receding scoly

[reefmadness]

I was given a scoly the other day from a fellow reefer. It has be steadily declining in health in his tank and he finally decided it was time to see if someone else could give it a better shot at recovery. I have observed it over the last couple of nights, and not noticed any tentacle extension, even when I turn off my flow and feed the tank. The mouth seems to be gaping, and I fear that it may be beyond saving. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I could do to help bring this coral back to good health?

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

The first thing I do with a receding scoly is get it shaded to a degree. What light has it been under and what is it under now? How close to the light is it?

 

[reefmadness]

It has been under an 8 bulb t5 tek fixture about 3 feet down, and is now under a 4 bulb wavepoint light. It is on my sandbed, about 20 inches or so from the light. It is in a location of lower flow, but is still in direct light, as far as being on the sand bed is concerned. I will move it into some shade, and see if that helps. Thanks for the response!

 

[jonbar1]

I'd shade it and put some cyclopeeze on it to see if it tries to eat.

 

[slapshot]

Ive never had any luck bring them back once they start.

 

[reefmadness]

I feed every other day with a mixture of PE mysis and PE cyclopeeze. I turn off my return pump, and all powerheads except for my evo 1050 to keep things moving, but not blasting. I will power down all pumps and try enticing the tank with some phyto and oyster feast to get everyone nice and excited so to speak. I will then try spot feeding the scoly some cyclopeeze and mysis. My only real concern is that I haven't seen him put out any feeder tenticles, and his mouth is agape, not closed like I have seen all other healthy scolys before food is introduced. I would really like to save this coral, as it is a bleeding apple, and I cannot afford to buy a healthy specimen at this time. Thank you everyone for your responces, and encourage more posts to help me save this coral.

 

[miyags]

check on the scolly at night with a flashlight about 4 to 5 hours after lights out, and look around the receding skeleton for an anthropod attack. they love to eat scolly's. If it dosen't eat the food you give it after 5 min, blow it off the scolly, so crabs/ shrimp or fish don't try to eat it and cause damage to it"s mouth. If it dose not eat, leave it alone for a few days. Then try again.

 

[Spaceman Spliff]

Try feeding it at night, that is when they typically feed. I would wait until 2 hours after lights out, then cover the mouth with cyclopeeze. Cut the top off a 2-liter bottle and cover the scoly so fish, snails, etc don't go for the food. Leave it covered at least 30 minutes. It takes my healthy scolies 10-15 minutes to ingest a chunk of silversides so give it some time to enjoy the cyclopeeze. Try this a few nights in a row and see if there's an improvement in feeding response. If so, try to get a small piece of silversides down its mouth. One chunk is alot more food than tiny particles and you will then see the flesh start to plump up quickly.

 

[reefmadness]

Okay, so I moved mr scoly into some shade, fed the tank last night, and still didnt see any polyp extension so to say. It did take some cyclopeeze and a piece of mysis into its mouth, and didn't spit it out that I saw, so I have some hope for this little guy. Thank you everyone for your responses and I will keep this thread posted as to the it's health and recovery. I will also upload a pic to show everyone what it looks like.

 

[Nomadic1]

All I suggest is moving to an area of reduced (but not totally absent) flow, a little reduced lighting, and feeding it. Hope it works out for you!

 

[FishSticks05]

+1^^^^