Yuma trouble

rock_lobster · Nov 30, 2009

So I purchased a nice sized orange yuma rock about 12 polyps and had it sitting about midway in my tank under a 14k 150w for a month. I noticed that the polyps were starting to bend away from the light so I moved it down a step lower and then after about another week one by one the polyps just started to melt away. Perfect parameters and steady temp at 78. Also my tank is stocked with tons of other corals that are all thriving. I do however have a slightly higher organic content to my water because I dont use a skimmer just a refugium packed with graciliaria. Any ideas from ricordea experts out there? Do they require extremely clean water?

inactive · Nov 30, 2009

Yumas are extremely hard to keep or save once they start to go. A lot of people who have been able to keep yumas can't even tell you what the trick has been. I have seen them do well in dirty, low light, low flow tanks... and I have seen them do well in high flow, high light SPS tanks.... also, they can fail in both. They are tricky corals.

ladyreefer1983 · Nov 30, 2009

yep im almost giving up but i keep buying them...
put it in a shady area and dont move it anymore...good luck

Azurel · Nov 30, 2009

rock_lobster said:
So I purchased a nice sized orange yuma rock about 12 polyps and had it sitting about midway in my tank under a 14k 150w for a month. I noticed that the polyps were starting to bend away from the light so I moved it down a step lower and then after about another week one by one the polyps just started to melt away. Perfect parameters and steady temp at 78. Also my tank is stocked with tons of other corals that are all thriving. I do however have a slightly higher organic content to my water because I dont use a skimmer just a refugium packed with graciliaria. Any ideas from ricordea experts out there? Do they require extremely clean water?

The first thing to do is photo acclimate the polyps to your lighting. I have lost many extremely healthy polyps to sudden bacterial infection that seems to be the #1 cause in loss with these polyps. It seems it could possibly a stress reaction to sudden changes in lighting and conditions. I have now since acclimate them in full shade till they stretch for more light and slowly move them till they settle. I have yet to get one to come out into full lighting.....I even lost my most prized one a couple weeks ago after a year, to what I think was a major change in my lighting schedule. Which was the caused by a bad timer so the lights came on sooner and stayed on longer....It melted.

They do not "need" clean water or "dirty" water they ca thrive in the smae conditions as most coras do.....If there are any you can save that haven't melted put them into some shade with a bit of moderate flow....

rock_lobster · Nov 30, 2009

No, unfortunately they all died I don't really know why because they are not a colony or something they are each individual polyps. It is strange to me that they would all die and not just some of them. The only thing I can see is that the light must have stressed some of them then bacterial infection wiped them out.

Azurel · Nov 30, 2009

Sorry or the spelling errors, the keyboard is being a pita......I have had this before as well.....It is hard to pin point an exact issue since some live and some don't in the same shipment.....Honestly if you get any more then start out with them fully shaded in low/med flow and go from there. Keep an eye on how they act, if they stretch out for more light then move them slowly into a little more light and see how they act.....I have one right now that is in the same spot since I got it. It has just started stretching and instead of moving it I have moved the rock ork above it a little bit...Extream?Maybe but for $150 I will move the rock work before I take the chance in moving the polyp.....Good luck with them in the future. They are really worth it if you can over come the issues....

dirtysumpguy · Nov 30, 2009

I have given up on yumas - I like them more than the floridea, but I have yet to keep one alive for more than a couple of months unless I keep them very shaded and I have very few shade spots in my tank. So I have a bunch of big rocks of floridea and have avoided the yumas.