DONUT CORAL HELP!

[1MJG1]

Hey Guys maybe some fellow reefers with donut experience can shed some light on my issue.
JUST picked up this beautiful donut coral @ Reefapalooza the past weekend. @ the show and when i first put it in, it was much more fleshy and fluffy. Day 2 it started to show more skeleton and coincidently my 3 rainbow chalices started to show more skeleton too. (they're right next to the donut coral; the 3 RC's have been happy and growing in my tank for 2 months now.) I right now have it at the bottom of the tank to the side in low flow. The RC's have started to look about 40% more fleshy and i'd say the donut coral has changed. still seems to show a lot of skeleton.

Tank established 1 year + Full mixed.
All other SPS, Chalices, lobos, torches, zoa's, pectina, acans, shrooms, etc etc. are perfectly fine and happy with tons of PE.
60 Gal w/ sump.
Radion's, skimmer, chato refugium.
Temp:79

Phospates: 0
Nitrates: 0
KH: 9.1
Ca: 440
Mg: 1550 (always kept high for algae, had it at 1900 for 3 months to kill all the bryopsis. No corals were harmed or lossed; just a few hermits)
all trace elements are within normal limits.

JUST mainly curious if your donut corals do this from time to time, or if you think it really needs low light tucked under a ridge. It's just weird that the chalices acted funny too. it was almost as if once i added the donut coral at night (which opened up to feed imedietly) had a negative effect on the corals right next to it. ) any help or advice would help. Im nervous to dip it because i feel like that will just stress it out even more. sorry for the poor cell phone pics.

 

[sbash]

How did you acclimate them to the water?

What are those corals around it, could they be irritating him?

Mine gets full light, is on the sandbed down about 40" from the light. When it is upset, the skeleton shows more. Have you tried spot feeding it? If you have frozen mysis or brine, dig out a big piece (thawed, lol, do not want to give him and ice-cream headache!) and see if he takes it.

It could be shock to the lighting, so moving acclimating it to your lights over a couple weeks may not be a bad idea...

 

[1MJG1]

How did you acclimate them to the water?

What are those corals around it, could they be irritating him?

Mine gets full light, is on the sandbed down about 40" from the light. When it is upset, the skeleton shows more. Have you tried spot feeding it? If you have frozen mysis or brine, dig out a big piece (thawed, lol, do not want to give him and ice-cream headache!) and see if he takes it.

It could be shock to the lighting, so moving acclimating it to your lights over a couple weeks may not be a bad idea...

thank you ill try lesser light i think. it just seems weird cuz the rainbow chalices got ticked off too and they had no problems to the lighting when introduced months ago. nothing around to sting it.

 

[RyanSweet]

I have 3 meat corals in my 75gal. They all do this from time to time. I've observed them shriveling and expelling waste, and also when it's time to do a water change they will retract a bit as well.

 

[Shadowspop]

I had a horrible time with my meat coral as well. Moved it to a couple different places, he finally started looking better in a more shaded area with very low flow.

 

[sbash]

Good point, low flow is a good idea. Mine gets very little flow, a gentle breeze at best.

 

[BoomCorals]

Possible any of those are extending mesenterial filaments during the night that is touching the others.

 

[1MJG1]

well i didn't want to keep moving him quite yet so i just crossed my fingers and rode it out. he's not 100% but he's doing much better i think he's just a slow adjuster.