Tooth Coral Recovery Progress

[Regric25]

This coral was given to me and it was about half dead. I have had it in my tank for a week and at first it looked much much worse. Now the polyps are extending and it seems to be making a comback. It reminds me of a pagota cup coral but its not encrusting. Maybe it will when its more healthy but at the same time its not growing in the cup like form. If anyone has any input on what this is I would appreciate it! Thanks!

BTW this thing is about the size of my fist with each polyp about the aize of a pea or larger.

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n269/REGRIC252006/1-4.jpg
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n269/REGRIC252006/11-3.jpg

[Europhyllia]

I LOVE it! I have no idea what it is but it's about as gorgeous as a coral can get! Very, very nice!

[edshas2]

looks like some type of Galaxia Coral

[jrsatx20]

+1 galaxia

[Regric25]

ya know I think you are right!

[Regric25]

So im going to try and nurse thing back to health. Wish me luck!

[Mr Cob]

Nice coral. Good luck on nursing it back to health. Looks beautiful.

[tebstan]

If you figure out how to make it happy so it makes a comeback, let me know...

[Europhyllia]

make it so happy that it grows like crazy and you can frag it!

[Teeb]

It looks more like a Gonipora to me.

[Regric25]

after edshas2 said it was a Galaxia I did some research and that best fits the description. On the Galaxia coral the base of the polyps are purple like this and the ends are bright green. If you look closley the tips of the polyps are startig to show green on them it just looks weird because the polyps are really shortened. I really hope this thing recovers completley. I will be posting updates with pictures each week so we can track its progress. If anyone has any advice or tips please send them this way. Thanks!

[tebstan]

The polyps look goniopora, but the skeleton looks galaxia. Have the polyps extended out any more? Goniopora will have 24 tentacles. Good luck counting. ;)

[Regric25]

Well im 90% sure its a Galaxia Coral. The polyps dont extend and more than that but when I got it they did not extend at all. There was really bad tissue recession. Its looking better every day. It was in a tank with 2 T5 bulbs only before I got it:(.

Maybe its some WEIRD Hybrid Galaxia/Goniopora lol

[Ichthy]

Steven or Adriene would know cause i seen it at Polly's.

When you touch it, it's hard, not soft.

[ErikH]

It's DEFINITELY a galaxia! :) They grow fast and it will heal over.

[StevenSeas]

I think it's a galaxy coral, due to the polyps color and shape but mostly the calcium skeleton isn't round and smoothish like a gonipora, much more like a galaxy

[tebstan]

They grow fast and it will heal over.

Tell me more! How?! Someone that has a very healthy one told me to put it as close to the light as possible, since his is high up under metal halides and doing fantastic. But wetwebmedia and some other sites say its not too dependent on light. Lots of other conflicting information too.

If anyone has a healthy one, please post the tank stats and coral placement. Mine needs a little TLC too. :blushing:

[Randy@pollyspets]

Almost positive it's a Galaxea Coral...Polyp's may confuse but skeleton's never lie! Anyways...the polyps that are left look good. May want yo try target feeding some different foods, see what it will take. I know ours have taken foods as big as brine in the past, but you may want to start out smaller, like rotifers or cyclopees. Good Luck regardless!

-Randy

[Regric25]

Ill tell you what Tebstan... I have this thing under 2 250w MH with 20K XM bulbs My tank is 20 tall and I have a 3 inch sandbed. It is sitting on the sand bed. It seems like it is doing really good. The research I have done tells me that it needs ALOT of light and moderate to high flow. They recommend MH bulbs. When it recovers I will frag it. Tebstan do you have one?

[tebstan]

Yeah, I have one... and it looks awful. :( I won't give up on it, its been showing small signs of improvement. I don't have MH, I have 6 T5s and its as near the top as it can get. I've started 'target' feeding rotifers and cyclops instead of just letting it get what the current takes it. The skeleton is extremely delicate, I learned the hard way. That's where the problem started. Its not beyond hope, but it looks bad. I've been making improvements to the tank and hope it will recover. Such a beautiful coral.

[ErikH]

I would place it on your sandbed in an area of moderate flow. I say moderate because I have 3 Koralia 4s and 4 of the K14s, which is about 9000 gph, but it's in a 200 and you would be suprised that there still are dead spots. My moderate, is different than other people's moderate ;)

Like Randy said target feed it until it is super healthy and has recovered. I don't think mine healed on the areas where there was die off, but it did grow out more. That's the key, is the grow out. Once it gets large enough, dremel off the dead spots and you will have a 100% beautiful coral again. It's also known as a tooth coral, I presume because of the skeleton when the polyps are retracted.

[Regric25]

Here is the 1 week update for this coral! It has improved so much over the last week! Its starting to look like a Galaxia again!

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n269/REGRIC252006/99999.jpg

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n269/REGRIC252006/closeup.jpg

[Squiers007]

Regric, you should have plenty of light in that tank for the galaxia. I had one in my 75 with only 4 T5's and it grew like crazy about midway up in the water column. Just as a precaution though. Once it is fully healed be sure to give it plenty of space because they have some super long sweeper tentacles that will sting the crap out of anything they touch! Thats what mine started doing so I had to find a spot with more real estate. Good luck!

[Europhyllia]

Gorgeous@ Good job, regric!

[Regric25]

Here is the weekly update!! It has improved so much over the last 2 weeks. I started to target fed this week. It seems to be responding well to it.

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n269/REGRIC252006/full.jpg
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n269/REGRIC252006/Kiss044.jpg

[Europhyllia]

beautiful. lucky it got to your tank!

[Squiers007]

Awesome! Keep up the good work!

[Regric25]

Its been about 6 weeks since I last updated this thread. This thing keeps growing lol. It seems really happy. The polyps really extend out and get waving in the current now.

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n269/REGRIC252006/18-2.jpg

[allan]

Good job. I've always thought of my galaxy as hardy, but definitely something you want clear of others as it will not play nice.

[ismvel]

That's awesome Regric, Great job.
There is someone down the street from me, who has given me two pieces to bring back from near death. One is doing great, although I didn't snap any pictures of it in it's troubled state.

The other one (a Lobo) I did take pictures of and it is actually starting to recover nicely. It was pretty much gone and was receded, I now see signs of it wanting to come out and play with the other corals ;)

The first one was also a brain, which is HUGE now.

I love bringing things back from the dead as opposed to taking them to their deaths LOL