Sun coral will not open

[spkdtch]

Got my first orange sun coral saturday. It has not opened yet even when i squirted brine, marine cuisine, zooplex and photplex. When will it open? even at night it has not opened once. I wanted to take a picture to show my friend but day or night, food or no food, it has not opened. I can see the polyps in there and they move every now and then, but don't come out.
Also, i know they do not need light, but will to much light hurt them? its not up very high, but if lights will hurt it, i will move it lower into a cave.

 

[thai]

Originally Posted by spkdtch
http:///forum/post/3045347
Got my first orange sun coral saturday. It has not opened yet even when i squirted brine, marine cuisine, zooplex and photplex. When will it open? even at night it has not opened once. I wanted to take a picture to show my friend but day or night, food or no food, it has not opened. I can see the polyps in there and they move every now and then, but don't come out.
Also, i know they do not need light, but will to much light hurt them? its not up very high, but if lights will hurt it, i will move it lower into a cave.
I have the same problem too every so often after feeding they will come out 1/4 of the actual size i feed mine brine shrimp. my lfs said its a type of coral that stay shut unlike like zoas. Good luck and update me if you have any success...

 

[spkdtch]

it didnt even budge with any of the foods, looks healthy to me but might just be acclimating to the new tank

 

[tr1gger]

Originally Posted by spkdtch
http:///forum/post/3045389
it didnt even budge with any of the foods, looks healthy to me but might just be acclimating to the new tank
Could be, try cutting the top off of a 20 oz bottle or if its bigger use a 2 liter. Buy some mysis in a cup of tank water. Then suck up JUST the water and not the mysis. Slowly inject that into the opening in the "Dome" Let it sit and see if they open. If they do feed em. Good Luck, and Happy Reefing.

 

[tr1gger]

Also the light can be a factor, try putting them in a cave. Then pull em out at night to feed em. I use to pull mine out @ 3am to feed every day.

 

[spkdtch]

i moved it lower, but not in a cave yet, put the cap over it and im going to try feeding it again even though its early

 

[beth]

This coral will not open until about an hour after the lights are out in your tank. And this is when you need to feed it. I used a syringe to squirt food into its tentacles.
It needs gentle water current as well.

 

[spkdtch]

it hasnt opened at night either though which is why i was looking for advice, i tried the syringe and a cap and still nothing, im hoping its just getting used to the new tank, would hate to have wasted 50 bucks for nothing

 

[beth]

Move it to a shady spot in your tank, and then make sure that there is gentle water movement in the vicinity.

 

[spkdtch]

i moved it to a darker area and added a bit more flow and still nothing all night long
the other ones at the LFS were open yesterday when i went in, so its gotta be something im doing wrong or i just got a dud

 

[superhero]

I would say turn your flow off or if you have multiple powerheads turn all but one off so there is a little bit of flow in the tank... they are very fragile and will come out if there is not a lot of flow... so tonight when your lights go off turn off your return pumps and powerheads then wait 30 minutes and ta-daaaaa they should have their polyps extended

 

[spkdtch]

i had them in a corner with zero flow, no lights on, and still nothing, so i tried higher flow, no lights, and nothing

 

[superhero]

thats really strange because i just got one last weekend and they only way he would open up for me was if the flow was off... but i would try it at night with no flow... that might do the trick... my tank had a feast last night i fed my buble corals shrooms and sun coral lol

 

[spkdtch]

it seemed to be out more than this morning, so ill keep on trying, but im very puzzled, the other 2 sun corals they had at the LFS were both open when i went back to ask for advice

 

[jmrents]

Try cyclopeeze.
Use the plastic container trick, once I did this the sun coral would open up anytime I added cyclopeeze to the tank.
Cover the coral with a plastic container with a small hole drilled into the top of it, and dose the coral with whatever you want to feed it through the hole.
Leave it for 5 to 10 minutes and see if it opens up then.
If not, try a different food, and I have had lots of luck with cyclopeeze, for
whatever reason, my sun coral really loves it, and now opens any time I add it to my tank.
Good luck

 

[spkdtch]

will Tetra MicroCrabs Cyclop-eeze Granules work?
its the only stuff i can get in town

 

[superhero]

yeah that should work