long tentacle plate

[mlm]

I have a long tentacle plate that when I bouht it it looked great and when I got it home it expanded three times its size and looked great. Then about a week ago It started to look liked crap with half of it partially expanded and the other half pulled back into the skeleton with a slimey dusty looking covering on it. This morning before I went to work I looked in the tank with a flashlight and noticed that it looked like it was begining to go back to normal. Is this just some sort of cycle that they have? Anyone have any ideas.

 

[underthesea]

This is one coral i have never had any luck with the coral would be doing great for a few months to a year and then just go to crap. I was adding all the calcium, trace elements, etc that i needed to but for some reason it would just go to crap even with water parameters being perfect.

 

[t4stock]

Mine dies in exacty this way

 

[nm reef]

mlm....I've always heard that they could be difficult to keep long term. That said I do have one. Been in my reef for well over 7 months now. Before I got it I checked everything I could on what worked as far as keeping them long term. The best advice I found was to have moderate lighting(mine is 4x65pc's&2x110 vho's)...mature/stable system with good water chemistry(ammonia/nitrite-0..nitrates-0..temp 78-82..sg-1.024..calcium-450ppm..alkalinity-2.8-3.5 meg/l..ph-8.0-8.3)..was suggested to keep them on the sand bed(mine has been there since day 1)..requires a moderate to mild current...and they seem to do best when fed about once a week with a meaty food(mine gets direct fed 1-2 times a week with either fresh seafood(shrimp/scallope) or thawed brine/mysis/krill/blood worms/prime reef/etc.
When I added mine it was maybe 3" across and for several weeks it showed little improvement...but for 6 months plus now it is normally fully extended and does real well!! Its now more like 6"-7" across when fully open.
Below is a pic of mine from a few months ago....I sure hope yours recovers and stays healthy...but I have heard several instances where they just fade away for no apparent reason....I certainly hope mine doesn't!! *_^Good luck with yours!!