Corals can be saved

[SurfLife]

This is something I fought with starting off. Admittedly, early on when losing corals it was because the tank was too new for certain corals and/or parameters were off and fluctuating too much. I was just convinced that saving a coral was a myth and once they start suffering its all over. Well, since then I have learned a lot and now have a very stable system and very happy corals and fish.
So, at the LFS a few months ago and I see a Sun Coral (Did not know what it was at the time).
He told me someone was getting out of hobby and that was one of his corals.

Obviously, did not look healthy and he told me it looked that way when it came in a few days before. He then told me to take it, maybe it will recover for me. I thought, yeah.. ok. So I brought it home to die.
Back on Aug 9 I took this pic of it.

I then decided he needed a friend

It sure does take a lot of time and patience but when things start coming back to life for you or corals are finally thriving in your miniature ocean, its a great feeling of accomplishment.
Just a positive story to help those new and struggling. Its all worth it.

 

[dbl]

I could not agree more. I can tell you I've had several corals that I was pretty sure were goners, only to just leave them to what happens. Turns out they weren't as gone as I originally thought!

Great message here...thanks for sharing it.

 

[looneywun]

i cant keep sun coral to save my life bravo sir

 

[SurfLife]

I could not agree more. I can tell you I've had several corals that I was pretty sure were goners, only to just leave them to what happens. Turns out they weren't as gone as I originally thought!

Great message here...thanks for sharing it.

Thank you and you are welcome. Sadly, I have also lost a few anemones because I just would not leave them be in the past. Thought I knew better then the anemone where it should go.

 

[SurfLife]

i cant keep sun coral to save my life bravo sir

Wow, thanks looneywun. I just hope I can keep em growin

 

[Jonathan4848]

Did you have the sun coral under a ledge to revive it? I read sun coral doesn’t really like light so my sun coral is under a ledge but never seems to open. I have had it for 8 months and have only seen it partially open like two or 3 times

 

[SurfLife]

Did you have the sun coral under a ledge to revive it? I read sun coral doesn’t really like light so my sun coral is under a ledge but never seems to open. I have had it for 8 months and have only seen it partially open like two or 3 times

Are you looking at them at night? They only come out in light when I am feeding the tank and then they only come out about 25%. About 2-3 hours after lights out, they fully extend. You are prob aware of this, I just wanted to be sure.
If you look at the first pic, you can see it is in a very shaded area under a rock shelf. The picture I posting here I took yesterday for you to show you that I slowly moved it out into the light. The important part would be the PAR reading I guess. Normally on the bottom of my tank PAR reading is around 90-105. In this area of the tank I have the PAR way down. Both of those corals yellow and black, are sitting in PAR 23 at the moment.

Oh, and before anyone comments on the sorry looking anemone to the right of the sun ;Yuck, he has been from one end of the tank to the other numerous times over the last 4 months and has never been any other color then bright white. I've been told he is dying but he has not changed in 4 months for better or worse. Seems to hate light but eats mysis shrimp aggressively.

 

[Jonathan4848]

It doesn’t extend when I feed it at all. I have come down to look at it hours after the lights are out and still doesn’t seem to extend. I do not have a par meter so I have no idea what they are sitting at. I guess I should really go buy one to set my lights appropriately. Although I never see it extend, it does seem to be growing. I just don’t see it extend so I’m worried it is starving.

 

[SurfLife]

It doesn’t extend when I feed it at all. I have come down to look at it hours after the lights are out and still doesn’t seem to extend. I do not have a par meter so I have no idea what they are sitting at. I guess I should really go buy one to set my lights appropriately. Although I never see it extend, it does seem to be growing. I just don’t see it extend so I’m worried it is starving.

Having a PAR meter is very useful but not required. I only told you the PAR reading to give you a feel for how low the lighting on those corals was. What kind of light?
Yours does not look in as bad as shape as mine were. It actually looks healthy, just not extending. I would move them out into the light just a little bit and see how it does. Just my opinion and what I would try.
How are you trying to feed them? I have been using a baster with mysis, squid and plankton. Mostly it feeds on the plankton but a few of them grab a few pieces of shrimp and squid now that they have grown. I just received some of those reef roids and going to see how they do with that too.

 

[Jonathan4848]

Having a PAR meter is very useful but not required. I only told you the PAR reading to give you a feel for how low the lighting on those corals was. What kind of light?
Yours does not look in as bad as shape as mine were. It actually looks healthy, just not extending. I would move them out into the light just a little bit and see how it does. Just my opinion and what I would try.
How are you trying to feed them? I have been using a baster with mysis, squid and plankton. Mostly it feeds on the plankton but a few of them grab a few pieces of shrimp and squid now that they have grown. I just received some of those reef roids and going to see how they do with that too.

I have reef breeders led lights. I think I’ll end up getting a PAR meter so I can adjust accordingly. I feed them with a baster a mix of brine, mysis, reef roids, and zooplankton as I do with my fat head dendros and other corals. My dendros are doing amazing. Went from one when I first got them to have more than 15 heads in about 8-9 months. I just can’t seem to make my sun coral extend.

 

[SurfLife]

I have reef breeders led lights. I think I’ll end up getting a PAR meter so I can adjust accordingly. I feed them with a baster a mix of brine, mysis, reef roids, and zooplankton as I do with my fat head dendros and other corals. My dendros are doing amazing. Went from one when I first got them to have more than 15 heads in about 8-9 months. I just can’t seem to make my sun coral extend.

Oh, ok. They make a nice light. Sounds like a healthy tank. I still suggest moving them out just a bit into the light for a few days. If it does not get better or worse, move it out a little bit more. If it dislikes the light its not going to die overnight so just monitor it daily. I will be very interested how it goes.
By the way, I see you joined Tuesday. Welcome to R2R ;Joyful. Finding this forum is what helped me through all my frustrations and have learned a lot.

 

[Jonathan4848]

Oh, ok. They make a nice light. Sounds like a healthy tank. I still suggest moving them out just a bit into the light for a few days. If it does not get better or worse, move it out a little bit more. If it dislikes the light its not going to die overnight so just monitor it daily. I will be very interested how it goes.
By the way, I see you joined Tuesday. Welcome to R2R ;Joyful. Finding this forum is what helped me through all my frustrations and have learned a lot.

Already moved it out a little so I’ll keep you updated. Thanks for the advice and thanks for the welcome.

 

[Jonathan4848]

Already moved it out a little so I’ll keep you updated. Thanks for the advice and thanks for the welcome.

This is the most open I have seen the sun coral in over 6 months. Still not very extended but better than before.

 

[SurfLife]

This is the most open I have seen the sun coral in over 6 months. Still not very extended but better than before.

It might not be the little additional light it's getting, it may be flow. These sun corals require a decent amount of water flow. I run gyres which gives keeps things flowing pretty good and there is a lot of movement when these guys extend.

Your coral, based on its color looks very healthy. I think it may be extending when you're not looking more than you think
It's colors are beautiful, look forward to seeing a photo of it extended some time.

 

[Jonathan4848]

It might not be the little additional light it's getting, it may be flow. These sun corals require a decent amount of water flow. I run gyres which gives keeps things flowing pretty good and there is a lot of movement when these guys extend.

Your coral, based on its color looks very healthy. I think it may be extending when you're not looking more than you think
It's colors are beautiful, look forward to seeing a photo of it extended some time.

I have a bunch of these little worm things in my substrate. Whenever I feed my fish/coral I see all these tiny red worms all over the coral and sand. Could this be a reason the sun coral isn’t opening more? What are they and should I try to get rid of them (if I can)?

 

[SurfLife]

I have a bunch of these little worm things in my substrate. Whenever I feed my fish/coral I see all these tiny red worms all over the coral and sand. Could this be a reason the sun coral isn’t opening more? What are they and should I try to get rid of them (if I can)?

I am not an expert on all hitchhikers, only the ones I have battled do I have any knowledge. Take a look at this link. It will forever be useful to you.

https://www.lionfishlair.com/hitchhikers-guide/

By no means a full list of all critters but a good start. I am sure there are many other sites with a much larger list but this one has worked for me so far.

 

[Breefin1220]

Peanut worm? Brain eater?!

 

[Jonathan4848]

Peanut worm? Brain eater?!

Looking at the link above, I think they are just a hair/spaghetti worm. It says they are beneficial but I’m just worried are irratating my zoanthids and sun coral that is on the sand.

 

[Breefin1220]

Yea your right lol it is a spaghetti worm. It’s got a bunch of tentacles

 

[Jonathan4848]

My sun coral is finally starting to extend its polyps more. I put a power head facing it so I’m guessing it wasn’t getting enough flow. I’ll try to get a picture in the next few days