sun coral polyps not extending

[milkit]

I purchased my sun coral over a month ago and it has yet to "come out"

the polyps are always in the "in" position. sometimes they slightly open the "mouth" but they have never fully extended to "bloom"

I take it out of my tank 3 times a week and put in in a bowl filled brysis and a frozen mix i made. swirl it around with a baster for an hour, then replace in tank. during these feedings the polyps start to almost come out, you can see them trying but they never have all the way.

I have checked during night hours too and no extension.

The color still seems good and It doesnt seem to be dying...

any ideas?

 

[milkit]

also, i am dumping a little phyto in the feedings as well.

the coral resides under a shelf in the shade while in my tank

 

[mystery_reef]

is this a common practice for people to pull the whole piece out of their tank to target feed? i have never heard of this before.
maybe it has something to do with your water parameters.

 

[milkit]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15595457#post15595457 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mystery_reef
is this a common practice for people to pull the whole piece out of their tank to target feed? i have never heard of this before.
maybe it has something to do with your water parameters.

lots of people do it, or some kind of 2 liter "food holder" over the coral. I do it seperate so that i can fill with lots of food and not have it all end up in my tank. once feeding is done i dump the extra water/crap out.

ie http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1528186&perpage=&pagenumber=2

params are fairly normal.

salinity - 1.026 (calibrated refractometer)
ph - 8.1 (salifert)
ammonia - 0 (salifet)
Nitrite - 0 (salifert)
Nitrate - 15 ppm (api)
kh/alk - DKH 12.2 alk 4.34 (salifert)
phosphate - 0 or darn near 0 (api and salifert)
magnesium - 1600 ppm (salifert - dosing kent tech m for bryopsis)
calcium - 340ppm (salifert)

 

[stunreefer]

The "tupperware method" as I call it is very effective, and often necessary on Tubastrea spp., and occasionally Dendrophyllia spp.

Basically, by the time we receive a sun coral, they've been in transit a long time and are starving. They get pulled from the ocean by divers, then sent to an exporter, which is shipped to a wholesaler (importer) which can sit for quite some time. Then they're sent to a LFS, where they also often sit for a while, and during this whole time they never get fed! So once we bring them home, we need to "coax" them to open, and get them eating as soon as possible for them to regain their strength and start growing again.

Take your coral and place it in a tupperware. Take some really, really stinky meaty food, like P.E. Mysis, Rod's Food and maybe some brine, and toss a couple chunks into the tupperware. Make sure to kinda loosen the foods up with your fingers and let the stinky oil out into the water. Let it sit, do not try to turkey baste it at all. Let it sit like this for about a half hour, up to an hour even, and the polyps will start to open if left alone. At this time you can grab some more food, thaw it, and feed it directly to the polyps with your turkey baster/eye dropper/fingers. Then use your baster/dropper to suck up some food you initially put in for smell and feed that off too. Feed every polyp if possible, and if they re-open after feeding, feed 'em again! Once all the food has been taken down the polyps will remain open, so gently shake the coral and the polyps will close. Then return it to your display tank. Sometimes the polyps will open quickly after you return it to the display, and if it does... feed 'em again! If not, you'll have to repeat the process every couple days for a while, but generally within a week or so they will begin to open in your display when you feed your fish and they smell food.

GL and HTH! :thumbsup:

 

[AMW]

I had my sun polyps about 6 months before any of them ever came out. Now they are open all the time, not only at night. I have no idea why it took them 6 months to begin to open up.

 

[Imzadi]

Well, that is cool.

 

[droberts]

i have had mine for 3 months with no problems i cut a frag off of my friends. they were very healthy when i fragged them so i got lucky from the start. when i feed i take the syringe of mystis and brine mix and squirt a little over them to get them to come out. some times i feed them the mystis and brine mix or i feed the krill in little pieces it seems that when they eat the krill they stay extended for long periods and they just swell up so huge . so when they will eat try some krill they will love it and hopefully it will make them healthy and happy

 

[stunreefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15610099#post15610099 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by droberts
i feed the krill in little pieces it seems that when they eat the krill they stay extended for long periods and they just swell up so huge.

This is due to the fact that it's harder for them to digest krill than brine or mysis.

 

[Thunderstruck34]

I wouldn't take the coral out of the aquarium to feed it. The reason being unless your temp in the room where your holding it is that of your tank its just going to further add stress to the coral. I used to do that method too but I would just turn off your pumps and spot feed or put a 2 liter bottle half over it when feeding.