New Octo - Dying/Dead?

WestaMan · Jul 18, 2019

I took delivery of a Ocoto on Monday around 10:30. I let them acclimate to the tank temperature, dipped the octo and placed it in the sand. It had a purple color to the top as of day 1. I called the seller on the 24 hr mark because it had not opened at all. They told me that it typically takes a full 24-48 hours to see progression. Towards the end of the day 2 it had a little more movement and color, but minimal. This morning I woke up and it was completely retracted with no arms or polyps visible. I'm not sure what happened, but I haven't seen much movement at all in the coral. My wife and I were super excited to get this coral since she went to the store to pick it out I person. I just got 2 more corals from the seller today so I'm worried about those at this point. I've attached photos for you to review of the progress.

Is this one a goner?

Cell · Jul 18, 2019

Does not look good at all. If it bounces back I can't imagine it will happen quickly. Day 3 looks like all skeleton no coral.

WestaMan · Jul 18, 2019

It didn't look very good from the beginning. Corals never look great when they come out of the bag to me, but this one definitely didn't. The first picture is when I first got it in the tank after the dip. Is that how they typically look or was it already in bad shape?

RandyC · Jul 18, 2019

That Euphyllia looked in bad shape from that first day 1 picture. There is zero flesh on the coral skeleton. In addition those strands you see from the day one picture looks like rotting flesh floating away. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Although I've seen coral bounce back from some very nasty predicaments, I wouldn't place any money on this one bouncing back.

WestaMan · Jul 18, 2019

Apparently they're mostly from Indonesia so getting a replacement will be tough.

Should I pull it from the tank or hold out hope it performs a miracle and comes back from the dead?

RandyC · Jul 18, 2019

WestaMan said:
Apparently they're mostly from Indonesia so getting a replacement will be tough.

Should I pull it from the tank or hold out hope it performs a miracle and comes back from the dead?

At this point, from the picture, it looks like most of it is gone anyway. Keeping it in the tank likely won't do any harm. So really up to you.