Acanthophyllia help

[yokedreefer]

I’ve had this meat coral for at least a month and placed it on in the middle of my tank on the rockwork but it never opened up fully. I have another acanthophyllia that is doing fine and all my other coral so i don’t think it’s a parameter problem. I just added it to the sand in the container today and it looks better than before. There is algae on the skeleton but it’s hard to remove it without touching the coral tissue. Any thoughts?

 

[nereefpat]

They need to be on the sand, not rockwork, for future reference.

I would just keep it there and keep parameters in line. Feed it mysis if it shows feeders.

 

[Kellie in CA]

Anything picking at it?

 

[yokedreefer]

They need to be on the sand, not rockwork, for future reference.

I would just keep it there and keep parameters in line. Feed it mysis if it shows f

Anything picking at it?

some of my tangs are picking at the algae on the skeleton

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Hydrogen peroxide dip to remove the algae, dose a little iodine,and keep it well fed. It will never regrow the skeleton unless you purge it of algae.
For future reference, Acanthophyllia are exclusively sand dwelling creatures that need to feel support under their mantle.
Good luck! These guys can be really hard to bring back from the brink, I've only done it a couple times. Usually helps to start earlier, but you've got a good situation going.

 

[Kellie in CA]

Get a cover for it. When my Acantho went through a downturn a shrimp kept picking at his mouth. I put one of those feeder covers on it and it improved greatly in a week. I just lifted it up a few times a day to make sure fresh water got inside.

 

[yokedreefer]

Hydrogen peroxide dip to remove the algae, dose a little iodine,and keep it well fed. It will never regrow the skeleton unless you purge it of algae.
For future reference, Acanthophyllia are exclusively sand dwelling creatures that need to feel support under their mantle.
Good luck! These guys can be really hard to bring back from the brink, I've only done it a couple times. Usually helps to start earlier, but you've got a good situation going.

Thanks for the tip. For the iodine, dose it with the peroxide or in the display?

 

[Mr_Knightley]

Thanks for the tip. For the iodine, dose it with the peroxide or in the display?

Lol I didn't phrase that well, my bad. Peroxide dip (there's a recipe on the forums) to remove the algae, then an iodine dip a few hours later. Iodine is a crucial element for LPS and soft coral health, they adsorb it very fast from the aquarium water so it's wise to keep this level adequate through dosing. Lugols iodine from Brightwell has dosing and dipping instructions on the bottle.