Trachyphyllia question

[rick rottet]

I have a beautiful Trachyphyllia. Flat bottom skeleton. Flourescent green with lots of brownish purple. It has been in my tank since 5-18-2002. (Man those daily journals come in real handy, dont they!) I used to run General Electric PC 110 watt (almost 10000K) until 5-30-2002. Now I have Hamilton Technologies 175 watt MH 10000K. Under the PC, Trachyphyllia used to show unnatural expansion at times looking like one half of a soccer ball or volleybal. Under the MH it has not done this at all. This coral has exhibited skeletal growth and is~3 1/2" diameter by 2 3/4" tall. It has no tissue recession and exhibits daily polyp expansion/contraction. It did start to show some bleaching/yellowing when a newly introduced Gobiodon histro started to nest in it but has since recovered full color. My concern s this; I have read in every text that Trachyphyllia extend feeding tentacles. Mine has NEVER extended tentacles of any kind. I have baited the water with clam juice, squeezed krill shrimp in it's vacinity and feed the fish meaty food daily. I have even rubbed krill on its mouths and tissue folds where the tentacles should extend from. Is this cause for concern considering the length of time corals can exhibit "healthy" behavior before their demise? It sits on the substrate in the punch of the metal halide. Is it possible Trachyphyllia can obtain their nutrient requirements by photosynthesis and absorbtion? And yes, this is in my 40 gallon BR tank--36" l x 18" w x 16?17?" deep.

[Anthony Calfo]

They certainly can and do derive nutrition by absorbtion, so to speak. Still... I seriously doubt that you have enough (amount and kind) of dissolved food/nutrition needed for this very (!) hungry stony coral (studies have shown this to be less autotrophic than most other popular corals by far). Over time it may show signs of stress from slow attrition (shrinking tissue upon the corallum and/or seperation).

The lack of polyps expansion right now is not of great concern, although any less than gentle acclimation to the significant increase in light (pc to MH over such shallow water - yikes. Do be careful) perhaps is/was.

As to the feeding tentacles (nightly)... I'm not sure why yours does not express them readily. Do try different foods (mysids, pacifica plankton) and consider using a feeding cap (search archives here at RC for threads and pics of this nifty feeding technique). Please make sure the food bits are very small (1/4" or less) else large chunks may be taken but are likely to be regurgitated at night still leading to starvation in time.

I wish I could be of more help here. Not sure what to say/do.

kindly :)

Anthony

[rick rottet]

Anthony- I didnt mean that there was a lack of polyp expansion right now. Only that the "unnatural" expansion has not been present since the change to MH lighting. But would Trachyphyllia survive for nearly two years, exhibit skeletal growth and be able to recover from a partial bleaching/yellowing unless it was getting nutrition from somewhere? (And yes I was very careful when changing to the MH bulbs, never had any negative observances on any animals in my tank. I started with the MH bulb fifteen inches above the water and lowered it down to nine inches over the course of about six months.) As always, I appreciate your time and wisdom.

[Anthony Calfo]

does sound good then... albeit uncommon to survive and grow without organismal feeding. That would indicate a substantial source of nutrients (heavy fish load, weak water change schedule, weak skimming, etc). If its not broke don't fix it I say/agree :)

The less than superlative polyp expansion is not a bad thing at all either... simply a matter of brighter lights and no need to pan for lower light as before.

no worries!

kindly,

Anthony

[rick rottet]

Yes, even as a relative newbie (still am), I could tell that the polyp expansion just wasnt natural under the PC lights. It used to extend out 10-12" and look very swollen and smooth. As we discussed before, I have three 3" Chromis atripectoralis, two Gobiodon okinawae, and two Gobiodon histro. I change a minimum of 10 gal/week and sometimes more than 20. I have changed close to 800 gal in my 40 gal tank in the last year. I run my self-modified four foot tall Amiracle and an Aqua-C Remora with surface skimmers on both. I have been rinsing all frozen foods for the last six months or so.

P.S.-my cyano problem is getting better but I am still fighting it after 14 months now. I used your suggestion to remove the diffusers from my pump outlets which calmed the surface and allowed more of the organics to accumulate on the surface to be more efficiently removed by the skimmers. Where all these "nutrients" are coming from I still dont know. The refugium we talked about is in the development stages now. I have purchased two 20 gallon Sterlite containers. Now my problem is how to install them above tank without my wife noticing that I spent more money. LMAO

[Anthony Calfo]

heehee... wives are often the biggest obstacle to overcome in reefkeeping! :p

best of luck my friend!

Anthony