polyp extension

[MikeP]

May be related to flow, lighting , placement also.

[SueT]

Do the sps look good otherwise?? Eric Borneman says that polyp extension is not an indication that sps corals are unhealthy or healthy for that matter. In the wild sps don't extend polyps during the day due to predation. When they extend at night it's for feeding purposes.

Have you checked your sps with lights out?? They may just be doing what comes naturally. If the corals look healthy then I wouldn't worry, but if other things look off like color changes from good to bad then something may be going on.

[Instar]

What brand of salt are you using? RO/DI? Have you checked for parasites? What temp? Do you have clown gobies or hitchhiker crabs that eat corals? Hairy crabs inside the coral will be troublesome. Acro crabs are not hairy. Do you have little white 3 to 5 legged starfish? All these and some big mouth blennies like the bicolor can agitate corals. So can trash in the water and fine bubbles. Some things are toxic such as carnation corals, some fish sold as basses and box fish family members. Check for polyp extension at night. If none on any ever show, Its time to evaluate chemistry and color temp of the bulbs. Did you buy the bulbs new or are they used from Ebay? Spent bulbs are not your friend. It takes a lot of information to answer such a question and even then, perhaps there is no absolute answer.

[Tim Marvin]

I only have a few that will extend during the day, but after the halides go off they all jump out of the skeleton! Pretty spectacular under actinics.

[jng3]

...Some things are toxic such as carnation corals,....

Can you tell me more about this? I have some carnation coral in my tank.
Thanks

[Instar]

Generally carnations do poorly in captivity due to their requirements to feed and for pure stable water with lots of movement, partcularly upwelling swells and linear flows, not tubulent waves like we try to give our stoney corals. There are times when they give off substances that are toxic to sps. When they are stressed, such as first placed into the tank, and when they are degrading or dropping spicules. Montiporas are particularly alergic to carnations. This is not to say that carnations are impossible as I've seen a couple live, but, generally they don't make it for long. If you can get them to do well and have the foods for them, then you are very fortunate. I would recommend that folks leave them in the ocean unless they are marine biologists with a study going on. Either that or get some that are tank raised from Garf and follow their instructions explicitly to keep them. Try keeping them in a specialized tank to get a handle on it before placing them in a mixed tank. They are beautiful but its not worth loosing your other things over.

[jng3]

Thanks Larry,
I have had them for about 3 weeks and they were very slow to recover from the move from the LFS. I had read that they were peaceful but difficult. Fortunately I have no SPS in the tank. The soft corals, mushrooms, plate coral, fish, and zoanthids seem to be doing OK. Thanks again for the info.

[GaryP]

I'd do some reading on the feeding requirements of carnations. Most of what I have read indicates that they need an almost continuous supply of food such as a green water drip.
They are not photosynthetic like many other corals as indicated by their presence in the wild growing in caves.

Gary