orange plate coral

bubblybabs · 09-01-2007, 12:35 PM

This'll sound stupid but I don't know what type of coral this is since I find it called a fungoid so I didn't post in the coral section... And, of course, I *would* post this into the wrong part of the forum and had to erase my post... Go figure...

I bought one the other day... Only problem is that when I target feed it nothing happens, no mouth comes out to snag the food... Could be it's too soon.... But, after looking up an orange plate coral all of the descriptions show them with "fleshy skin" and talk about them puffing themselves up... I don't see any tissue for this to happen... Could the tissue be so contracted I can't see it or is it possible the store sold me a dead coral? How long should I wait to find out?

Picture of what I'm talking about:
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...fm?pCatId=1911

Thanks,
Babs

dobejazz · 09-01-2007, 01:16 PM

The one you linked on Live Aquaria has the tenticles out I take it yours looks different? can you post a pic of your actual coral

danjen10 · 09-01-2007, 01:18 PM

Do you have a pic of the actual one that you bought (in your tank?)

How's the color? I purchased one that was basically white with pink around the edges about a year ago. For a little while, it just looked like a hard skeleton of a coral. I don't think that the one I got was that healthy initially. After some time, it's color came back and I saw some tenticles extend and soft tissue expansion. I have fed mine a little. In some cases, I have taken a small piece (very small) of silver side (like a minnow) and held it near or on top of the mouth in the center of the coral. After a short time, the coral will grab the fish and pull it into the mouth (in the very center of the coral). It's pretty cool to watch.

It's almost like watching a anemone on slow motion pulling something into it's mouth.

If you search my username, I have posted pics of mine that might help....

If you can, post a pic and describe where you have the coral in the tank. Also, what are you water parameters? Please be as detailed as you can.

Dan

tdwyatt · 09-01-2007, 02:51 PM

I agree with Dan. It may be easier to feed if you take some silversides and/or Mysiids and blenderize them just enough to have fine chunks, then pull this material up in a turkey baster , turn off the current in the tank (set a timer for 30 min so you don't forget to turn it back on), and squirt a small amount of the mush onto the aboral surface of the coral. Even nearly dead, bleached specimens will usually feed back to health if they have any life left in them. Be conservative when feeding, a 4 inch diameter specimen will do fine on the equivalent of 1/4th teasponful every 3 to 5 days. Watch your tank's water parameters as a measure of your feeding load: if the nitrates start climbing over 30 PPM, then cut back some in your feeding frequency or load.

I enjoy picking up scratch-and-dent specimens and bringing them back to health, very rewarding, sometiomes you'll end up with spectacular coloration from something that looked like a discard when you acquired it. They do best on a sandy bottom where there is plenty of room for them to move about to find their current preferences, with moderte lighting, even indirect lighting for some specimens. I have kept them under the frag racks in frag tanks, but the feeding level needed for recovering or bleached specimens ends up browning out most stony coral reeftop frags or stimulating algal overgrowths if kept in the same tank.

HTH

reefermike1 · 09-01-2007, 03:05 PM

i have one that within the last couple days started bleaching. and it looks like the mouth is all tore up. idk what could have happened to it. still has color for the most part so i dont think its dead im just playing the waiting game to see if it gets better or worse. been doing fine for about 6 months before this.

tdwyatt · 09-01-2007, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reefermike1

i have one that within the last couple days started bleaching. and it looks like the mouth is all tore up. idk what could have happened to it. still has color for the most part so i dont think its dead im just playing the waiting game to see if it gets better or worse. been doing fine for about 6 months before this.

What kind of lighting? How deep is the tank, what kind of substrate is it on, and how long do the lights stay on? I always worry when folks say the magic "6 months", as that is about how long stored nutritional reserves and/or self cannabaliztion supplies last in most corals.

Do you feed yours? and the obligatory, "what are your water parameters for the last several months?"

reefermike1 · 09-01-2007, 04:03 PM

tank is 24deep, and its on the sandbed directly under a 250w 14k bulb. i was having higher nitrate before upgrading my skimmer to a mr2-havent seen nitrate since. i havent directly fed it but i do feed a blend of mysis, brine, krill, and flakefood, and i feed on the heavy side. about 3 months ago i did a tank move and parameters took a while to stabilize. ca is about 380 and alk 12dkh using kalkwasser. ph 8.0 everytime i check it. s.g. 1.024 still bringing it back up from my old skimmer floods that dropped it to 1.020. didnt mean to hijack the thread though!

tdwyatt · 09-01-2007, 05:23 PM

The water looks good as far as the parametrs, but I would move the coral (the Fungia) out of the direct light for a bit, then gradully move it back into the lighting. Is it on sand?

reefermike1 · 09-01-2007, 05:54 PM

yea its on the sandbed, ill move it like u suggest.