Plate coral is a goner

moulton1853 · Mar 19, 2016

I found my plate coral half covered by sand due to my pistol shrimp. It had lots of sand in its mouth and is now pealing. My question is should I leave it in the tank and hope it may come back or remove it? I have heard of plates coming back. What would happen if I leave it in the tank.

tankstudy · Mar 19, 2016

I would leave it in your tank for a while to see what happens.

If I plan to have anything growing on the sandbed, I skip pistols or sand shifting creatures. I had a pistol bury half of my zoa colonies before lol.

Tab28 · Mar 19, 2016

Pistol shrimp and any bottom dwelling coral do not mix. Plates do come back but it depends on how far gone it is. Whenever the mouth are is disappearing it is gone. Some plates do send off babies from a totally dead skeleton, but not all plates. Certain varieties do it aquariums others do not. So leave it in there and see. It could take years for babies to show up. If it is the type that does it.

BossGT911 · Mar 19, 2016

my tank had crashed and most stuff died , and my plate turned a verypale red color and after a couple months it came back in full

moulton1853 · Mar 19, 2016

My tank is 4 foot long and the pistol never leaves is area during the day. Didn't think he would have traveled that far away from his burrow. I've had the pistol for 7 months now so I have become kinda attached to it. I also have another plate in the tank that is doing great. I guess I will put in in the back and see what happens with it.