I can't keep plate corals!

[miken]

How's everybody doing?

Has anyone here had problems keeping plates? I have everything in my personal tank at home, hard, soft, anemones, etc. For some reason I cannot keep plate corals alive, I've lost a short tentacled and two long tentacled in the last 2 months. I have put each one in different spots, on the sand. they look great for about 2 weeks, then start shrinking up and dying.

Any tips out there?

Thanks,
MIKE

[Nano_Steve]

all i can say is im in the same boat with ya. i cannot keep xenia for my life! its a really easy coral to keep and others say their's grow like weeds but mine just shrivel up and die. i think we each have our best and worst is all i can tell ya.

good luck to ya mike, steve

[miken]

Wow! I can't stop Xenia from growing in my tank.

[Jenn]

Miken, does this mean you need to get rid of some??? :P

[MikeP]

Long tentacle plates are very very hard to keep long term. Any kind of tear or rip in their flesh and they seem to contract infections easily and go south fast. I tried once and won't be trying again any time soon. Keep them on the sand, don't let annoying fish like clowns near it (I'm about ready to turn my clowns into sushi) and bascially baby the hell out of it.

As for the regular fungia plate corals the secret I have found is to feed them .... a lot. They are photosynthetic but without feeding some chopped seafood several times a week they tend ot go into decline.

One thing, even if they died dont toss the skeletons, put them in the back of the tank where you get some light and you will eventually have baby plate corals grow from the skeleton.

[miken]

Thanks for the feedback. At least I am not alone, I'll haev to find something else to fill the void on the sand.

Thanks!
MIKE

[GaryP]

My only problem with my LT plate is finding enough open sand for him. I target feed mine some Mysid or silversides once a week, along with whatever it grabs when I feed.

Gary

[Tim Marvin]

They seem to do best with a good current and lots of food. Like MikeP said they will thrive with constant feedings. When I fed my tank I would put food on top of it and it did very well.

[sholzrichter]

MickP is right. About a week after my plate coral died, I saw something grew on the skeletons. I left them alone, and they turned out to be baby plate corals. Here is a picture of them. I think they are about 3 months old now.

[GaryP]

I did little research on Fungia. Here is what I found.

1. They can be easily damaged if lifted from a tank while fully inflated due to the increased weight of the water. It can cause tearing of their tissue.

2. They should be isolated from other corals. The plate will usually win the battle. They can be very toxic to other corals.

3. They need to be fed because of the high carbon demand from the production of their mucus coat. Feeding also provides needed trace nutrients. Starvation usually results in regression of tissue and/or expulsion of zooanthellae.

4. They shouldn't be put in the bottom of a deep tank.