Help with Jawbreaker

[ashtoreth]

Hi,

I recently bought a jawbreaker but its rock got detached from its frag plug during shipping and the mushroom then detached from the rock it was attached to before I could even open the packing baggie. I'm not sure if its foot was damaged but its showing some brown / black spots. I tried to put it on the frag plug in a cup on my sand bed in a low flow low/medium lighting area to let it reattach but it either fell or moved itself off the plug overnight, after which I moved it to another spot and put it in a slightly larger container to make sure it's super low flow. However, it's still looking a bit shriveled / bunched up and I can see its foot peeking out from one side. Wanted to see if folks have any recommendations for what else to try? Should I try a completely shaded area? Not sure if the low/medium light is bothering it but also don't want to move it again for the third time in case that's even more bothersome. My hairy green mushroom, duncan, blastos, euphyllia, zoas etc. all seem to be happy with the lighting on the sandbed (I have two AI prime 16's spaced equally across a IM 30L) for what it's worth. I'm really hoping I can help it recover so would appreciate any advice folks can give. Below is how it looked when it arrived:

 

[Will Wohlers]

Low low low flow and medium light with some rubble for it to reattach to. Maybe even a cup. I recommend a mushroom box in the future to help keep them from blowing away in this situation. Jawbreakers are notorious for getting upset and letting go of their foothold. Ive got a few myself in the same situation that just detached from the mother rock. They do eventually reattach but some take forever while some are rather hasty about it. Just be patient. The main thing is protect it from flow to keep it in one place.
Will

 

[ashtoreth]

Got it, thanks. I had it in a smaller cup but it seemed to want to fall off so I put into a taller cup but wasn't sure if this would prevent water circulating (the cup walls are around 2.5in tall) . Below is the current setup (there is some sand under the frag plug). Do I just keep it in that one spot for a while and wait until it seems happy again? Anything else I should watch for?

 

[Will Wohlers]

Yep that looks perfect. I would keep it in the cup till reattached to the plug and then still for a little extra. They are fickle especially about to much flow till they get settled in. Don't worry about flow in the cup. It's getting plenty. Right now we need to focus on low as possible to keep it in that cup until it attaches. If it doesn't want to stay and you find it floating.... rubberband a piece of screen or mesh netting to the lid of the cup.

 

[ashtoreth]

Got it, thanks for the help!

 

[ashtoreth]

It's turning more brown now and a piece seems to be sliding off the side? Is it melting or dropping a baby? I can sort of see a mouth in the area that is sliding off to the left but can't be sure (might just be a bump in the center of that area) as the coloring is now brown specks mixed into the orange and it still doesn't look great...