Plate Coral not looking good

[rondaw3]

I purchased a long tentacled plate coral a week ago and it is not looking good. The tentacles are deflated and have never opened up fully in my tank. The coral is about the size of an orange and it is in my 30g tank directly under the 96wt 10K bulb. I set the coral on the sand bed in an area with slight current. The water tests are all fine. Temp was a little high the other day at 84 but since our A/C has been on the tank stays around 80-82. I also have another 96wt 10k kit that should arrive today. I tried giving it a very small piece of shrimp but it didn't take it.
Anything else I could try?

Ron

 

[jdeets]

I've had similar experiences with two of these. They would do fine for a few weeks, then the tentacles would start deflating (but not retracting). Shortly thereafter, in each case the flesh on the skeleton would become compromised at one place and it would quickly disintegrate from that point around the circumference of the coral. Each time this happened, I had tried to feed it the day before and it had rejected the food. Both declines also started in connection with water changes.

I posted a couple of threads on my problem with these Heliofungias, and the opinion of most was that the water changes were the culprit. These corals are apparently very sensitive to changes in temperature and SG. I believe my change water was too cold, and that had caused the coral to become shocked and die.

In my case, once the flesh started receding on one edge it was totally consumed in less than a week.

These are supposed to generally be hardy corals. That has not been my experience, however. Good luck.

 

[rondaw3]

Thanks for the reply It was looking great at the place I bought it from. Maybe my acclimation was not long enough for this species. In your case did the tissue just disintegrate on its own or was it consumed by fish, crabs etc.. or did you remove it from the tank. I am concerned because I will be away from the tank for a few days and I don't want it die and foul the tank.

Ron

 

[jdeets]

On both of mine, the tissue disintegrated in one small spot on one side at the edge, probably about 1/2" wide. Then it slowly began losing its tissue from that spot around the whole circumference. In each case, I removed the coral at the point that 3/4 of the circumference was gone. The coral was not harmed by any other livestock as far as I could see.

The tank that I had these in was 115 gallons, so I wasn't too worried about polluting the water. I did see trace ammonia, however, during this time, which was the reason I finally removed it each time.

I'd give it some time, try to keep it as stable as possible and see if it will come around. (For example, if you're currently pouring in your top-off water all at one time each day, try using a dosing bottle or something to constantly replace for evaporation.) If you can't use a dosing or top-off system, then at least adjust your top-off for temperature and pour it in slowly.