stupid questions from the new guy

[tsuyoshi]

hey all. found the forum and i hope i'm not intruding too much, but it seems like there is a quality knowledge base around here.

i'm a real beginner to reef tanks. i've had a salt tank for about a year and have just introduced my first corals, due to fear of losing them (i'm a broke student...i can't afford this tank in the first place...)

my mushrooms (as they have been identified to me) are doing just fine: big and green and healthy, with new little ones popping up beneath them.

the problem is with the other one: a bright orange (polyp?). when i first got it a couple of weeks ago, it would exude yellow tenticles @ feeding time. this has since stopped and the little guy is withering. i believe he will be dead soon and that it is too late to save him, but i really like his look in my tank and need to figure out what i have done wrong so that i can replace him...

any help that can be offered would be greatly appreciated, and i hope you don't mind if i nose about the posts for a bit. in the last hour of doing so, i have learned a great deal that i knew nothing about!

thankies!

 

[NaH2O]

Welcome to Reef Frontiers!!! Hope you enjoy the forum, and you are not intruding at all! Everyone is welcome....ask away!

Can you post your water parameters (salinity, nitrates, pH, etc)? I'm trying to figure out what type of coral you are having trouble with. Is it a zoanthid that is staying closed up? Is it a sun coral? Maybe some other type of polyp? Post a pic if you can.

This is an example of zoanthid:

This is an example of a Sun Coral

 

[tsuyoshi]

as to the ID, i really don't know. as i said, i'm new to reef tanks. i'll try to post some stats on my water this weekend, and a pic or two if i can. it's unfortunate that this is happening during finals week!

thanks for the welcome and the offer of help! i do truly appreciate it!

 

[tsuyoshi]

P.S. that sun coral is beautiful! is it hard to handle?

 

[Krish]

Welcome to RF! and like Nikki said, "Ask away!"

 

[morgan]

i have a sun coral and a metal halide and it dosent seem like it likes heaps of light because the polyps arent open all the time maybe only for filter feed as i imagine is has an aglea inside that generates food for it self and only filter feed when it has to althouh just my experince

 

[Detri]

Welcome to RF

 

[NaH2O]

Tubastrea sp. corals like the sun coral are azooxanthellate, which means they don't use zooxanthellae/symbiotic algae to feed themselves. So for zooxanthellate corals, light is needed to feed the corals and provide a source of energy. With azooxanthellate corals, feeding needs to come from a direct source (in aquaria = hobbyist)...they are non-photosynthetic. They can be a difficult coral for some to keep long term, provided their needs are not met. They are more of a shaded area or cave coral, so light is not of importance (especially since they are non-photosynthetic). If ever considering one of these corals, please research as much as possible. Here is an article on them: Tubastrea - The Striking Sunflower Coral by Eric Borneman.

 

[tsuyoshi]

Awesome, awesome, awesome! Dead on! That's exactly the coral I'm working with! The attatched article has a great deal of wonderful information with which I hope i can save the coral before it's too late. I'm not sure, but i think my problem is in feeding. The author of the article suggests syringe feeding, a thing that i have not yet tried (as I said, these are my first corals...)

I've always fed my fish frozen brine shrimp, though I've considered switching to krill (I'm told that it has more nutritional value, though they've never seemed to mind). I'll thaw some and attempt to feed each polyp individually, but I have not seen them extend their..tentacles?...in some days now. I wonder if they will be able to consume the food?

Thank you all so much for the pleasant welcome and the very helpful advice!

 

[spongebob lover]

ohh dood you are lucky !!
i want a sun coral he he may be some day .

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10947
well here is a tiny little bit more on the sun corals

that picture of the zoanthins is just really sweet !!.
They are not hard to care for, they spread everywhere but you gotta be very careful when handling them .

 

[snobanker]

Cool a sun coral...wish I could find out that one of my polyps was one...lol...welcome to RF and and don't be afraid to ask anything around here...lots of great knowledge and some laughs too

 

[t_lynde]

tsuyoshi,

I have two colonies of sun's, I use a turkey baster and fill it with a mixture of cyclopeze, brine shrimp, krill, squid ect. I like to give them a variety of sized meaty foods to grab.

they will usually only open after lights out or when just my actinics are on but you can sometimes tease them to come out by squirting some cyclo. or brine shrimp in the tank.
Use saltwater out of your tank, not fresh as it might cause the polyps to close.
turn off any powerheads you have running and gently squirt the mix trying to get each one, and you should be successful.

I do this a couple times a week and all my sun's are doing great.

sun's are a very nice specimen to have in your tank they give good color to shady areas.

good luck


T

 

[tsuyoshi]

been working on papers the whole day and itching as i read each reply! i'm going home to try baster feeding now! the lights should be off in just a few minuts, so i'll try it in a dark tank.

i've always given my tank 3-4 hours of light per day, in the evening, so i could view it while i was home (it's pretty shady during the day). given that i have some mushrooms in there now as well (i know the sun corals aren't photosynthetic), is this enough light? too much? i've got no algea problems, so...

anyway, i want to say that you guys are a phenomenal bunch! i never expected the outpouring of information when i first stopped in here yesterday!

i'm growing to love this stuff, but it's hard without the right info! thank you so much for helping a rookie like me get going!

-J

 

[t_lynde]

I think most would agree that you need lights for 8-12 hours a day.

get a cheap timer at wal-mart $5.00 and set it and forget it.



T

 

[hopper]

Might want to extend the amount of time your lights stay on. My actinics are on for 13 hours a day and the MH's stay on for 7 hours. Don't know what all you have in the tank, but a lot of corals are photosynthetic as in they feed off of the light as well as being filter feeders. You probably haven't had to deal with algae problems because of the 3-4 hours of light your tank is currently receiving. Algae is a common problem and can be dealt with so don't panic if it starts to show up.

 

[NaH2O]

I agree in lengthining your photoperiod, unless I'm misunderstanding the length of your photoperiod. You can do it slowly over the course of a few weeks, so you don't shock the other corals in the tank.

I'm not sure if you read through the link spongebob lover posted above. I had a link in that thread to a DIY feeder. It might be helpful if the turkey basting doesn't work out: DIY Lunar Lander.

 

[tsuyoshi]

Phenomenal! Not only does the article describe a clever manner of feeding (which i will attempt to assemble tonite) but it describes exactly the manner in which I obtained my Sun Coral (donated by my favorite fish store because it was dying on them!)

I'm not sure what kind of psycic abilities you guys are working with here, but you might want to consider taking up a career as comic-book heroes!

As to lighting, I'll start adding about a half hour per day until i get it up to seven or eight, with at least four-five of them after sunset. By way of livestock, I only have a couple of clowns, a banded shrimp, some mushrooms and the sun coral. Noone has seemed to mind the lighting situation yet, but there's no point in pushing it.

Thanks guys!

 

[tsuyoshi]

I've rearranged the tank to allow for a better postition for the sun, where it can have the proper flow and also offer space for me to feed it individually.

The 'lunar-lander' you suggested has worked wonders. Within just a few days, there was noticable improvement in the flowering of the little beastie (probably not the right word, but, hey, it works... ).

It is eating better, coming out more often and for longer amounts of time.

Prognosis is good. I can't thank you guys enough!

 

[NaH2O]

Excellent! Glad to hear there is improvement with the sun coral. What did you start feeding it?

 

[t_lynde]

I also like the Lunar lander idea (I call it the diving bell)
I bought a 2 liter bottle of soda and am drinking it furiously so I can build one

this sounds easier and more efficient than the turkey baster.


T