Sun Coral Questions!

[tanan]

My friend has just bought a colony of sun coral.Is tank has been up for 3 months or so and his water parameters are
NH3/NH4=0
No2=0
NO=0
PO4=between 0.5 & 1 ppm.
sg=1.023
temp=26C
pH=8.5
Ca=340 ppm
The tank currently has no fish,and was cycled on the basis of fishless cycle.Its a 125 gal,with a DSB of 4" and approx 65 Kg of LR.The flow is 12000L/hr pump and one 3000L/hr return pump(4000 GPH total flow).
The colony he bought is closed(was open in the tank of the guy he bought from) and its not opening even after 1 and a half day.
Here are some pictures(I cleared them a bit by adobe).IMO his corals are losing tissue.
What do you guys say ?
He hadn't feed them yet.Should he wait for the 3rd day as mentioned by stunreefer in his article?

 

[tanan]

Here are some more pics

 

[uhuru]

I would start feeding right away. I think you misunderstood the article. If the coral doesn't respond to food within a few days then you need to consider using the tupperware method.

 

[tanan]

Ohh I thought that it says that if the polyps dont open up in 3 days.
Anyways,what can we do to save them ?
The tank dont have any fishes so i guess he doesnt need to move them.
He says that sand is sticking to the coral like its embedding it to its skeleton or something.
Can you/anyone shed a light on that

 

[sfboarders]

It took 1.5 weeks for mine to open. Squirt food at them at the same time of the day to get them to open. If they don't open during the day try it again at night time. That's when the polyps usually open. I don't see anything wrong with that sun coral.

 

[jon1985]

I h ave one that I got from a friend that is in much worse shape. When I got it it never opened at all. Here is what I did.

For the first 2 weeks, every day, remove it from the tank and place it in a dish big enough to cover the coral in water. I used frozen cyclopeeze and reef roids ro feed. Put the food into the dish with the coral, ensure the food stays suspended. I just stirred up the water every few mins. After about 3 days of this it started opening about 10 mins after the food was in the water.

week 2-4, every day, remove coral from tank and put into dish. I tried to change the time by about an hour earlier and later ever day. Keep feeding as usual. This will help keep the coral open longer in the tank.

week4-currently, every 2-3 days, place coral in dish and feed. Feed at random times this makes the coral open more often. I have been at this for about 8 weeks and the coral is starting to grow new heads and repair damaged heads. It is open in my tank almost 24 hours everyday. Also when I feed the fish it opens almost right away.

As for quantity of food, I feed until the heads looked like they where going to pop, then let it sit for about 20 mins then put it back in the tank.

 

[gjh289]

Mine took almost two weeks to fully open. It would open partially as the metal halides would go off but not 100%. After feeding live plankton and oyster eggs it has now fully opened and does so as the lights go out. Give it time

 

[jon1985]

Also the only way I can keep mine open when the lights are on is if I keep it partly shaded.

 

[tanan]

well
He says that he tried feeding brine shrimp and blood worms(thats what the guy was feeding them).But he said that they didn't showed any sign of feeding response.
And he says that 4 of the polyps in the morning was acting like they were opening but didn't opened up.And after that he tried to feed them again but no response.He tried the Tupperware method by stunreefer too but no results.
So,should he try feeding them even though they dont open up or show any response or should he just left them alone and dont disturb them?
His tank has a star fish,some hermit crabs and a pair of gobies now(they were in QT for almost 6 weeks).He says that no one is disturbing corals and every thing is active and eating.
Sorry we live somewhere where you cant find most of the foods or other things.LFSs here totally are clueless about plankton food and such stuff.And as there is no online supplier we cant do anything else other then find an alternative.
Making your own filter feeder food ll work?
I m thinking of blending some (only flesh)shrimps,crabs,fishes,fish roe and trying to feed that to coral.Do you think its worth a try ?

 

[jon1985]

brine shrimp and worms are way to big. I used frozen cyclopeeze and shaved it off with a knife, this made very fine almost dust in the dish. It was just an orange haze once it melted.

Get some smaller food and try feeding. Even if its not opening keep feeding it. If its not used to being fed it may not eat right away.

Keep trying.

Make sure the water in the dish doesnt get to cold.