Red people eaters

Kehaulani · May 13, 2015

I got these from a friend who had his tank crash and when I got them they were really bleached out. He told me they would probably come back around once under good lighting. I've had them for about 3 weeks now and they still look bleached and not fully open. Any advice? My water parameters are fine. The rest of my zoas and palys are doing great. This guy is at the bottom of my tank on the sand bed. Do they need low or high flow/low or high lighting? I have 2 kessil 360s on my 75 gallon tank. I just want it to thrive. Here's a picture not the best but you can see it

zesty · May 13, 2015

Have you noticed any improvement or any color change in the 3 weeks you've had them?

I would try and target feed them with the flow off and see if they react to food.

Kehaulani · May 13, 2015

I haven't seen a change. nothing color wise so I'm not sure if it's because they were extremely stressed when my friends tank crashed OR if it's something else. I do feed them about three times a week, once the lights go out. I shut off the wave maker when feeding.

ddenora · May 13, 2015

Give them time they'll bounce back

Kehaulani · May 14, 2015

OK good. I was a little unsure cause they look pretty rough right now. Do you think having them on the sand bed is OK or should I raise them up?

SantaMonicaHelp · May 14, 2015

I'm sure they will do fine. Just need some time to adjust

Best wishes!

-YK

Kehaulani · May 15, 2015

Thanks guys

WetWhistle · May 15, 2015

You might want to up the feeding to daily till they start to color up. With the reduction of Zooxanthellae in the polyps the energy budget is probably only being met just enough for survival, but not enough for new growth. In order to allow for replacement of Zooxanthellae you need to exceed the daily energy budget. It has to have enough energy for its daily biological needs and enough extra to replace the Zooxanthellae. The best way to do this is more frequent feeding and increase of water flow to allow more available food and better gas exchange to the polyps. Better gas exchange allows the Zooxanthellae to uptake more nutrients in the form of dissolved organics and phosphates etc that the algae needs and respire any by products that needs to be expelled. You can also raise the colony up a little so it has an increase of available light. With that being said I am not saying put them at the top right under lights. I am just saying increase the light a little slowly like placing them in a slightly higher position.

Kehaulani · May 15, 2015

OK gotcha. Thanks WetWhistle this helps out alot. I thought about moving them but was just unsure. I'll move them when I get off work and I'll feed them too.

WetWhistle · May 15, 2015

Kehaulani said:
OK gotcha. Thanks WetWhistle this helps out alot. I thought about moving them but was just unsure. I'll move them when I get off work and I'll feed them too.

You are welcome.

ZoaCollector · May 16, 2015

Hopefully they bounce back! RPE's are one of my personal favs!

When they look good they look great!

Kehaulani · May 16, 2015

Wow mine look horrible compared to yours haha

zesty · May 16, 2015

So do mine... Haha those are gorgeous!

ZoaCollector · May 16, 2015

RPEs need higher mag (Kent tech m) 1400-1450ppm. medium flow med to high light, high nutrients with high nutrient export, zero PO4, high ORP is key to keeping these.
Then again high ORP is good for a lot of corals and fish