Help with Sarcophyton

[adagosto]

I recently purchased a Sarcophyton t. along with a Colt coral. The Colt is doing great but the Sarcophyton has not opened up its polyps. Initially it was extending is tentacles, but would not open the polyps.

It has not shed its mucus layer, nor can I detect a mucus layer forming. He responds normally to changes in light (expand/contact), but expansion is fairly weak. Circulation is reasonably strong, but indirect using a wave maker under VHO lighting. Water chem. is good. All parameters are within limits.

I have noticed algae (green) growing on a small area on the upper portion.

Is there anything I can do to help this coral? The advice from the store is to just watch it closely, so long as there is no tissue loss, it’s normal for Sarcophyton to do this “dormant” thing…. I have yet to see tissue loss, but once I do, it will be too late.

Any thoughts?

 

[adagosto]

The condition is slightly worse. It now has more areas of brown algae on it and one small areas of dead tissue.

If anyone has seen this before, please let me know.

Thanks.

 

[MartinE]

I have a sarco. elegans that did some of the same things yours is doing for a couple of weeks, or so and now is expanding its polyps fine. Some of the things I changed with it while it was acting that way was:
1. cleaned the red algae off the base of it (seemed to be smothering it)
2. changed the powerhead so it was not aimed right at it
3. cut off one piece of necrotic tissue
4. watched it for changes in color and what is called brown jelly ( super signs of trouble)
5. kept up with good water perameters.
hope this helps, sometimes I guess they take a few to adjust to new cond.

 

[adagosto]

Thank you for replying to my post. I was wondering when someone was going to come to my rescue. I will keep doing what I'm doing.

 

[MartinE]

Oh I forgot to say before I think my sarco. responds oddly to changes in ph, like polyps expanded with 8.2 and not with 7.8 dont know seems to expand polyps when I add buffer. Gonna keep track of that and see whats up.

 

[adagosto]

That's interesting. I don't track pH directly, I only track the Alkalinity levels. I figure if the Alkalinity levels are stable and within the good range, the pH will also be okay.

Outside of that, this guy has been in there for weeks and not shown any real improvement. It’s also not dead and in a way that is somewhat a victory!

Thanks again.

Adam

 

[MartinE]

update I read something about sarco. shedding a mucus layer (part of growing?) and while doing this they do not expand there polyps. So I guess one could take a turkey baster and blow the mucus off to help it along? might try that the next time mine has a non expand period.

 

[adagosto]

Patience and consistently good water chemistry seem to be what is helping this animal live. The Sarcophyton is now expanding and contracting normally and thus the algae growth that was killing it can no longer grow on it. Consequently, it is now re-growing tissue in areas where it had previously lost ground. In other areas that remained healthy, the tissue is now expanding quite well. So now it looks a bit lopsided. But that's okay!

The feathery polyps are still not expanding, however, that might take several more months at this rate.

 

[MartinE]

Glad to hear your making progress, some sarco's are pretty finiky but they will certainly tell you if the water is off.

 

[Nautilus1]

Sounds like its getting too much flow