Carnation Coral Lighting & Feeding issues

[sweevo]

In my over enthusiasm to get my hands on a couple of new soft corals I've ended up with a Purple Carnation (tree?) Coral.

 

After doing some research and seeing the "Expert Only" signs on the net I began to panic slightly and thought maybe i'd better take it back to the shop. The owner of the store (40 miles away) assured me it would be easy to keep if I kept it out of the light and fed Marine Snow twice a week.

 

All seems fine at the minute in that it certainly springs into life at night (and during the day) looking for food. Due to the layout of rock etc in my tank though I've been unable to shelter it much from my lighting. The rig I have is 48W T5 and the coral itself is close to the bottom of my 18" deep tank.

 

So with the above in mind, my questions are:

 

1) Will having this coral out in the open, given my lighting, have a detrimental effect on this coral?

 

2) Will Marine Snow twice a week really be all i'll need to add this coral?

 

Thanks ever so much for any input on this. I'd hate for this coral to have a slow death due to lack of care on my part.

[MaryHM]

If it is a Dendronephthya species that you have, I'm afraid that the prognosis is not good. These are extremely difficult corals. They don't like to be in the light (they are found mainly in shaded cave areas on the reef). They are non-photosynthetic, so the must be fed regularly. The problem is, with what? If Marine Snow twice a week was the trick, this coral wouldn't be listed as "expert only". There are hobbyists that do have luck with this coral, but they are few and far between. Hopefully one of them will chime in soon with some suggestions.

[reefsrule]

good info on this site www.garf.org

they need to be fed constantly with phytoplankton. Most usually last a couple months

[sweevo]

Thanks guys. I can't say i'm suprised about what you've told me. The guy at the store has really gone down in my estimation and I doubt he'll EVER get my business again. No wonder he tried his best to talk me into keeping it.

 

I was up until 1am rearranging my tank just so i'd have a cave for this bad boy! Doesn't make me feel better knowing that it's 99.9% likely that it'll all be for nothing.

 

Ah well, you live, you learn.....

[jdav]

here is a pic of the one in my tank......

 

It sits on the bottom of the tank on a little ledge and has gotten a lot bigger since I put it in the tank. I ddn't get this little guy at a fish store though, I got it from the wholesaler and I got it because there is a tiny suncoral (that you can barely see at the bottom of the pic) and the coral is actually on a clam of some sort.

 

Mine is under light all the time and it doesn't effect it al all. I've had the little guy for about 2 months now and he has gotten progressively bigger and brighter since I got it. I feed my tank kent products all the time (my tank gets cloudy pretty much everynight from phytoplex or microvert) and my carnation seems to LOVE it. every time I put it in the tank he swells up ans the little polyp things on it open really big.

 

I guess there is one thing that is really weird about the one I have though, there is a little hole in the side of it and everytime I feed the tank, a little shrimp that has the exact same markings as the coral comes out of it and snags food. It almost seems like the shrimp feeds the coral. I know that might sound crazy, but seriously a shrimp lives INSIDE of my carnation.

 

Either way, mine seems to be doing well, so good luck with yours!!!!!!!!!!

[sweevo]

jdav, thanks for giving me a more upbeat assessment of my chances. Turning your aquarium water to milk each night no doubt helps though!

 

Do you just dose the recommended amounts for your tank for each of the Kent products? Also, do you have any particular routines when you feed, eg skimmer off, lights off etc?

 

Knowing this guy will be ok out in the light is good news too as it make it easier finding a suitable location for him in my 29G. Out of curiousity, just how big is your tank and approx how much do you dose each day?

 

The coral you have is the same as mine anyway so there's hope yet.

 

Thanks again.

[jdav]

Originally posted by sweevo

jdav, thanks for giving me a more upbeat assessment of my chances. Turning your aquarium water to milk each night no doubt helps though!

 

Do you just dose the recommended amounts for your tank for each of the Kent products? Also, do you have any particular routines when you feed, eg skimmer off, lights off etc?

 

Knowing this guy will be ok out in the light is good news too as it make it easier finding a suitable location for him in my 29G. Out of curiousity, just how big is your tank and approx how much do you dose each day?

 

The coral you have is the same as mine anyway so there's hope yet.

 

Thanks again.

 

just trying to help man! it's always good to have a positive attitude about things when everyone telling you it won't work.

 

As for your question, I feed my tank everynight at about 8:30ish with the vitamins and stuff that it gets. my schedule is as follows:

m - coral accel - microvert

t - coral accel - coralvite - phytoplex

w - coralaccel - microvert

th- coral accel - phytoplex

f - coral accel - coral vite

s - coral accel microvert

s - coral accel - phyto plex

I'm not really that particular about about scheduling things with my aquarium, I just have that written down on a little piece of paper so I don't forget. As far as skimmer on vs. skimmer off, I don't even use a skimmer so I guess that would make it off.

oh and I put 1/2tsp of everything.

 

Seriously though, good luck with the coral!!!! I know how it is to have everyone telling you something isn't going to work and then it does and then your considered "the acception". There is nothing that says how that coral is going to die, when it's going to die, how old it is when they go it out of the wild, how healthy it was when they got it out of the wild, if the guy who colected it dropped it on the ground and stepped on it, when it would have died had it stayed in the wild, ect. ect. ect. The simple fact is that we never know anything about anything accept the fact that it is in your aquarium now and that means you have to take care of it as best you know how.... That's all you can do. Try to stay positive about things and look at it like this: It's already not in the ocean so you might as well give it the best home it can have because what probably would have happened if you didn't buy it is someone else probably would have and they probably wouldn't have tried to find out anything about it and it would have died in a week.

 

Really though, that's just my opinion on things and I'll probably get flamed for saying all that, but it's the truth as I see it. The fact that you care about your livestock enough to join a message board and ask about something instead of just letting it die says a lot and if you don't believe me, go talk to some people at your LFS, not the employees, the customers. I guarantee you that half of them just buy stuff to replace what they kill. And that's why carnations and other stuff that is considered "hard to keep" is considered that way. Lazy people who look at coral like it is a plant, don't research it, kill it, and then scream "I spent all this money one these lights and all my stuff dies ..... ooooh that's pretty I'll take it" then they buy a clam, stick it under there flourecent strip light that came with the tank and it dies in 2 weeks and they come back to the Fish store with another sob story about something else being hard to keep. Really, how hard is it to put liquid in a turkey baster or in a spoon and put it in the tank...... probably not as hard as the job they have that pays them the money they use to buy the stuff they kill.

 

Anyway, good luck with the coral and try to keep a positive outlook on things!!!!! so far things have worked out for me and hopefully they will work out for you to!!

[sweevo]

Jdav, thanks for all input mate, much appreciated.

 

The fact that you have one that appears to be thriving has given me room for optimism. Looking at your feeding schedule, that's the one area i'm really going to have to address. I've tended to just target feed my Sun Corals and drop in the occasional bit of Marine Snow from time to time up until now. Time to figure out another new tank routine !

 

Thanks again.