Sun coral

[caryn_ia]

Spline9- Thank you for the pics. Mine don't look anything like that. In your first pic, where they are closed, not even close. There is no soft tissue to make up the polyp 'stem'. All there is, is a calcified skelaton like Dana&PJ stated. And about a third of them came white. I will keep it in the tank, feed it like usual. If there is the slight chance it may come back. As for aclimating, I too use the drip method. The other corals are doing great.

 

[jmesmcm]

Here is a pic of mine.

 

[caryn_ia]

I just called the company. I'm quite disapointed. They told me they could send me a new one with my next order. When I told him that I didn't feel I would ever order from him again, he just said, 'Uh, OK.' I asked him if he could just send it to me now, and he said I would have to pay shipping, which was more than the coral itself cost! I then asked him if he didn't think it was the right thing to do on his company's part to swallow the cost of shipping to make a customer happy, and enable them to have a repeating customer. His response 'Uh, no'. He was not any help. So I guess I will just have to swallow my pride, know that I was ripped off, and move on.
Thank you to everyone who replied. It really helped a lot in identifying the problem.

 

[oceandream]

Sorry to hear that.

 

[reefmagic]

I know how you feel. I once bought a dead frogspawn. He told me it was just retracted from him dosing his tank 15 minutes earlier....ya right. So I went back in the next day to complain and he rudely pointed to the sign on the wall "No Refunds on Inverts"...he lost a customer .

 

[spline9]

Caryn_IA; That sucks to hear you were sold an unhealthy specimen. The company should send you a new one with shipping charges on them. Not with "your next order". Thats just unacceptable. They should send you one to ensure a happy satisfied customer will actually have a "next order". Sheesh.
I remember hearing something in regards to customer retention... Something like, "Customers are more likely to remember bad service than good service." and "1 of 4 people will tell others about what good service theyve had as opposed to 4 of 4 people will complain to others about bad service." I cant remember the actual odds but it was something similar to that. Its pretty true, though.
JmesMcM; the cyclopeeze doesnt make a mess in the tank when you feed? I always guessed that feeding stuff like that would just end up flowing over and away from it. Maybe its more effective than I imagine. heh. Or do you remove it from the tank and use a seperate "feeding" container?

 

[jmesmcm]

I feed it right in the tank, squirting it directly on the coral. What doesn't get eaten by the coral will most likely be eaten by another coral in the tank or skimmed off.

 

[angelofish]

Any chances of letting us know what company it was? Even a hint? We all know it definately couldnt be this one.

 

[thedogofwa]

lol, maybe I missed something but how are you feeding something that isn't opening? If it's not opening its not eating.
I'm not convinced that it's dead yet. Sure the white areas are but I know exactly what you mean about the dimples and being all hard. Mine closes up like this daily.
sorry I don't have any pics of it like that. heres a couple anyway. The bottom side of mine is stubborn, it didn't open for 2 weeks once.
FWIW, if you haven't tried cyclopeeze yet, try it. it takes about 1 min and mine will start to open when it hits the tank

oh and I wouldn't say the tubastrea is a hard to keep specimen, it just demands your attention for feeding. if you're willing to feed it every other day, you should be fine.

 

[caryn_ia]

Thanks. First off I wanted to say that I did research it. But not once did I, or have since come across a pic of what mine looks like. I felt awful about the 1 thing I did buy on impulse, but it has been the only thing I have ever lost. Now to the question from TheDog, Yes, I have been feeding it. I'm not going to throw away a coral that Could still be alive. You said you think there may be a possibility it may be alive. That's enough for me to try. If you would be willing to post a pic of yours with the skelaton showing it would put my faith back. Thanks
P.S. It was aquacon

 

[angelofish]

I KNEW IT!!!! I KNEW IT!!!!

The word CON pretty much says alot.I came so close to ordering from them a long time ago but didn't. Its the nice pics that reel you in. Ive never read anything good about them anywhere. Again Im sorry. Don't let that bad experience discourage you from ordering online. There are some great places online and you can get some corals you dont see at the stores.

 

[spline9]

Caryn_IA:
I've seen Sun Corals showing their skeleton but were still alive. I'm pretty sure you can save it. Would be really cool if you did. If you can, take pics of it now so you can document (and show us) the progress of its recovery.
I didnt really research the Sun Coral before getting it but I've read some before hand. I had an idea on what I was getting into. It seems like its going to be a challenge but I'm up for it. If I can keep this thing alive then I wont be so scared to try other stuff.
Keep us updated Caryn_IA. I'd like to be able to share our experiences so we can learn from each other (and others).

 

[thedogofwa]

I'll get you a pic but it has to wait till tomorrow eve. In the meantime, did you see the pic of the one here in the coral section? Or try the one pictured at reefer madness. hows it compare to those?
cyclopeeze if you haven't tried it. It's reef crack. But like I said 2 weeks where half of mine wouldn't open for no aparent reason. That half is not fully open in the pics but it is still obviously smaller than the other half.
it might have been covered but make sure it's not in too high of flow or direct light. Not that light seems to harm it but it increases the risk of algae growing on it's rough skeleton.
I'm not sure if you know it but in the wild they are usually found upside down in caves but I've seen diving pics of them completely exposed during low tide. It must be a pretty tough coral to survive those conditions. I even knocked a 20lb rock onto mine one day and it didn't seem to mind a bit.
just don't give up on it yet, nobody looks into my tank w/o saying something about it. Worth every min I spend feeding it.

 

[alison]

:happyfish My brother had some sun polyps he got that were whitish skelteton looking, and now are doin pretty good. He says their low light corals, and he puts them in a cave,and are doing great now, back to normal. Am I right about the low light thing guys?That might be a thing to think about. -ali

 

[caryn_ia]

Angelo-You're right, the pics are wonderful. CON, that's funny, I should have seen they were telling me to my face!
Spline-I did take some pics tonight so will post them asap, I will try for tommorow. I would really like to save it. It's just too bad that they would have a coral in that condition in the first place, and then to sell it :nope:
TheDog-It's soo much flatter than those. No tissue to it at all. Will definitaly try the Cyclopeeze. And I had actually wanted to put it in one of my cave upside down, till I saw it. But eventually would still like to! Don't worry, I won't give up on it. If you only knew me, I tend to collect 'damaged' things. Blind rabbit, fish with a broken jaw, orchid with no roots...cast-offs...

 

[thedogofwa]

so you don't even have any calclaurus *sp raises? strange, sounds more like a dead flowerpot. the new baby polyps on mine don't have mush rise either, maybe they're just small, hoping anyway.
got a bit of good news, just found an individual whos sun didn't open for over a month! it started to pale in color and he was about ready to take it out and pow, it's alive!

 

[caryn_ia]

That is good news about the other sun. I will try and post a pic soon, I'll be going home for lunch.

 

[jmesmcm]

This is what mine looked like when I first got it and it took a few days for it to settle in and open up.

 

[caryn_ia]

Here's what mine looks like. You can't see all the white dead parts (they are hidden on the back side, thou there is one that is on the front.)

 

[thedogofwa]

that looks 10 times better than I expected, I can see the polyp tissue down in there, it's def not dead. :happy: I think it's been deprived of calcium though. make sure you're is up in the 400 range.
Do you have any phyto, selcon or any other filter feeding foods? Cut the bottom half of a 2L bottle off and place the top half over the sun. Then take a turkey baster and blow in whatever you can to feed it. It will linger around the coral longer this way, hopefully encouraging it to open. Even if it's just brine or something.