Help with a "soft" coral standing up

[ed84g]

Hey, im relatively new to the hobby (about 6 months in) and have come across my first real issue. i bought this coral about a week ago and it is driving me insane.

At first i put it in a hole near the top of the tank and it was standing with a straigh spine looking great but over the course of the next day it got softer and softer until it draped over the rocks. I then moved it to a lower location and it did the same thing twice. Thinking that the wave maker had maybe blown it i then held it in with some epoxy, not hard, but just enough to stop it blowing over and out of the hole and then within a day it has gone very limp again and fallen over itself as you can see in the images.

Im not too sure what it is (the guy in the store called it a softie) but needless to say im new to looking after this type of coral so any advice in how to make it stand back up would be greatly appreciated!! If it is not something that should stand up is it happy like this? The epoxy is only really filling the hole its not constricting the coral in any way even though it looks a little like it is in the photo but i think thats just the way it has fallen.

Thanks

[TealCobra]

Originally Posted by ed84g

Hey, im relatively new to the hobby (about 6 months in) and have come across my first real issue. i bought this coral about a week ago and it is driving me insane.

At first i put it in a hole near the top of the tank and it was standing with a straigh spine looking great but over the course of the next day it got softer and softer until it draped over the rocks. I then moved it to a lower location and it did the same thing twice. Thinking that the wave maker had maybe blown it i then held it in with some epoxy, not hard, but just enough to stop it blowing over and out of the hole and then within a day it has gone very limp again and fallen over itself as you can see in the images.

Im not too sure what it is (the guy in the store called it a softie) but needless to say im new to looking after this type of coral so any advice in how to make it stand back up would be greatly appreciated!! If it is not something that should stand up is it happy like this? The epoxy is only really filling the hole its not constricting the coral in any way even though it looks a little like it is in the photo but i think thats just the way it has fallen.

Thanks

You picked up a very beautiful coral but unfortunately it is incredibly difficult to keep. That is a Carnation coral or Dendronephthya. They have very specialized diets which are nearly impossible to meet in a standard reef tank. They do not contain zooxanthellate and derive all of their feeding/nutritional needs from small particulate foods. Do some research to better understand this coral but the reality is it will most likely die over the course of months. Some people have had success keeping them but a specialized tank for feeding and flow is almost always required.

[ed84g]

Thanks for the info, I couldn't find it when searching online. That's a shame because it really did look great and very bright Ill try my best but i guess should have enquired more in the store before buying it... lesson learnt!!


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[TealCobra]

Yeah it bites but almost every reefer makes one of those impulse buys and learns the hard way. You could consider trading it back to the store for a partial credit or someone in your local reef club that is willing to try caring for it.

[MARINECRITTERS]

I seem to be able to keep these corals quite easily in my tanks conditions ( I have constant food sources (, if I am correct these corals like more laminar flow as currents in deeper waters are not quite as random.

( I find alot of deep water/nonphotosynthetic corals like cooler temps such as 76 - 78F )

[ed84g]

Update time... Looks like the initial issues were temp. A little bit died off but it has settled down now and seems happy

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