Fungia Frustration      10/17/15 I have attached a picture of a small plate coral, Fungia, I hope. <Ah yes; I see it/this.... are those Dinoflagellates.... growing on your substrate? Not BGA I hope/trust> He has been a resident for about six weeks. He acclimated well, is on the sand bed and moved himself to within 6 inches of a large mushroom. You can see his skeleton receding in the area around his mouth. He eats mysis every few days. Could he be weak from the proximity of the mushroom? <Could be a factor; yes> He moved to the current location, at this point is moving him away to<o> stressful? <I would let this animal move itself> The tank is new, 6 months, 1.025 salinity, 0 ammonia or nitrite, 10ppm nitrate, 7.5 dKH, 400 calcium, 8.0 ph, no chemical additions. <Good point, data. Oh; I would add a bit/dose of iodide-ate weekly; likely during water changes> The tank parameters seem stable with weekly 10% water changes, with ro/di water. I have Kessil leds, the 160s. The other issue is my bubble tip anemone, he has only been in the tank for two weeks. <Oh... could be a bit of allelopathy with this organism as well. Do you "mix water" during quarantine? Please see my SOPs re archived on WWM. The best way of introducing disparate (and competing) Cnidarians> The first week he settled and ate. After a water change he moved during the night. Next day he looks beat up, but improves his look over the last three days to normal appearance. He is attached upside down(bad) in a plastic tube the fish use, no apparent access to light. Should I assist him back to a better position? <... could you send a pic of this Anemone, its placement? I would NOT move it if it can move itself> There aren't any known predators in the tank, <But, other competitors. Read here please: http://wetwebmedia.com/CorlCompArt.htm and as much of the linked files above till you feel you have a good understanding of the situation> he isn't damaged to look at. If it makes sense, looks like he was jostled heavily, but now the third day without light. Since he is in a man made plastic tube could he be confused, lost? <Not likely; no> Or could the anemone crab be irritating him to the point of seclusion? <This is a possibility> There are a couple of mushrooms and polyps on the other side of the tank, on the bottom. <... could be trouble> He was elevated on rocks. Or is there some allelopathy and he is retreating from that? <Yes; this is the most likely, greatest factor> Although he seemed good until the water change and any commotion in the tank seems to upset him, like feeding or algae removal. Is this a sensitivity or perhaps a weakness? <I'd say a sensitivity and a strength> Would another water change be more stressful or helpful? <The reading; perhaps use of GAC, Polyfilter for now.... removal of some of the competitors to isolation> There is Chemi-pure in the filter. <Ah, good; this is mostly GAC> Just don't want to wait and see if something is amiss that I am not accounting for. Btw your site and Karen's anemone sight are both so informative for myself and others trying to provide for this creature. I'll continue to read. <Ahh; thank you for your kind, encouraging words. Bob Fenner>

Re: Fungia Frustration      10/17/15 I took and attached a couple of pictures of my distressed bubble tip anemone. His color is accurate, though he doesn't seem to accept food, obviously struggling but the cause I am unsure of. Would you remove the crab? Or move the anemone at this point? Your assistance is invaluable. <Unless you have some other system; I would move neither. Search WWM re Entacmaea; and READ. BobF>

Saltwater aquarium question. Fungiid beh., hlth.       6/2/15 Hi, I'm hoping someone can give me a bit of advice on a new orange plate coral I got last week. It just doesn't seem to be doing great since I put it in the tank, <Common for these species> not swelling up and putting out tentacles like my other green one and I think it might be losing a bit of colour, going a little duller maybe (I'm not quite sure about that though because my vision is colour deficient so can't really tell for sure). It also doesn't seem to have the same kind of mouth that my green one has, just a pale bit in the middle, the green one has a very obvious mouth but not this one. Anyway there's a picture of both so you can see what I mean. Does it look ok? <A little puffy, but...> Also I moved it to a slightly shady spot with less flow because I wondered if it was getting too much light or to much flow. http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc280/fluffy_stitch_jodi/Orange%20plate%20coral.jpg http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc280/fluffy_stitch_jodi/Green%20plate%20coral.jpg Thanks, Chris. <Have you read on WWM re the health, keeping these animals? Administered iodide-ate? Bob Fenner>

Withering plate coral? Heliofungia... misplaced and period.   5/23/07 Hello. Like most questioners, I am newer to the hobby. <Is a blast eh?> I searched this site for an article on long tentacle plates and was unable to find one. Please help me investigate this situation. <Hmmm, the monotypic genus Heliofungia? Please see here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fungiids2.htm and the linked files above re the care of the family, Fungiidae> My 24 gal tank <Very hard to keep this family of stony corals in such small volumes... just too unstable chem-, phys, biolog- ically> has been running for about 4 months right now. Ph, nitrate, nitrite, and ammonia levels have been great all along. I have a 12 lb block of live rock that is the home for my star polyp coral, which has been doing fantastic. <And is an organism "high" on a scale of "winning" allelopathically...> I have a few scarlet crabs and some snails as well as a green Chromis that seems healthy. I recently added a Kenya tree and a long tentacle plate coral. <This species, H. actiniformis, is very difficult to keep...> They are based at the bottom middle/front of the tank and are receiving plenty of light and a steady water flow. I feed them Kent's essential elements once a week along with some ZooPlex every couple of days. The plate also seems to like krill. Both the Kenya tree and the long tentacle plate were adjusting well until this week when i noticed the tentacles on the plate are somewhat withering and shrinking. Is it dying or is this just a process it goes through? <Is likely dying... due to the vagaries of collection et al., the small/changeable system, the presence of the other Classes of stinging-celled life... It would be surprising if this organism were doing well here...> I also noticed a bubble at the base of the plate. Could you explain this to me, please? Elizabeth <This last may be a reproductive/bail-out/last ditch effort mechanism at reproduction... You will read about this in searching the above link. Please adapt/adopt a/the process of investigating new purchases BEFORE their acquisition. Bob Fenner>

Plate corals... hlth.     5/11/07 I have a 155gal reef tank with a Birdsnest branching coral, xenia, polyps, candy cane, hammer, and mushroom corals everyone of those are fine. I bought a large plate coral it did fine for three months so I bought a lone tentacle plate <? Is a common name am not familiar with... a Fungia species? Heliofungia?> it did fine for about two months they both ate and I read everything I could about them so I would care for them right and they both at the same time started looking almost like there skin was being cut or going away and there bones were showing they would sometimes heal and then it got so bad they both died within a week of one another. They were not close to and other corals and they were about three feet from one another and none of my fish picked on them I watched day and night were they could not see me I do water changes and put calcium in there and have read about seven books about them. Any idea what may have gone wrong I would love to have another one. <Not w/ the paucity of information presented... What re set-up, maintenance, circulation, water quality tests, foods/feeding...?> My tank has been set up for about three years. If you could please help. Thank you. <Please read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fungiidae.htm and the linked files above. Bob Fenner>

Fungiid problems - 2/24/03 I have had this plate coral for a few weeks now. the tentacles only come out at night and I keep getting a stringy discharge <Could be Zooxanthellae bailout (bleaching event) or just passed food stuffs> all over the top here lately. also my main concern the edges are pink and they are turning white are clear on the edges is there something wrong or something I should be doing? <Check here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fungiidfaqs.htm and here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fungiidae.htm Be sure to feed this coral Mysis shrimp and krill (frozen is fine) when there is polyp extension, and place this coral on the substrate. The feeding may help the potential bleaching that is occurring (the pink edges turning white)>water tests are fine. <OK> also I would kill for a good book if you know of any... <No need to kill. Know of a great many books...... I personally really enjoy and found most informative, Anthony Calfo's "Book on Coral Propagation Vol. 1" (which is why I am here) and I really enjoy Eric Borneman's' "Aquarium Corals". They can be found locally as well as online in many places. Another source of good information is to check reef boards as often as possible as well....much information to process there. Check the links above, leave the coral in the substrate and feed often. Water changes are in order here as well, in my experience. Good luck! Paul> Thanks Carlos