Carnation

[noo2usa]

I have a red carnation. It's not doing so great. It is lying over and will not stand up. I've moved it around into different flows and kept it out of the light. Anyone have any ideas how to get it back to beautiful?

 

[Rotknee]

Have you started feeding it yet? From what I have read the carnations are challenging.

 

[noo2usa]

I feed it marine snow every other day. I've fed it with the lights on and after the lights off. I'm baffled.

 

[subielover]

It needs to be fed plankton, which can be very challenging when trying to balance nutrient import vs. export. They are considered a difficult to keep coral for a reason, best thing to do is start target feeding it.

 

[subielover]

Guess we posted at the same time. It may be possible it is too far gone, do you have any pics?

 

[returnofsid]

Marine Snow is worthless. Get some good quality food, such as Frozen Cyclopeeze, Coral Frenzy, Rods Coral Diet, etc. Can you remove it from the tank? If so, put some saltwater in a cup, along with some good food, and place the Carnation coral in the cup. Do this a couple of times a week, for awhile, to see if it helps. If you can't remove it from the tank, you can build a feeder by cutting the bottom off of a 2 liter bottle. Place it over the coral, remove the lid and squirt food into the bottle, then replace lid. Allow 20 minutes for the coral to eat and then remove the bottle.

It should be in an area of good flow, so it can capture food.

No matter what, Carnations are difficult to care for.

 

[noo2usa]

I'll try the cup idea and I'll attempt to post a picture as soon as I can.

 

[aquabull]

One of the reasons it is limp is related to the continual moving. Carnations have spicules (rods of calcium) that they shape to adapt to enviromental demands like current. These spicules will be straight or curved, based on the needs of the situation. Someay take up to two weeks for the spicules to align in a functional arrangement, then the coral will be able to stand up. The less you move it, the happier it will be. A friend used a drip line of rigid air line tubing, valved appropriately, to slowly drip the plankton cocktail within the eagerly waiting branches!