Alveopora Daisy coral dead or alive ?

[mling]

My Alveopora has retracted its polyps for about 2 weeks now. Normally the polyps only retract at night. I do notice the polyps coming out a little every now and then, like 1/16”, but then retract again hrs later. All my other corals are doing great so I don’t think it has to do with environmental changes. A day ago, I moved it to a lower water flow location, no change so far.fficeffice" />>>

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Is it dead, on it’s way out or is it hibernating ? Should I remove it to prevent it from contaminating the tank ? How do you know when a coral is dead ?>>

[JennM]

Well these don't have a great track record in the first place. How long have you had it? I had a Goniopora for about 6 months and it looked great and then gradually it began to recede/stopped opening until it withered away. Most of us who did not know better have been there, done that.

It's not likely to just "drop dead" but it will probably just wither as my Goni did. Try moving it back where it was, and see if that helps.

I've known people to have success with Goniopora and Alveopora sp., feeding Cyclop-Eeze and/or Zooplex - you can try adding that to your feeding regimen if you don't already.

HTH

Jenn

[tims]

Ditto on what Jenn said..

[mling]

I have had it for about 2 months before it started to retract. I have 200 watts of Compact Flor. I have place this coral at the botton, about 20 inches from the lighting. Alveopora's are suppose to have medium lighting requirements. Should I place it nearer to the light ?

Is 200 watts of light enought for "medium light" corals ?

[JennM]

I don't think it's a lighting issue. I think it's a feeding issue.

We just don't know what it takes to keep these things alive. Anecdotally they seem to do better in underskimmed or skimmerless tanks, and if they have lots of zooplanktyon-type foods with omega 3 fatty acids. I had a chat with Dana Riddle a while back, we were talking about Cyclopeeze and he told me that there is a fatty acid found in these corals, that is also found in the organism that is in Cyclopeeze and he thought it was no coincidence that corals fed this tended to fare better in the longer term, although all of this coral's "mysteries" have yet to be solved.

Jenn

[Boekhtiar]

From my own experience of taking over my sister's tank, it seems that this particular coral species (or is it genus?) thrive well in murky and not crystal-clear environment. It is an intereting and ironic observation to see all the fishes population to deteriorate in health while this type of coral flourish with people who don't take good care of their tanks. Therefore, I think the zooplankton hypotheses is highly probable in your case.

[Boekhtiar]

Some information from a webpage I recently visited:

KEY
SP = Generic Species

CDF = Captive Difficulty: 0 - 5 0 = Beginner, 3 = Experienced, 5 = Advanced

FLL = Florescent lighting: 0 - 9 0 = 1.5 watts/gal 5 = 4.5 watts/gal 9 = 7.5 watts/gal

DFF = Distance from Florescent lights: 0 - 36 inches

MHL = Metal Halide lighting: 0 - 9 0 = 1 watt/gal 5 = 3 watts/gal 9 = 5 watts/gall

DFM = Distance from Metal halides: 0 - 36 inches

WCU = Water current level 0 - 9: 0 = Stagnant 5 = Medium 9 = Turbulent

HAC = Hair algae compatibility: 0 - 9 0 = None 5 = Some 9 = Heavy

FOD = Food source: sym = symbiotic algae


Alveopora[flower]
Sp. - Medium polyp. Very similar to Goniopora but polyp tentacles are shorter. Brown or bluish. Stung by Euphyllia and Plerogyra. Alveopora has 12 tentacles on each polyp while Goniopora has 24.
cdf = 7, fll = 5 - 9, dff = < 20, mhl = 0 - 7, dfm = < 25
wcu = 2 - 6, hac = 0, fod = sym.