Candy Cane not growing (picture)

[dlaunde]

Hey all,

 

I purchased this Candy Cane coral from Live Aquaria about a month ago. Unfortunately while I was trying to remove it from the peg (so I could secure it better to the LR itself), I bent one of the heads. It seems to have repaired itself, but how it looks in the picture attached is about how it looked when I received it, minus the slight damage I did to it and there does seem to be a little swelling of the bigger head (hard to see in the pic).

 

If it was completely dead, how would it look?

 

Is it just taking that long to get comfortable?

 

For comparison, I bought a Trumpet Coral at the same time as the Candy Cane and about a week ago the Trumpet really started to take off/swell and expand. All other corals are growing great too.

 

Tank is 12" deep but the Candy Cane is about 6" from the surface. Using a Current USA Orbit IC light on 100% Blue/50% Red/25% White.

 

All parameters are ideal. I only feed Rod's Food every other day but didn't start using Rod's until last week (before that it was just some generic flake food).

 

Any thoughts?

 

Thanks!

[Travis]

Does it put out feeder tentacles when you feed the Rods Food?

[dlaunde]

Not that I've noticed... But than again, none of the corals put tentacles out during feeding for some reason. My mushroom puts its out at the most random times.

[PChung]

Maybe you should try a different food such as Reef Nutrition Phyto Feast or Oyster Feast to see if the tentacles will come out. In my experience with Candy Canes, every time the head was damaged, that part of it would die off...

[dlaunde]

Besides the presence of feeder tentacles...is there a sure sign it is dying or dead? The middle of each head still fluoresces green.

[malacoda]

They look awfully short. Did you break the heads off of the stalk... or were the stalks that short when you got them?

 

Either way, the heads look health so I would give it a bit of time.

 

As far as putting out feeders, I can put LRS Reef Frenzy in the water, Oyster Feast, Coral Frenzy, PhytoFeast, it doesn't matter... mine will only put out feeders at night. There are also stretches where even at night it won't put out feeders.

(That may be due in part to my water being a bit high in nutrients (on the verge of too high in fact). If a coral is getting enough nutrients through water itself, it always have need to put out feeders.).

 

And while it always looks healthy, happy, and inflated, it took it a good 5 months to form a new head.

 

Also, they may be putting energy into growing their stalks more, which won't be as visible as head new heads forming.

[dlaunde]

The stalks are actually longer and not included in the picture...I would say there is an additional 2" of stalk that goes below the rock line pictured. I didn't break the heads off the stalks, they arrived attached to a piece of ceramic plug that I than separated them from.

 

I don't mind being patient if they are still alive. Just more curious/concerned if they are already dead for some reason in which case I would replace them.

[Sunstar]

they can take a while. took 6 months before mine grew and when it started it went nuts.

[malacoda]

The stalks are actually longer and not included in the picture...I would say there is an additional 2" of stalk that goes below the rock line pictured.

 

Ah, okay, it was just the angle of the picture then. Cool.

 

They're definitely not dead. Actually look pretty healthy to me. If they were dead, there wouldn't be any of the reddish-pink or green flesh on the heads... just the hard, lumpy white skeleton underneath.

 

So, yeah, just give 'em some time. To use Sunstar's words, once they've had a few months to get used to your tank and finish recovering from the fragging process they recently experienced, they should kick into growth mode and "start to go nuts".

 

Oh, and don't freak out if it looks like the heads turn inside out. That's just them 'opening up' to extend their feeder tentacles.

[Sunstar]

 

Oh, and don't freak out if it looks like the heads turn inside out. That's just them 'opening up' to extend their feeder tentacles.

 

An example of this is in one of my more recent posts (click nem III banner) of my night time trumpet/candy cane coral. which started out as one head a year and a half ago, this time last year it was at two heads.

[dlaunde]

Oh, and don't freak out if it looks like the heads turn inside out. That's just them 'opening up' to extend their feeder tentacles.

 

I actually saw my Trumpet do that once...freaked me out for a second but then I guessed what it was doing and thought it was pretty cool.

[Reef Queso]

Could be lights. I had some current USA TrueLumens over my tank and two heads completely died to skeletons. Put an AI prime on the aquarium and they both grew back and the one that was dead the most grew another head in about a month.

[patback]

Hey all,

 

I purchased this Candy Cane coral from Live Aquaria about a month ago. Unfortunately while I was trying to remove it from the peg (so I could secure it better to the LR itself), I bent one of the heads. It seems to have repaired itself, but how it looks in the picture attached is about how it looked when I received it, minus the slight damage I did to it and there does seem to be a little swelling of the bigger head (hard to see in the pic).

 

If it was completely dead, how would it look?

 

Is it just taking that long to get comfortable?

 

For comparison, I bought a Trumpet Coral at the same time as the Candy Cane and about a week ago the Trumpet really started to take off/swell and expand. All other corals are growing great too.

 

Tank is 12" deep but the Candy Cane is about 6" from the surface. Using a Current USA Orbit IC light on 100% Blue/50% Red/25% White.

 

All parameters are ideal. I only feed Rod's Food every other day but didn't start using Rod's until last week (before that it was just some generic flake food).

 

Any thoughts?

 

Thanks!

If the mushroom is putting out tentacles, they are actually pissed. Mushrooms do not feed with tentacles they use missentrial threads to fight off near by threats.

As long as the Skelton is not bare the candy canes are alive. Ime, candy's grow very slow. I think some people have luck with them and others don't.

Are they puffy and soft or held in tight and hardish?

Are they puffy and soft or held in tight and hardish?

[ReefWeeds]

If the mushroom is putting out tentacles, they are actually pissed. Mushrooms do not feed with tentacles they use missentrial threads to fight off near by threats.

As long as the Skelton is not bare the candy canes are alive. Ime, candy's grow very slow. I think some people have luck with them and others don't.Are they puffy and soft or held in tight and hardish?Are they puffy and soft or held in tight and hardish?

Yeah the note that feeders came out of a mushroom threw me. Patback is right. In my experience, candy canes take a while to acclimate to a tank enough to start growing. It's only been a month, need to give it time. Lps doesn't grow super fast like some softies and such. But they should be puffy.

[dlaunde]

Regarding the mushroom, thanks for the clarification. I have only seen it put out its tentacles twice but it's not close enough to any corals to touch them. I just thought it was feeding. Glad to learn something new and important.

[dlaunde]

So...I went to relocate the Candy Cane to a better spot and broke off the smaller of the two heads right where the stalk forked. So now I have the big head (which was already recovering from the slight damage I did to it when I first got it) and a tiny length of the stalk left where the smaller head was that I snapped off.

 

Once the coral gets comfortable and starts growing, will it regrow a head off of the broken fork of the stalk?

[Sunstar]

Not likely. The head will widen and split, and keep doing that.

[dlaunde]

Not likely. The head will widen and split, and keep doing that.

 

Gotcha.

 

So heads are basically independent of each other? And the breaking off of the one won't affect the other?

 

That's pretty much how fragging works, doesn't it?

[Travis]

 

Gotcha.

 

So heads are basically independent of each other? And the breaking off of the one won't affect the other?

 

That's pretty much how fragging works, doesn't it?

Yep

[Sunstar]

 

Gotcha.

 

So heads are basically independent of each other? And the breaking off of the one won't affect the other?

 

That's pretty much how fragging works, doesn't it?

 

basically. My trumpet is not on stems long enough thus far to frag, so I can't do it without harming. But the hammer I could frag if I wanted to. basically the stem is like bare bone. you only need to be concerned if the f lesh is torn.

[Clown79]

Lps can take a while to grow. Unlike leathers!

 

It looks fine to me. I find they can take a bit to bounce back and inflate even after being touched.

 

My tenticles only come out at night. Try feeding a bit at night.

 

Do you always run the red leds at 50%? Thats pretty high. Studies have shown that red in high percentage can actually stunt coral growth.

[Reef Queso]

What kind of light are you using?

[dlaunde]

I have since dialed down the Red LED's (well, turned them off completely) and am now running just the Blues and a little bit of White (100%B, 12%W).

 

I was only really using the Red's to add some brightness in lieu of raising the White LED's but have since come to appreciate a mostly acitinic look anyways. Problem solved on that front I think.

 

The lighting is Current USA Orbit IC

[Clown79]

You can use red but its mostly advised to run them on the lower percentage.

[Reef Queso]

That's why they're not growing. Current USA LED killed my trumpets into brown specs on the skeleton. Since I've had the Prime HD they have each split new heads from 8 to 15 (ones still splitting). Had the trumpets since august, they were completely dead by september. the prime has been on them for 2 months.