Help With Scoly

I have 3 Radion's over my 125 gallon.

Alkalinity = 9.0
Calcium = 420
Magnesium = 1500
Salinity = 1.025
Phosphates = 0
Nitrates/Nitrites/Ammonia unreadable or 0.

The scoly I got from the show has been doing well, for the most part. I managed to feed him once, tried again last night and not sure if he got anything or not.

He's been looking great, ever since I brought him home. Once, my Pistol Shrimp attempted to use him as a prop and had him half-buried in the sand at one of his entrances; I quickly fixed that by distracting him with three empty snail shells instead and my Pistol has left the Scoly alone the last few days.

Every night (including last night), save Sunday night, he's extended tentacles out about an hour or so after the lights go out.

Tonight when I got home, I believe he looked alright; I can't say for certain as I cleaned the glass, did algae, and dosed, and then got distracted. When I went to do my testing, and glance at my corals, I noticed that the scoly was all tight, to where some of the ridges where the skeleton or coral disc are were whitish. I don't think this was bleaching, just skin pulled really taut. Also, his mouth was open. I knew this was not good.

I moved around some rock above the sand and placed the scoly in a more shaded area, with less flow. About 20-30 minutes later, the mouth closed, so I presume I'm on the right track.

I had the Scoly positioned in the tank between my radions, so only the outer edges of opposing lights were hitting him, and he was showing no signs of stress, until just now, and he had a low/moderate flow as he was literally about halfway in the tank between both MP40's, and of course, on the bottom.

The only problem now is trying to feed him is going to be a pain, because my skunk cleaner will probably try and steal his food.

Any suggestions on care, here, or if there is anything else I should do to make sure my baby Scoly grows, and becomes fat, and happy in my tank? Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Chris

Sounds like it may have suffered some damage from being moved around and buried by the shrimp., or it may still be messing with it when your not around. Flow may have also been a factor. Is it starting to "puff" back up and show tentacles (assuming lights are off).

Also, you don't have to feed them everyday.

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Yeah, I don't plan on feeding them every day, figured every other day, or every 3 days at least however. Still, it is a smaller Scoly, and I'd like him to get to bigger size, and I do plan on feeding most of my corals.

His tentacles are starting to come out, now, though. And I just did the 'bottle top' trick, and fed him and he responded immediately, so I feel a lot better. New reefer, and a little panic attack. But, I'm attached to every coral I pick out, and want them all to be healthy, and happy. :)

I'll keep an eye on him tomorrow, and hope that everything is okay. Most of the posts I saw were where the mouth was gaping and wouldn't close for awhile, so I'm hoping that I was able to rectify the problem before it became an issue.

I'll keep an eye on the pistol; but between this and the episode with the plate coral where he tried to drag the mini-plate back into his cave, I may be looking to try to find a way to get him out. I'd hate to do that, because he's really fun to watch ... but, not at the sake of losing all my LPS corals to his engineering skills.

I think small weekly feedings would be more than adequate. Overfeeding could potentially cause food to rot inside = not good.

Over lighting is also a concern. I think it is good you put it in a more shady location. Its easier than you think to overdo it with LEDs. Maybe even dim your lights over that part of your tank a bit if you don't think you have a shady enough spot that it will be happy in.

Thanks, both, for the tips/suggestions. I'll probably limit my feedings to once or twice a week, then. I'll use the 'pop bottle' method when I do feed the scoly, just because it is such a slow eater, and my shrimp and crabs will prevent it from eating. I'm also dosing Fuel from Seachem twice a week, at about (right now) 1/2 the suggested dosage as I don't want to cause an algae bloom, so that should help as well from what I understand with LPS coral.

Scoly looks better today, mildly. I got home, and the shrimp didn't seem to have bothered him or moved him, in the same position.

He did take food, last night, and ate from what I could tell. But today his flesh is pulled very tight, still, and I can see the ridges of the skeleton beneath, and the ridges of the skeleton against the flesh around the oral disc. I looked back at my pictures after I got the Scoly, and realized that some of the skin was pulled that taut from when I purchased him, and I may have thought it was discoloration or different/lighter pigments at the time.

I'm going to keep him in the shade for awhile, and watch for slow improvements.

Is there any other care/suggestions I could do, to help improve the coral's health? It's my understanding that none of the skeleton or side ridges (kind of like teeth) should be showing, and the flesh on the scoly should be 'fatter' or 'plump' for a healthy coral, correct? I'm good with being paitent, just like to make sure I'm doing anything/everything I can to help this guy out.

Also Jim, thanks for the idea. I was thinking about changing my lighting so that one of my lights might be dimmer/less bright than the others for some of my lower/moderate light loving corals.

The odd thing is, my Acanthophylia, which is a moderate/low light coral, kept extending his flesh all the way out as if he wasn't getting enough light and wanted more, and he's under more direct light than my Scoly. I've got the Radion's right now at 60%, but I'm keenly aware of people bleaching corals on the Radions, and any LEDs in particular. I've not gone over 60% brightness with these, yet, and not really having any issues with bleaching or anything.

I'm currently dealing with a diatom bloom (my second, and my LFS said he wasn't surprised I was getting one with my new tank), which I'm not too worried about, but I will try and keep an eye on it and make sure no algae gets on there. If it does, could I clean it with something like a very soft bristle toothbrush?

Here is a picture from Monday, the day after the show. I guess I really didn't think about it then, or put 2 + 2 together, and while this doesn't show the skeleton/teeth on the underside that are currently exposed, it does show the whitish outlines where the coral is taut. I don't see anywhere where there might be lesions however. It has put tentacles out and is accepting food; I'm taking those as positive signs. This is pretty much how it's looked every day since I got him. I DID notice the teeth exposed, when I put him in my tank, but I figured that was just transportation stress. But it's yet to plump out and 'relax', so to speak.

I've presently got him under a ledge, shaded, and flow block a bit by some rock work, and one of the lowest flow areas of my tank.

http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphoto...65780568_n.jpg