Sun coral looks hollow

MichelleRay · Dec 2, 2017

I got 2 color morphs of sun coral in today. Black, which is looking really good and should be opening soon I hope! And orange. The orange... looks hollow inside. I'm not sure how else to describe it. there is flesh along the edges of the skeleton, and it's bright orange, but inside it looks like the middle is hollow on all the heads though it still looks orange. Is there a chance this coral is just hiding in there somewhere or is it a lost cause?

I'm mainly comparing it to the black right now to see what's normal. The black looks like a cup full of black cocoa that's about to spill out. The orange is more like you drank kool aid from the cup and there's a bit left in the bottom. I tried to get a picture but there's algae on the glass making my life difficult lol.

NicLongman · Dec 2, 2017

Need pics to aee

NicLongman · Dec 2, 2017

MichelleRay said:
I got 2 color morphs of sun coral in today. Black, which is looking really good and should be opening soon I hope! And orange. The orange... looks hollow inside. I'm not sure how else to describe it. there is flesh along the edges of the skeleton, and it's bright orange, but inside it looks like the middle is hollow on all the heads though it still looks orange. Is there a chance this coral is just hiding in there somewhere or is it a lost cause? I'm mainly comparing it to the black right now to see what's normal. The black looks like a cup full of black cocoa that's about to spill out. The orange is more like you drank kool aid from the cup and there's a bit left in the bottom. I tried to get a picture but there's algae on the glass making my life difficult lol.

Need pics to see

Crabs McJones · Dec 2, 2017

How often and what are you feeding it?

shaggydoo · Dec 2, 2017

I had a black and yellow nearly die on me when they looked like this because I could get 0 feeding response from these polyps. The fleshier looking ones would open up but not the hollow looking ones. Keep trying to spot feed it an assortment of frozen foods with the pumps off and hope for the best. Good luck

Surfandturf · Dec 2, 2017

Try some amino acid. This could stimulate the polyp extension. I have owned a few sun corals and each time I learn something new. The last one I had was a black one with green polyps. These are harder to find. First, sun corals are not into direct light. So placement should be in a shady area. Also, sun corals open at night. Most of the time. However, you can "train" them to open during the day, when the lights are on. You can do this by feeding them. Also, it has been my experience that medium to lower flow is good for these corals. Keep in mind that you MUST feed these corals regularly. I would say twice a week and you need to hit each head. If you dont, it will die. If you skip a week of feeding, it will probably die. These are easy for some, but i consider them to be difficult due to the level of attention they need.

shaggydoo · Dec 3, 2017

My experience on flow is the more the better. The only parts I've kept going are in much higher flow areas than the parts that withered and died on my colonies

saltyfilmfolks · Dec 3, 2017

shaggydoo said:
My experience on flow is the more the better. The only parts I've kept going are in much higher flow areas than the parts that withered and died on my colonies

Agreed.

Surfandturf · Dec 3, 2017

I guess the flow depends on how clean your water column is. I had to feed multiple times per week in high flow and moderate to low flow. It didn't matter. When i had them in high flow they were usually exposed to more light did not want to extend their polyps as much as a cave like area that received less flow and a lot less light. Do you have it in direct light? How did the local store have it? May be an light or salt level acclamation issue.

MichelleRay · Dec 6, 2017

It was a mail order so I have no idea how it was at the store. The orange has started falling apart so unfortunately it seems not to have made it. The black still has not opened either. I have been trying to target feed every day to every other day right now with frozen brine shrimp in hopes of getting a response. It was in a lower flow low lighting area. I've now moved it to a higher flow area but so far no response. I don't know what I'm doing wrong at this point. ;_;

I did see yesterday that SOMETHING has eaten an entire colony of GSP overnight. The colony was encrusting well and spreading on it's rock that morning. That night I checked the tank again and it was completely gone. Now the frogspawn next to it has the head nearest that spot looking bad and the one right next to that head looking wonderful. I'm very confused. I have tried looking at night a few hours after the lights are off but I can't find anything munching on them.