# Receding Plerogyra



## DennisZ (Feb 3, 2015)

I've always wanted a bubble coral and today I had the chance to pick one up from big Als for a pretty good price. Being fairly new to the marine hobby, I didn't realize that the coral I got wasn't in the best shape, and I only noticed this when I brought it home and took a much closer look. It seems like the tissue is receding, and the skeleton is very noticeable. 

Any experienced reef keepers want to chime in and give me some advice? I'd like to know if this coral is savable and if there is any way I can increase it's chance of survival. I will post pictures soon.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Any coral is savable but it depends on how much of it comes back.
I've owned quite a few bubble corals and know that it will take time for it to come back but be positive and persistent.

Keep up your feeding on them. They like smaller pieces of food like mysis or brine. Also try to pick up something like "fuel" or another additive to help supplement. Lastly, make sure to put that bubble coral in a low flow area in your tank near the bottom to ensure that it can heal and grow without obstruction. Bubble corals can take a bit of flow or force but if you end up damaging it more then it'll just die off.

Good luck and post some pics as we go along. I would like to see how it's doing.

Here is a pic of mine to keep you positive!!


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## DennisZ (Feb 3, 2015)

Wow, your bubble coral is beautiful. They're probably my favorite LPS coral out there. 

Update on mine: I fed it some bits of mysis shrimp last night. It slowly ate it, which is a good sign. It didn't have it's feeder tentacles out though. I'm going to try to feed it daily or once every two days in small servings to help it along. This morning it was also looking a lot better.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Oh wow it's a baby!!! You shouldn't have to feed it everyday since you would just be polluting the water. Rather, try to feed it 2-3 times a week and make sure the tank is a bit dirtier than usual. LPS tend to like water that isn't as clean.


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## DennisZ (Feb 3, 2015)

Thanks for the advice. I am also just beginning to realize that the corals I picked up from Big als are all in pretty rough shape. The ricordea I got was partially bleached. Ahh, noob mistakes.... Good thing they were all cheap. 

Anyway, I will be feeding the coral in small amounts every other day (3 times a week) and slowing increasing the light. I have the LED fixture set to it's lowest output at the moment so the coral doesn't bleach since it was in pretty low light at big als. I'm sure it'll appreciate better lighting.


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## DennisZ (Feb 3, 2015)

Just a quick update. The coral seems to be fully extended during the day but completely retracted during the night. I always thought it would have sweepers at night for feeding. Does anyone else's plerogyra do this? Usually all my lps are active feeders at night so I find this odd.


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## DennisZ (Feb 3, 2015)

Update. Today I witnessed something that might be bad. The coral started expelling a lot of brown waste, which I think might be zooxanthalle. :/ 

I hope it's going to be OKAY. Everything else in the tank is doing well.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

The sweeper corals usually come out when it feeds but this doesn't mean it's at night time. Mine tends to have it's feeders come out around 6-8pm before the lights go out.

As for the brown goo coming out of the coral, that's probably just Poop. If you've been feeding it then it has to poo


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## DennisZ (Feb 3, 2015)

Okay that's reassuring. I hope it's poop because I haven't fed the coral for 4-5 days and it was a lot of "poop". Anyway this guy/or girl is an oddball, the feeders come out at noon and the moment the lights go out, it'll start to completely retract. Here's a picture of it expelling the brown stuff and showing off it's feeding tentacles.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

It's looking a bit healthier in my opinion and I possibly a bit more color. Keep us updated!


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## DennisZ (Feb 3, 2015)

Update: 

The bubble coral just was not doing well in my frag tank despite everything else doing decently well. Perhaps the lighting was too bright or the coral didn't like the water parameters (funny, because I always thought plerogyra were one of the easier corals). Anyway, I moved the coral into my display tank, where everything is stable all the time and doing well.


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## DennisZ (Feb 3, 2015)

Update, what do you guys think?

It's "bubbles" also glow a subtle green under blue actinic lighting.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Looking amazing!!!! This is what it should look like and it will only get better with time. Congratulations are in order


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## DennisZ (Feb 3, 2015)

Update: 

The bubble coral is DEAD. Whole tank crashed from a heater that boiled the water, all but one coral made it (I think) and this one didn't. It was doing very well, I was just about to do another update because it was starting to split. I guess it's the end of the road for this thread.


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Dam dude sorry to hear this.
The next upgrade for the tank should be a controller like the rkl or apex


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