

Any advice ? Parameters are excellent
All my other lps and sps are doing great and excellent growth
 
Ive been tryin to take it out and put it into a bowl with little to no light and putting a little frozen brine in the water to tempt it to come out so I can feed it polyps to no avail. I just tested my water yesterday with my red sea test kits. My alk was 7.7, calcium 420, magnesium 1320, nitrate 4ppm, phosphate .02, iodine .06.

Im beginning to grow doubts on it, and I dont want to kill it either. What should I do now?
 
Reef1121 said:
Ive been tryin to take it out and put it into a bowl with little to no light and putting a little frozen brine in the water to tempt it to come out so I can feed it polyps to no avail. I just tested my water yesterday with my red sea test kits. My alk was 7.7, calcium 420, magnesium 1320, nitrate 4ppm, phosphate .02, iodine .06.

Im beginning to grow doubts on it, and I dont want to kill it either. What should I do now?
Click to expand...

Try putting food right on top of the polyps. Im sure they will come around so dont give up. I had trouble with feeding mines for about 2 weeks when I first bought my colony. Once you get them to eat it will get easier.
 
I found it helps if you take "smelly" food, ie, silver sides, mysis, etc put it in a net near your return and let it thaw out in there, it'll get the scent out into the water and help some, mine will take about 15-20 min before starting to open.

Like above people have said it takes training to get them to be open all the time, but be patient and you can.
 
I've found that the 'smell' of mysis shrimp is the best for enticing stubborn sun corals to open. I add some water to my frozen mysis, after it has thawed I add the water to the tank with the water circulation running or sometimes actually squirting the solution directly on the coral. After a few minutes they're almost always opening.

I would agree with the posters above who cite poor water chemistry as a potential reason the corals aren't open. I use their reaction to food as a indicator for potential issues. Salinity, alkalinity, nitrate are all things that could potentially be affecting their behavior.

If the colony is new, I'd concur with those who say its just starved and needs a little extra TLC.

:)
 
Thanks for the help guys. After several weeks of different recomendations I finally figured out if i turn off all my powerheads and just leave the main pump on and mix up some frozen mysis and brine together and squirt the juice over it, it will open about 5 or so mins later so that I can target feed it. The overall health is good with the coral but its still stubborn and wont come out at any time other than feeding time.
 
I have sum orange cup coral (Tubastraea coccinea) and a rare pink cup coral (Tubastraea sp. 1) and when I first got them they didnt open for about 3 or 4 days an only started to open when I put shrimp in my tank to feed my flying gurnard.my tank is a lil high in nitrate but they still look very healthy.anyone know how dast these corals grow with an eveeyday feeding?
 
Hi, nice to find this part of the forum. My lfs owner trained mine to open when lights are on, but I had to do a tank upgrade, old tank sprung a leak, so now, they are sulking a bit. Getting better though and at least they eat. Same deal as another poster, I entice them with cyclops ease and then bring out the mysis. My black sun opens much better.

L
 
Hello everyone. May I tag along? I recently got a black tube coral that won't open. When you do the Tupperware method, do use the smallest container that will comletely cover the frag in tank water? Or a larger one? Also, about how much cyclopeze do you put in the water? Pea-sized? Larger? Much larger? Thanks everyone!
 
I have found that the black sun corals are easier to train than the yellow.....I don't have yellow ones now, but when I did I couldn't ever train them :) I squirt mysis juice into the tank and the polyps are fully extended in 20 mins......I feed my Dendros and Sun polyps mysis but i feed my tank rods food...I found that my sun polyps like meaty foods....just my 2 cents
 
You water paramaters are out of line for long term care imho. Get your phophates and nitrates to zero and then you will see them out all the time. Once they are out regularly try feeding them some california blackworms...you will see a big difference in activity and growth then :)
 
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