Sun coral HELP..:'(

Mine is actually my avatar. That pic was when I first got it. It has since grown from then.

IMO you will still have to target feed these guys. I do it every three to four days. I use the cut bottle of water trick because my shrimp and hermits will steal the food right from these guys. I place cut bottle of water over them after my lights go out. Squirt in cyclopeeze to get them to open up then I feed it mysis shrimp trying to make sure every polyp gets at least one piece.

Moving the coral into a feeding tank was a hassle to me because if I touched it when the coral was open it would close back up again and I would have to wait another 20 to 30 mins for it to open up. Sometimes I would forget it was in my feeding tank. I've found the open bottle trick to be the best, but everyone has their different opinions.

 

I have a black tubastrea and clarky is right on with the cyclopseeze. Mine wasn't opening when I first got it either but within minutes of me putting the cyclposeeze in the polyps opened up and I also fed it some mysis. I use a turkey baster to make sure the cyclopseeze gets to the polyps and then use tweezers to feed each individual polyp. Also I have mine in an area of med flow and it's actually under a shelf of live rock completely out of the light. Good luck.

 

You know i have lots of sun coral, I got them from a friend. I was wondering how much for a head becuase i have alot of heads i cant count. But mines only open half way and its on top of my rocks reaching my athenics 65 watts. They haven't open for me yet i got them two weeks now. They only open half way and what i see is they only stay in dark palces and comes out in dark they hate high lights. But im willing to sell some. Let me know i;ll shoot some pics. How much a head though.

 

Ditto what everyone else has said. Mine looked just like yours-a little on a decline, but with healthy heads. It was stubborn and didn't want to eat at first. Mix up what ever meaty food you want to give it, and squirt a little of the water over the coral. It should start to open up a little in a minute or two, then target feed the heads, even if they don't open up all the way. Be persistent and within a week it will start to come around. Corals have to get used to the feeding schedule just like fish. My sun coral eats like a pig now, and has more new heads than original heads. They eat fast, too.

Recent pic

 

How much does a head cost.

 

I'm not quite 100% sure but the tank definitely doesn't look ready for corals and such. Also as stated they prefer to be completely shaded and with the lack of life and growth on the liverock i'd say that it won't last long unless you start target feeding it. Mature reef tanks can sustain them with pod population and other reef bugs.

IMO (like everything in this hobby) probably should have waited several more months before dropping those guys in. But nothing is impossible and only time will tell.

 

I tried Clarkys thing and cut a two liter in half and placed it over the coral then with the turkey baster shot the cyclopseeze in there and it worked great. Every head opened up and got some food. You just have to shoot some water to keep the food circulating in the two liter top. Its like a snow globe.LOL

 

Sun corals aren't very expensive. Maybe $2 a head I'd guess. I paid $30 for mine and it had at least 20 or more heads on it so actually maybe less than $2. But that's around here.

 

This is how I feed my pink gonio too, works great. Although I don't use cyclopeeze for the goniopora

 

I target feed my LPS corals (including sun corals) thawed and rinsed frozen mysis in the evenings a couple times per week. I feed the rest of my tank 2-3 times per week alternating with mysis, frozen cyclops, Tropic Marin Reef Snow, Pro-Coral Phyton and TM Pro-Coral Zooton.