Scoly troubles

[Lulu_Lunette]

So I currently have two scolys in my tank. One is doing amazing and the other not so hot. I have been moving it around trying to find its spot ( once a week) but so far no success. It just keeps receding. All my water parameters are in line so I have no idea what else to try. Where it’s at now I do notice that it’s mouth does open and close.

Any suggestion or advice is appreciated

 

[60CubeReefer]

Are you feeding it?

 

[crusso1993]

So I currently have two scolys in my tank. One is doing amazing and the other not so hot. I have been moving it around trying to find its spot ( once a week) but so far no success. It just keeps receding. All my water parameters are in line so I have no idea what else to try. Where it’s at now I do notice that it’s mouth does open and close.

Any suggestion or advice is appreciated

I realize this may seem counterintuitive but have you tried placing it exactly where the happy scoly sits and moving the happy scoly to another spot?

 

[MnFish1]

Can you show a picture of the other one?
To me it looks like a goner.... But..

 

[Lulu_Lunette]

Are you feeding it?

Yes. I was feeding lps pellets and mysis but now just phytoplankton

 

[Lulu_Lunette]

I realize this may seem counterintuitive but have you tried placing it exactly where the happy scoly sits and moving the happy scoly to another spot?

Funny thing is it originally was where the happy one is. This is the happy one

 

[Lulu_Lunette]

Can you show a picture of the other one?
To me it looks like a goner.... But..

 

[Auto-pilot]

I wouldn't say its a goner but it does not look good. I have a Scolly that looked like yours and I put it somewhere dark and I rose my nitrate and phosphate a little bit and it recovered. It still hasn't returned to its original size but it has grown. Honestly If I were you I would dip it in CoralRx or something similar and place it somewhere where it won't get any direct light

 

[vetteguy53081]

Its very distressed. factors that contribute would be:
High nitrates
High water flow
Feed Reef roids or similar.
What is temperature and salinity of tank

 

[Auto-pilot]

Also if you have crabs/fish and they are bothering it this could happen. It might be super sensitive and hermit carabs can really bug some lps corals. After a while they just start to decline

 

[JDowns]

In my experience the red ones tend to favor less light than the green. Put it in a place of shade and at an angle so it receives less direct downward lighting. If one is doing fine and the other is not then you can usually rule out water quality issues.

 

[Birddog]

I have recovered several Scolymia's that I have purchased for pennies on the dollar over the years. You can see a few feeder tentacles in your photo. It is likely so weak that it will be very difficult for it to grab ahold of anything solid, but you need to have some patience. Feed small pellets, or finely chopped mysid shrimp and shut down all water movement. It may take an hour for it to ingest something, or it may take several days of trying for an hour each time before it eats something. Once it eats I would suggest feeding it every day for several weeks and then back off to every other or every third day. Once it starts eating you'll see improvements weekly.

A couple of other suggestions.... don't feed it phytoplankton at this point. It won't hurt to feed plankton, but it will not promote tissue regrowth IMO. Additionally, I would recommend the removal of the cleaner shrimp. Cleaner shrimp and LPS that are fed doesn't work. The shrimp will eventually kill / minimally destroy the mouth of LPS that you're feeding.

 

[jp_75]

had similar problem and i can tell you it can be save! crabs,shrimp,fish might bother it. if you say parameters are fine that's only issue.
look very close after feeding or at night.

 

[MnFish1]

SO I had 2 coral like this - I bought a lemon peel angel. I never saw it doing anything - but all the sudden it started 'shrinking'. looking kind of like yours
So I invested several hours - only to find out that he./she was picking on the coral like every 30-45 minutes - sometimes vigorously. That coral died. The fish then started on the second one - which also died (because getting that angel out of the tank was next to impossible....)

 

[Lulu_Lunette]

I have recovered several Scolymia's that I have purchased for pennies on the dollar over the years. You can see a few feeder tentacles in your photo. It is likely so weak that it will be very difficult for it to grab ahold of anything solid, but you need to have some patience. Feed small pellets, or finely chopped mysid shrimp and shut down all water movement. It may take an hour for it to ingest something, or it may take several days of trying for an hour each time before it eats something. Once it eats I would suggest feeding it every day for several weeks and then back off to every other or every third day. Once it starts eating you'll see improvements weekly.

A couple of other suggestions.... don't feed it phytoplankton at this point. It won't hurt to feed plankton, but it will not promote tissue regrowth IMO. Additionally, I would recommend the removal of the cleaner shrimp. Cleaner shrimp and LPS that are fed doesn't work. The shrimp will eventually kill / minimally destroy the mouth of LPS that you're feeding.

I did move it to lower light and lower flow. I’m currently QTing all my fish from this system so they should be bothering it for awhile. I haven’t been able to catch the cleaner shrimp yet. I’m wondering if just feeding it like how you feed small calms would work. (Just putting a bottle around it until it’s done eating) at least until I can catch the shrimp.

Here is it’s new home in my tank for now.

 

[Birddog]

Good evening LuLu, Yes you could cover it with a bottle. My experience is that all mobile animals generally speaking usually figure it out, and once you lift the bottle the shrimp smells it and picks at the mouth until the Scolymia is injured and gives up the food... well that’s how it usually works in my reef anyhow. I have a pair of mature Clowns that are a pain in the back side... they can make all three of my Scolymia, all of my acans and all of my chalices give up their fully ingested food. Their days in my reef are numbered as a result.

 

[Auto-pilot]

Hey how did this turn out have you seen any recovery???