When to move corals if they appear unhappy

[Karen00]

Hello fellow saltines,

So I just added a couple new corals (the first two after my disastrous attempt with my very first two). It's a 5g with an upgraded light and the addition of a Sicce powerhead. The corals are a Purple Plume gorg (photosynthetic) and a xenia. I originally had them on the sand bed so I could try out different spots if needed. The Xenia was doing really well the plume was not. My pistol shrimp started using them as decorations for the entrance to his burrow so I thought I better glue them down. I found the sweet spot for my gorg but where I placed my xenia it seems unhappy now (little polyp extension). It's maybe about 5" over from where it was originally when it seemed happy and about 2" higher. Where it was before it was more on the fringe of the light, now it's directly underneath. I thought I read they really aren't picky about light but now I'm reading lower light so I might've been thinking about a different coral. Flow is the same.

So my question is "how long, on average, do you wait to move a coral if it seems unhappy?" I'm thinking there is an acclimation period so do you wait a week or two or is this Xenia getting too much light? The Xenia has been in its current spot for about a week. Another thing that complicates this is that my sexy shrimp took a liking to it (I think just to sit on, not munch on) so maybe that irritated it . Before and and now pics attached.

 

[muzikalmatt]

Unless I see significant deterioration in a coral, I try to give them a couple of weeks to acclimate to a spot. Sometimes it just takes them a while to adjust. I've kept xenia under low and high light. In fact I just recently removed a pretty decent chunk that grew up the rockwork from a low/fringe light area to the top of the rockwork directly under the light. However, this was also a high flow area so you might look into giving the xenia a bit more flow if you're able.

 

[dvgyfresh]

Xenia will take over , I haven’t found a spot it doesn’t like in my tank they do take time to acclimate however. I’d say give it 2 weeks and if no improvement time to move

 

[Karen00]

Unless I see significant deterioration in a coral, I try to give them a couple of weeks to acclimate to a spot. Sometimes it just takes them a while to adjust. I've kept xenia under low and high light. In fact I just recently removed a pretty decent chunk that grew up the rockwork from a low/fringe light area to the top of the rockwork directly under the light. However, this was also a high flow area so you might look into giving the xenia a bit more flow if you're able.

Thank you for this! The Xenia itself seems fine (standing upright, etc) there's just hardly any polyp extension compared to before. I will try adjusting the flow but will leave it where it is for another week or so. Admittedly this coral has been through a lot. Pistol Pete using it as a door, sexy shrimp crawling all over it and worst of all, when I was cutting off the frag post he went flying across the floor. I'm surprised he's still alive. Yikeys!

 

[muzikalmatt]

Thank you for this! The Xenia itself seems fine (standing upright, etc) there's just hardly any polyp extension compared to before. I will try adjusting the flow but will leave it where it is for another week or so. Admittedly this coral has been through a lot. Pistol Pete using it as a door, sexy shrimp crawling all over it and worst of all, when I was cutting off the frag post he went flying across the floor. I'm surprised he's still alive. Yikeys!

Yeah, it sounds like it's just irritated at the moment. I had a GSP frag that went through some similar trials including being buried by my pistol shrimp, picked up by my sea urchin and me dropping it numerous times trying to get it in the right place with my coral clamps. It took it a couple of weeks to bounce back from all of that abuse.

 

[Karen00]

Xenia will take over , I haven’t found a spot it doesn’t like in my tank they do take time to acclimate however. I’d say give it 2 weeks and if no improvement time to move

Thank you! Supposedly this type is a slower growing variety (Cespitularia) but that remains to be seen. Maybe I will be the first person to ki a xenia. :-S I am so glad to know my original thoughts about light were correct (they don't care). I will leave it for now.

 

[Karen00]

Yeah, it sounds like it's just irritated at the moment. I had a GSP frag that went through some similar trials including being buried by my pistol shrimp, picked up by my sea urchin and me dropping it numerous times trying to get it in the right place with my coral clamps. It took it a couple of weeks to bounce back from all of that abuse.

I'm feeling more at ease now! Thank you! I thought this hobby was supposed to be relaxing. LOL

 

[dvgyfresh]

Thank you! Supposedly this type is a slower growing variety (Cespitularia) but that remains to be seen. Maybe I will be the first person to ki a xenia. :-S I am so glad to know my original thoughts about light were correct (they don't care). I will leave it for now.

I killed my first Xenia! So I have you beat haha it got BJD I think because I tried to glue it

 

[Karen00]

I killed my first Xenia! So I have you beat haha it got BJD I think because I tried to glue it

In that case I take comfort in not being the first. Haha.

 

[muzikalmatt]

I'm feeling more at ease now! Thank you! I thought this hobby was supposed to be relaxing. LOL

It sounds you're very much like I was when I first started keeping corals, very observant and hypersensitive to any changes in their condition/look. I would get so worried about even the slightest change in the apparent health of my corals.

I've learned over time that they're occasionally going to look off and it's usually not a big deal. These days I only tend to worry if everything in the tank is looking off all at once (usually a sign of contaminants) or if a coral is losing health drastically over a short period of time.

I think it just takes time for our brains to adjust to the much slower timeline of a coral reef tank. Things happen (both good and bad) much more slowly, so we have to recalibrate our timescale when it comes to these animals.

 

[Karen00]

It sounds you're very much like I was when I first started keeping corals, very observant and hypersensitive to any changes in their condition/look. I would get so worried about even the slightest change in the apparent health of my corals.

I've learned over time that they're occasionally going to look off and it's usually not a big deal. These days I only tend to worry if everything in the tank is looking off all at once (usually a sign of contaminants) or if a coral is losing health drastically over a short period of time.

I think it just takes time for our brains to adjust to the much slower timeline of a coral reef tank. Things happen (both good and bad) much more slowly, so we have to recalibrate our timescale when it comes to these animals.

Spot on! As the months go on I feel less stressed. Especially when it comes to the fish because I have kept FW tanks for so long and a fish only saltwater tank isn't much different. The addition of corals has reignited some stress but not as much with these two additions. Now I know what sick corals look like (the disaster with my first two) vs corals that seem just a little ticked off/unhappy.