I just saved a plate coral...help me make it thrive!!! (picture)

[zacharytrimble]

I just haggled a local lfs for this fungia because it was clearly dying...just acclimated it...how do I nurse it back to health??? My params are good right now...but what else can I do...what about placement? Feeding? Etc.

[masonicman]

Sorry when it gets like this it usually does not come back.

[jubjubrsx]

yeah definately qt that......you dont want that to be the downfall of the tank and make it crash...

[zacharytrimble]

By making the tank crash...do you simply mean the ammonia produced by it continually dying...or do fungia's expell some kind of poison or something that kills other stuff?

[wrott]

Low-medium flow, medium light.
Try putting frozen brine shrimp on its mouth w/ pumps off--might entice it.
Short tentacle plates have to be one of the most resilient LPS.
If it eats, it will come back.
And I don't thick it would crash your 75g tank if it doesn't make it.
Good luck
And I wouldn't throw it away if it dies--it can start producing baby plates--I believe this happens when they are buried by accident.

[saltycreefer]

Word^^^

[Freed]

Put a piece of mysis shrimp or other meaty fleshy food right on its mouth and even hold it there very lightly with something if you have to. It will take it in after a few minutes er so. Do this a couple of times a day or more. It should bounce back. I've seen worse come back to life with continuous feeding.

[teamdulski]

I'd give it a 5% chance sorry to say.

[zacharytrimble]

should I feed it with lights on or off...cause they feed at night naturally right? or does it matter when they're presented with yummy, meaty food?

[wrott]

It doesn't matter if lights are on or off. They will usually shrink at night.

[yellowwatchmen]

If you guys are just going to say it is going to die or no chance please dont post, he is trying to figure out how to help it. I would feed it brine, mysis, or any meat foods. I am not sure about the disc coral but alot of LPS eat at night with sweeper tentacles, so I would watch and see and if it does I would feed it.

[ILoveReefer]

I have an orange plate just like the one shown. My setup is a little different than yours, 90g 2-250MH. I've relocated him several times and finally found a good spot for him. On the sandbed and in a corner with low flow. They really seem to perfer low flow. Mine was never that bleached but he was pretty close. I agree with wrott's post 100%. They feed day or night. No sweeper tentacles. I'll post a pic tomarrow when the lights are on.

[hyperfocal]

When I was trying to bring mine back from the brink, I managed to get some feeding response from well-soaked cyclop-eeze. Here's a pic of the "forced feeding" chamber I tossed together:



You can see some response in this closer-up shot:



As it turns out, the feeding didn't make much difference -- moving it to a different tank with lower lighting and flow was the ticket (as wrott mentioned above). Your looks to be in pretty rough shape, but it's not dead yet so give it a go.

[zacharytrimble]

Thanks for good responses guys...I may have to move him into a little less flow area than he is now, and hyperfocal...I think I'll try your method for feeding...good idea...I've got red calanus plankton I think I"ll try it with.

[bdare]

Originally posted by hyperfocal
When I was trying to bring mine back from the brink, I managed to get some feeding response from well-soaked cyclop-eeze. Here's a pic of the "forced feeding" chamber I tossed together:



You can see some response in this closer-up shot:



As it turns out, the feeding didn't make much difference -- moving it to a different tank with lower lighting and flow was the ticket (as wrott mentioned above). Your looks to be in pretty rough shape, but it's not dead yet so give it a go.

Sorry for the hijack, but I LOVE the golf tee frags.

[hyperfocal]

Yeah, a couple of the local stores use them... they're ok, though the CA glue doesn't stick to them very well. I usually pop the frag out before mounting.

[tattooreef]

one thing with that coral in particular is that it will feed day or night and the method of force feeding above may work, but all you have to do is suck up some mysis or whatever else high protein food into a turkey baster and softly spray it just in to the mouth , yes some will expell but it will take in however much it needs. also on another note if it does die keep it in the tank because they will reproduce after death. i personally had a huge purple that died during a move but kept it in the system and within two or three months i now have over a hundred very small fungia "buds" forming on the skeleton that will hopefully one day be able to be plucked from the skeleton and form a ton of clones of the mother peice

[superfirefly]

I agree with Tattooreef 100%. I have read of many instances of dead fungias doing this.

[gabe3d]

If things are not looking too bright you can think about cutting it like a pie to make some frags. They only recommend it doing to a healthy piece but if things are looking grim it may be better to do it in order to slow down/isolate the receding tissue, but if they do reproduce after their death than this may not be a good option. HTH.

[zacharytrimble]

Good thoughts...hey by the way...it does have it's tentacles out...and seems to be accepting the calanus plankton!

[AC11337]

good luck

[ILoveReefer]

Heres mine happy and healthy. About 6 months ago he resembled yours. My camera wasnt able to capture how brite he really is. Good luck. Theres alot of really good advice on this thread.

[GoingPostal]

They are pretty hardy, I'm bringing back a small orange plate also. Not quite as bad, maybe 1/2 healthy, it was in a tank with old lights, big algea problems and up against rock on all sides. I had to scrub algea growing in the dead parts, now it's in a tank in a low flow spot 70 watt halide, it did act much happier when I replaced the bulb last month though, I feed it about once a week when it looks hungry, most of the time it will stay retracted but poofs out usually at night.
I have mine on the sandbed but propped up by a flat rock to limit sand getting on it, I did drop a frag on it pretty hard and killed part, oops, but even that's came back. Worst case scenario I've heard flipping them upsidedown will cause them to reproduce babies on the top side as a last ditch effort.

[huskyrider]

if there is tissue there is hope Ive had heads fall of of lps corals and come back I've brought an open brain back from brink also never give up

[zacharytrimble]

Hey, great news...it's raring it's beautiful mouth today...good fleshy stuff right at mouth!!! Also, some tentacles...I think it may indeed be on the right track, at least!