View Full Version : Sun Coral Losing Tissue
:wave:
I have a SC in my Orca, and for some reason, its began to lose some of the tissue (the orange bits) in between the stems of the polyps. Do you know what I mean??
I have been feeding on Mysis, Brine, Krill, alternately. I have just started using Cyclop-eeze (last week) and believe this should help the SC regain nutrition.
However, whilst cleaning the tank out, the SC was knocked off its perch, falling onto the stone at the bottom. Could this of caused it??
Any other ideas as to what caused this??
Cheers
Keith
Heres a pic;
http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc275/Benjyyy7/03122007248.jpg
Hey,
Do you target feed the sun coral when the polyps are extended mine had recession like that and it seems to have stopped since using a turkey baster to feed it!:D
Ye I use a Pipette to feed daily.
Do you periodically blow and detrius off the coral if it isn't in direct flow?
Chris
120gallons
03-12-07, 23:34
Are you sure it's getting the food? How much do you feed each polyp?
is it actually loosing the tissue or is something growing over it
is it actually loosing the tissue or is something growing over it
i thought that from that photo too!
:confused:
Do you periodically blow and detrius off the coral if it isn't in direct flow?
Chris
Yes, I have tried, but it grows back.
Are you sure it's getting the food? How much do you feed each polyp?
Yes, definitely.
Each polyp gets around 2 helpings off Brine Shrimp and Cyclopeeze
is it actually loosing the tissue or is something growing over it
It is defo loosing tissue, and yes some algae is growing on it, but I can't get it off. Any ideas how to?? :confused:
How do I remove algae from a coral then, I've tried tweezers, and wafting air/water at it with a pipette. Whats next??
Could I rest a snail on the part which has algae and see if he eats it??
ChrisBFish
04-12-07, 20:35
I'm no expert, but to me that looks like a pretty hungry sunny. When well fed, the polyps should be a bit plump even when retracted, not pinched tight against the skeleton. Maybe increase the feeding - perhaps do it at the normal time then again a couple of hours later?
Oooh Right.
Its feeding time now anyway, so I'll go and feed him. Change the water, then feed again in the morning??
Keith
In case you haven't seen it, there's a very good sticky at the top of this section on Tubeastrea (sun corals). Well worth reading.
Chris
Pm evilervin.
I would wonder about your nitrate levels?
anything over 25ppm can possibly cause the cenoasarc to recede
benribbans
07-12-07, 09:25
What condition was it in when you bought it and how long have you had it?
Definately starved IMO. A lot of sun corals look like this when you buy them as they have been in transit for weeks or months and need heavy feeding for a good few weeks to regain strength and bulk the polyps to full size. As previously said, if the polyps are sunk into the skelton (as yours are) it is definately hungry. Not your fault, just one of those things. But dont worry, its not too bad, I have seen and saved much worse, so keep heavy target feeding but watch your parameters, all that extra food puts a strain on the system - keep an eye on nitrates and phosphates.
I have NO3 at +25ppm and my sun coral is big and plump so I would doubt this as a cause, unless they are very high, but it certainly wouldnt help.
As long as the all the polyps are joined by tissue you dont need to feed each individual polyp, they will share nutrients, BUT if the polyps are not joined you will need to work hard to feed each polyp in order for the tissue to regrow.
HTH
Ben
ok sun corals are tricky,
stony species that you have are quite tricky from experience. I had limited success with mine and had the same thing happen as you despite alot of feeding. i think it could have been nitrates
i now have a smaller, fleshy type of coral(the one with the thicker flesh growing over) and it is much more successful. I have been away this week and have not had time to feed it. its still very expansive and looking healthy.
the previous one i had looking like yours needed alot more feeding.
but evilervin would be the better person to comment. he knows more about sun corals than anyone i know in the whole world. amazing, he needs an award of sorts.
i think however he might be on holiday.
As long as the all the polyps are joined by tissue you dont need to feed each individual polyp, they will share nutrients, BUT if the polyps are not joined you will need to work hard to feed each polyp in order for the tissue to regrow.
HTH
Ben
AFAIK it's never been totally proven either way. Current scientific thinking says that they do not share any decent amount of nutrients and every head should be fed.
benribbans
07-12-07, 14:46
KizKiz, you may be right. To be honest I havent paid much attention to current thinking, only what works. I have two sun corals, one a real rescue job given to me free with only one or two polyps and another full size. I have had the first one for over 2 years now and currently has 6 to 7 polyps (regrowth takes forever!) and the second for over a year and doing well also.
I feed each a few times a week, and certainly not every polyp except for the first which has no joining membrane between the polyps. The first now has secondary polyps regrowing from the main polyps which must feed from the main food source in order to develop?
Both have grown and I have never had any tissue recession and have never fed each polyp. So I dont know where the scientific studies have got to, but from my own experience it is not necessary to feed each one individually. In the wild I am almost sure this would not occur, certainly not 1 or 2 brine shrimps a day per polyp, what with currents and tidal patterns surely one side/area would get fed more than the other, which would slowly die back :confused:
Just my thoughts but would be interested to see more info on this :)
Cheers
Ben
ChrisBFish
07-12-07, 19:53
When reading up before we first took the plunge and got our yellow one, there seemed to be a variety of opinions on the amount of feeding required, from daily to weekly. I take a middle road, feeding the colony 5-7 nights a week, but not worrying about making sure each individual polyp gets food. If any start to look hungry I do target them for the next few days until they're all fat and round again. Works for me and mine! :)
When we go on holiday, they have to catch what they can from the water column, as we haven't quite braved asking my mum or the housesitter to get elbow deep in the tank! A bit of feeding up beforehand, and good feeds once we're back and so far no problems...
Should be orite then :)
I'm going to up the feeding, so it gets nice and plump, to 2 times a day. Morning and night?? Or somet more like 7pm and 9pm?
Ben ;)
benribbans
08-12-07, 12:40
Hi Ben,
Just had another look at the pic. Are the polyps expanding to take food? If not get a coke bottle or similar, cut in half and take the lid off. place it over the coral and inject a mix of tank water and cyclopeeze into the lid. This should get the polyps kick started into feeding mode. I would then target feed each polyp with good quality food (not necessarily brine shrimp as the nutritional value is pretty low, flake food or pellet maybe a better choice) until the tissues have rejoined. This may take a long time for the tissue to regrow but it is possible with some time and effort. :thumbsup:
This is a pic of the real rescue sun coral. Now 2 years on, started life as 2 polyps the size of the centre bottom polyp on your photo, so it is possible. The largest polyp is now about +1" across.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/sun_coral.jpg
Good luck :)
Ben
Ahhh, very nice.
Would any of these be better than Brine,
Mysis,
Lance Fish
Squid
Marine Mix
Thats what I have in my Freezer :P
What pellet food are you on about?? The only pellets I have is Hikari Crab Cuisine. :P
hello
just a thought,but if you have a clean up crew i.e hermits/shrimps, check they aren't nicking the food out of the coral polyps.my hermits did this constantly until i had to give it away as it was getting in bad shape.
also i have seen the polyps of a few different sun corals spit out food shortly after feeding,which may also be a factor.could be too much food at once.after all they dont eat like that in the wild.i say a little each time and often.
hth
michael
Ye, I make sure they digest it. And I stop and fish/shrimp attacking the SC to nick its food...
So, all is well. Tonight the SC looks plumper than usual. So it might be on the up.
glad to hear it.
these are stunning corals when heathly.
makes me want another one,oh well.
cheers
It looks healthy, but more white has appeared, making me wonder if its not as healthy as seems. :(
a clearer pic may help if you can, it could well be a sponge but thats a pure guess.
does it look like it has a structure or is it more "gunky" looking(bad description i know)
What do you mean. As if its not a SC?
sorry,
i mean the white bit may be something else growing around/on the sun coral, but i cant see it clearly enough from the pic.like i said though, it could be a sponge or something similar.sorry if i'm not helping,was just an idea.
Oh I get you now. Erm I doubt it, it definitely looks like the underneath.
well it has me stumped.
what made me think of it, was in an earlier post .you said in reply to clearing the detritus, that when you cleared it it grew back.to me detritus doesn't grow back it accumulates and loosely.whereas that looks smooth and structured, but without a clear pic im afraid im clutching at straws.
sorry
Ok, once I figure out how to get my cam to take better pics....
How long have you had it? Sorry if you've already said only flicked through the rest of the thread. As others have pointed out I think most suncorals start out in a similar way once gotten home from the LFS.
I guess all you can do is keep regular feeding (mysis would probably be better than BS) also it's advisable to soak the shrimp in a vitamin solution such as seachem's reef plus, to enrich the food. And make sure nothing is steeling the food.
Mine was in a similar state when I first had it, a couple of the heads died but most have grown much bigger and the tissue is starting to regrow.
Search through the posts Evilerin has made, he must've answered these type of Q's a thousand times.
Good luck, hope it gets better.
Rod.
Well, its been extremely plump all morning, so just popped some Mysis in for the shrimp and wrasse, the SC must of sensed it was in the water as it opened up within 10minutes, maybe less. So I had a great feeding session with him, and will return at about 6 pm to have another. I'm doubling feeding to help the Tissue regrow ;)
Ben - I did the same as you. fed direct once or twice a week, and just tried to get most polyps to take food. Personally i think it has a lot to do with what is availablein the tank. My tank was always well fed anyway
Keith here (Bens dad)
We fed the SC earlier, about 3 pm, and it swollowed a lot of Mysis. And hasn't spat any out, so it might be improving now, so hopefully, we'll keep feeding and see what happens
benribbans
10-12-07, 08:54
Thats all you can do really. Just get as much food into it as possible. I have been using marine pellets and flake from New Era for over a year now, both good and generally higher in nutrients than typical frozen food.
Agree with other posts, could be a sponge growing over the coral but again, difficult to tell from the photo. However, sponge or not, the polyps are still sunken so food is a good start point. :thumbsup:
Ben
ChrisBFish
10-12-07, 14:12
The great thing with sunnies is that once they're well fed, they do seem to improve quickly. Admittedly our yellow one was actually in reasonable nick when we got it, I think, but the green one needed a bit of TLC, but within a month it was looking much better, and already new polyps are developing. :)
Just as an example:
12/01/07
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g93/ChrisBFish/PICT2740.jpg
24/01/07:
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g93/ChrisBFish/PICT2853a.jpg
The second photo's actually of a bit split off from the main colony, but it was all in the same condition to start with.
benribbans
11-12-07, 13:33
As above, once you get them feeding they perk up pretty quickly.
Keep us posted :thumbsup:
Ben
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