When buying coral, how do you deem them healthy?

[leighla wolf]

With frag swaps and coral expos, what sort of things do you look for or what kinds of questions do you ask vendors of different types of corals (lps, sps, soft) to determine whether pieces are healthy? When do you avoid pieces or what do you look for to recognize if coral frags or colonies are not healthy?

 

[DanConnor]

Well, at frag swaps corals are generally aquacultured, and if the seller doesn't know how to keep it healthy they won't be able to grow it. I don't find it a big issue. If they are receded or bleached or stung by a neighbor- you will probably see it.

And dip stuff when you get home.

 

[Thespammailaccount]

When I am looking at euphyllia coral I always ask them I want to see the tissue. Have them hold the coral upside down and have them rotate it 360 degrees. I am looking for tissue recession which you don’t want you want the tissue to come down the skeleton all the way around

 

[HB AL]

If they look like what they should look like then thats good enough for me. I know thats pretty general but it really is that simple, now that goes for corals I'm seeing in person as I dont really ever buy online.
In the rare instance I buy online I make sure the coral represented is what it is and always buy one that is wysiwyg and buy from just a couple companies.

 

[ReefRy]

Polyp extension, no visable pests, clean tanks generally.

 

[maroun.c]

Tissue receeding, patches of bleached or dead tissue. Tissue color, and color pop, polyp extension .... all tell a lot about how a coral is doing. I'd be of course in favor of corals that have already encrusted on the plug as a sign of healing post being fragged or corals showing signs of growth or multiplying.

 

[homer1475]

I will not buy fresh cuts. There is just way to much that can happen with fresh cuts.

If the coral hasn't encrusted onto the plug, I don't buy it. Otherwise, is it's polyps all the way out? Do you see any bare skeleton? See any white skeleton indicating bleaching? Does the tissue cover the entire skeleton?

Once you buy a few boogers, you'll quickly start to recognize healthy corals from ones that may be on their way out.

 

[leighla wolf]

Thank you everyone for the advice!

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Good discussion!

 

[leighla wolf]

Good discussion!

I realized how many people myself included will go to buy coral when it “looks pretty” but I actually have no idea if it’s healthy! I learned the hard way about looking for vermitids on the skeleton and then thought, “huh, I wonder if anyone else has learned hard lessons like this and if they have, I could probably learn something from it too.”

 

[ReefLab]

For health I look at the base, look for polyp extension, tissue rebut most importantly I look at their tank.
I look for aiptasia, bite marks on corals, eggs in the corners of the glass, any sign that there are pests.
even if I don’t see anything I still dip but at least it lets me know what to look for if I decide to buy something from a tank with known pests

 

[leighla wolf]

For health I look at the base, look for polyp extension, tissue rebut most importantly I look at their tank.
I look for aiptasia, bite marks on corals, eggs in the corners of the glass, any sign that there are pests.
even if I don’t see anything I still dip but at least it lets me know what to look for if I decide to buy something from a tank with known pests

I use coral rx and revive with tank water rests in between. Has anyone used bayer on their corals or have a formula amount for it if they use bayer? Any tried and true dip solutions anyone totally trusts? Also, i quarantine coral before it goes in DT but I’ve been lucky not to have any issues where “critters” pop up after dipping. If that were to happen, any advice for treating them or the quarantine tank? (I only keep hermits in quarantine tank for algae/cycling, I will not consider fish in the tank to “pick off critters” because I also want to kill any ick/velvet/flukes that may be in the encapsulated stage on coral skeletons without it hatching and attaching to a host to then move infected corals in the dt.

 

[ReefLab]

I use coral rx and revive with tank water rests in between. Has anyone used bayer on their corals or have a formula amount for it if they use bayer? Any tried and true dip solutions anyone totally trusts? Also, i quarantine coral before it goes in DT but I’ve been lucky not to have any issues where “critters” pop up after dipping. If that were to happen, any advice for treating them or the quarantine tank? (I only keep hermits in quarantine tank for algae/cycling, I will not consider fish in the tank to “pick off critters” because I also want to kill any ick/velvet/flukes that may be in the encapsulated stage on coral skeletons without it hatching and attaching to a host to then move infected corals in the dt.

I typically dipin coral RX. That’s saved me from tons of flatworms on some euphyllia.
Lately I’ve been using Bayer - it’s highly selective for inverts and I’d especially recommend it if you’re doing a fishless quarantine (gives time for trace amounts of Bayer to dissipate)
My Bayer dip follows the instruction on the bottle (it seems like few people actually mention the bottle instructions). Bottle says 3oz of bayer to make 1 gallon of solution. I let that sit for 5-10 minutes.

h2o2 has helped get rid of hair algae on frags also

 

[leighla wolf]

Thank you. This is the correct bayer, right?

 

[#R_TST]

I'm rather bummed. Decided I'm ready to try a few fish. I don't have a LFS nearby so I ordered from Bluezooaquatics.com. I ordered a couple Benggai Cardinals, and Goby shrimp pair for me, some fish for my daughter and opted for the free poly grab bag which is described as, "You will receive 4 colonies of; assorted color zoanthids, green star polyps, xenia or anthelia, button polyps, clove polyps, glove polyps or yellow polyps." My fish didn't come and were created as a separate order to come later. Daughter's enjoying hers. But I have no idea what the frags are or if they are ok. I went ahead and followed acclimation and dipping and put them in the tank. Any idea what I've received and if they look ok?