CAULASTREA (Trumpet) - How long to open ?

[rwm555]

I just purchased a CAULASTREA (Trumpet / Torch / Candy Cane) coral and a DUNCANOPSAMMIA (Whisker) coral. The Duncan opened up within 24 hours and is doing great. A week later, the Trumpet is still not open. How long before I should be concerned? I read that the trumpet was a "bullet proof" coral.

 

[Curtswearing]

I just purchased a CAULASTREA (Trumpet / Torch / Candy Cane) coral and a DUNCANOPSAMMIA (Whisker) coral. The Duncan opened up within 24 hours and is doing great. A week later, the Trumpet is still not open. How long before I should be concerned? I read that the trumpet was a "bullet proof" coral.

You won't see tentacles on a Caulastrea as they only come out in the middle of the night.

Please define what you mean by "opened up".

 

[Scooterman]

light out & mine show up very shortly afterward.

 

[rwm555]

At the LFS, they were kinda fluffy and now they are tight. Does that make any sense?

 

[Coral Ranch]

Without knowing your set up it's hard to say.But closed up tight could be lighting.Make sure they are only recieving moderate light,especially the brown with turqoise centers.The brighter colored ones may prefer more light.When I get these in I always start them out toward the bottom of the tank.

 

[apollothesun]

wondering what your flow is around the trumpets, mine like random moderate flow, and your alkalinity. mine seem to open just nicely on a dkh of 8.

 

[rwm555]

It's a 65 gal tank with 4 T5's. Two actinic plus and 2 6700 daylight. They are about 1/3 way up from the bottom the tank. All water pramaters are good and the other corals are doing fine (toadstool, hammer, yellow polps, mushrooms)

 

[rwm555]

The dkh stays between 8 - 10 and the water flow is low to moderate.

 

[apollothesun]

any tank pics to help you better? also do you run carbon? there might be chemical warfare in your tank if they're still not opening up after a week.

 

[rwm555]

I do have a sock of carbon in the sump. I have been trying to load a picture but it keeps saying that the image is to large. How do you get the image small enough to load? It's a jpeg file from a 5.0 digital camera.

 

[apollothesun]

use this to resize, use the link, i believe its freeware
http://www.download.com/IrfanView/3000-2192_4-10021962.html?tag=mncol;pop&cdlPid=10865169

 

[rwm555]

Here is a picture.

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/photos_members/showphoto.php?photo=7638&ppuser=24797&sl=r

 

[apollothesun]

couple things come into my mind when i see the picture. it could be light accumilation, what kind of lighting is in your tank? how different lighting from the tank where you bought it from? could be too much flow. flow should be random, not directed onto them. food, what kind of food are you feeding? i suggest either rod's coral food or cyclapeeze...turn of all your powerheads , grab a turkey baster and gently feed them through that. if no tentantacles come out when feeding then whats your nitrate at, water chemistry might be out of line?

 

[rwm555]

I have 4 T5's 2 actinic and 2 6700. I think the lighting is stronger here than at the LFS. They are in an area of some flow (Koralia 2) going above them. I am feeding cyclapeeze once per week and add FUEL twice per week. My nitrate is at zero. All the chemistry seems good. N, N, A all at zero. Ph at 8.2 Cal at 450, dkh 8-9, Iodine less than .2 I am going to move them to the bottom of the tank is a low flow, less light area and see if that helps. Any other thoughts? The Duncan, hammer and yellow ployps look great.

 

[apollothesun]

lighting sounds about right. yeah, go ahead and move it towards the bottom. wow, im out of lost for words, hopefully someone else on reeffrontiers could chime in. good luck.

 

[apollothesun]

any updates?

 

[rwm555]

Nothing good.

It is still the same....no better .......... no worse. I move it to a different location in the tank each week. I'm hoping that it will find one of the new locations the "perfect place".

I'm at a loss. How long to you think it can "hang on" like this?

 

[rwm555]

We're OPEN - Finally

Well, four weeks and four moves later we are finally open. Tonight, I saw some tenticales for the first time. I'm not sure if I found the right spot or it was just time but I'm happy.

I think we are going to make it!

 

[Curtswearing]

At the LFS, they were kinda fluffy and now they are tight. Does that make any sense?

It looks like they would benefit from a target feeding of frozen brine or mysis shrimp