fungia not expanding polyps

buddy08

SPS Addict
I have 2 fungias plates in my 75g reef. One was is a frag from mr coral (1/4 of the whole plate) and the other is one i picked up from my LFS last week. When i first got the frag from mr coral, the polyps were extended in the bag and for the first few nights they were extended in my tank but since then, i havent seen them except for little nubs between the skeleton structure of the coral. The other i got last week was puffy, extended, and purple/green in the LFS but once i got it home, it hasnt been the same. also, the skeleton structure on this one seems to be whiting out in certain places. My water par's are in check, ph is 8.4 salinity is 1.024, temp is 78, 0 ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites. Calc is 480 and allk is 8dkh.. any advice as to why these arent doing so well? the frag is mid level in the tank on a wrack and the new plate is in the bottom right corner with low to moderate flow, frag wrack is in moderate to high flow.
 
Your calcium is fine. I'd bump your salinity, and your Alk. What about your Mag? Also, are you feeding them? You can squirt some Mysis at them, or if you feed pellets, drop a few at their mouth. The feelers should come out anytime you feed your tank.
 
bump it up? I havent been testing mag so i dont know, should i be testing for it and if so, whats a good level to maintain. I havent been feeding them, i tried to feed the big one last night with mysis but it didnt take it and the water current blew the shrimp away. the frag doesnt even look like it has a mouth although im sure it does, its just hard to see because its 1/4 of the actual coral.
 
You should be testing for Cal / Alk / Mag, and test for Mag when you have issues maintaining Cal and/or Alk. You want to shoot for a Mag of about 1350

I have a Long Tentacle Plate, and I have to turn my powerheads off to feed it (and feed the fish at the same time or the plate doesnt get a chance to eat the food)
 
Cut the top off of a water or soda bottle. This essentially makes a tent to place over your coral while you feed them. The flow wont blow the food away, and the fish can't steal it either.
 
this fungia is going to die.... i have a feeling, the skeleton is more exposed and white, the mouth in the center is no longer closed with green and pink coloration, its now open and whiting out. i moved him and spot fed him a few mysis shrimp but the shrimp pieces are just sitting in its mouth, it hasnt swallowed them yet. huge bummer :\
 
yeah, i dont get it.... thing looked amazing in the LFS, got it home and it just went down hill from the moment i put it in. if it doesnt completely die out, im going to leave the skeleton in the tank to hopefully produce babies.... Theres still hope to keep fungias in my tank! the one from mr coral is starting to look better. just taking it for ever to perk up
 
well the skeleton are super sharp in comparison to the very thing skin that the coral has maybe something fell on it or bumped it the wrong way cutting the flesh, my bubble coral fell from midtank and i could tell it was hurt it stayed about a full day just showing the skeleton then it slowly started opening

as long as you still see some flesh or tentacles theirs still hope

best of luck

oh and just personnal experience if it does die take it out and clean it i had one die in my last build and when i moved it an airbubble came out and oh my god talk about a reek smelled like rotten eggs, maybe just me *shrugs*

oh also your salinity and calc are ok , but you should be checking everything in your tank that your corals use or feed on just to keep everything in check
 
I am very surprised no one has mentioned phosphates. Funghia and other LPS are very sensitive to phosphates. About 1 part per 4 million and plates will get sick --retracted, whitish and skeleton showing. I do not even test for phosphates. I ust watch my plates!

Whether your plates are dead or not --test for phoshates right away! My plates have got a little sick in the past but they did come back after I dealt with phosphates! .

TEST PHOSPHATES!
 
Okay, another possibility is that it got too much light. I've put "high light" LPS too close to a MH bulb and the coral melted. I would never put a LPS closer than 7 inches to a 150 watt MH. I have done that before and watched more than one coral melt..
 
i do test for phosphates ever once in a blue moon, always come back as 0

Most phosphate tests will always read zero, either because something in the system is actively using it (read nuisance algae) or because they're just plain inaccurate. Do you have an nusiance algae growth? Do you run a 'fuge with some sort of macro in it? I had a bit of a phosphate issue, and some chaeto / caluerpa in my 'fuge cleared that right up
 
yeah, i dont get it.... thing looked amazing in the LFS, got it home and it just went down hill from the moment i put it in. if it doesnt completely die out, im going to leave the skeleton in the tank to hopefully produce babies.... Theres still hope to keep fungias in my tank! the one from mr coral is starting to look better. just taking it for ever to perk up

Did you acclimate them before you put them in your tank?
 
i have t5 lighting, and its on the lower scale of light intensity... so i dont think it was the lights, as for algae growing, only algae i have is coralline algae and a lot of it.... i do have a fuge but the pin cushion urchin that i banished to the sump ate about 3/4 of the cheato so i have roughly a golf ball size of it now lol. as for acclimating them, i drip acclimate them in a bucket, roughly a drop per second and i dont put them in my tank until the bucket is 3/4 full of my tank water (and 1/4 full of the original water) it takes about 2 hours to do so. the fungia also went straight to the bottom of the tank which is about 28 inches away from the lights
 
i have t5 lighting, and its on the lower scale of light intensity... so i dont think it was the lights, as for algae growing, only algae i have is coralline algae and a lot of it.... i do have a fuge but the pin cushion urchin that i banished to the sump ate about 3/4 of the cheato so i have roughly a golf ball size of it now lol. as for acclimating them, i drip acclimate them in a bucket, roughly a drop per second and i dont put them in my tank until the bucket is 3/4 full of my tank water (and 1/4 full of the original water) it takes about 2 hours to do so. the fungia also went straight to the bottom of the tank which is about 28 inches away from the lights

T5s? That may not be enough light for LPS.
 
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