Sun polyp rehabilitation HELP!

[Matrajeous]

OK so i bought a damaged sun polyp the other day.. i figured it was cheap... I think they look really cool... and if I can get it back to health great if not it was not a big budget breaker. I have been doing spot feeding like i do with the rest of my corals. But it never opens up to feed even when i try feeding after the lights go out. I have it placed int he front of my tank under a large rock ledge because I know they like the dark ... or " less light" does anyone have experience with these corals or suggestions that could help me bring it back to good health?
I have been trying to feed my sun polyp seperatly and nothing seems to really be working the polyps never open up. the only odd thing that i have seen is that it appears that two smaller polyps have grown while one more is disintergrating.... hmmmmmmm not sure what that means but i will keep trying to feed it seperatly.. a question i have is...... I have the set of polyps up on another rock in a pseudo cave... a fellow aquarist who saw the polyp said that I should have it on a flat bed of sand ... does anyone know if this would make a difference?

 

[dragon_slayer]

mine was easily enticed to venture out when i fed Cyclopeeze even with the MHs on.

kc

 

[eboonaman]

they take time to acculmate to their new environment so they might stay closed for a few days.
squirt a little cyclopese over them every other day they will open up . mine opens up during the day in full light.
good luck..
chuck

 

[pyro383]

use the cyclopeeze and you can train it to come out with the lights on. Use a little and blow it over the coral, give it 5 min and do it again. By that time the polyps should have come out by then. Then keep feeding until the don't take any more. They also eat bloodworms.

 

[Spracklcat]

Hi and welcome.

Sun polyps (Tubastrea) do take time to acclimate, and you may lose the larger ones. If you can save the small ones though, the colony will eventually grow.

There are a lot of myths about Tubastrea. Because they don't require light (they don't have zooxanthellae and can't photosynthesize) people often think they don't like light. In fact, they can live pretty much anywhere, light or no/ Pick somewhere that is easy to feed them, because you will be doing it often. I've never seen them on the sand--I don't know if there is an absolute reason not to, but in the rockwork they are likely to get better water flow, which will help then eat.

The trick with them is to condition them to eat at the same time every day, especially at first. Add some small food (cyclop-eeze, Coral Frenzy) or a tiny bit of the pack juice from frozen food about 15 minutes before feeding. This gives them the heads up that food is near. Then for the "entree", shut your flow off, and feed. Depending on the size of the polyps, whole or shredded mysid shrimp, cyclop-eeze, or something small is good. For the first days or weeks, you probably won't get a response, but if you keep it up daily at the same time each day, eventually you will see them eat. Once they are healthy and eating, you don't need to be so careful--you can feed different times, and different small foods.

Good luck!