Cup Coral help

[fish_who?]

I purchased a cup coral from Jeffs a couple weeks ago. Eveything seems fine in the tank, but the cup started to turn White in the center. I have it about 4 inches from the top of my tank. What is up. I can see one of the polyps is gone. Is it a gonner? Can you frag this coral? All other corals in the tank are doing great!!! Need some help.

Thanks!!! I will post a pic tomorrow.

 

[fish_who?]

The only thing I could think of is I started adding my Bionic in the area where it is, and not on the other side of the tank. I do not have a sump, so I have to add it directly to the tank near a powerhead. I have current on it, and I try to hand feed it (squirting some brine or blood worms), so I have no clue whats up. I will try moving it.

 

[DennisL]

I've had a Cup coral (Turbinaria peltata) for over two years and it's doing very well. It's about 12 inches from the surface, under a 175W 10,000K MH. More details about it at http://quikstor.com/reef/cup.html

What kind of lighting is above it? The white center might mean it's getting burned. I'd definitely start it lower, and then gradually move it up if it seems to need more light.

Also, if a coral is new in your tank, and it isn't starting to do better after a week or so, I'd definitely move it to a different location in the tank. Different current, different lighting, different neighbors.

And BTW, I won the coral at a meeting of the Southern California Marine Aquarium Society, http://www.scmas.com/ which meets in Santa Ana.

HTH,

 

[fish_who?]

Thanks DenisL. I plan on moving it this afternoon. Hopefully it will recover. Is there some way to frag it if it comes down to it? I have not seen too many members of SCMAS on the board. I am a member also. Lately I have missed most of the meeting because work sends me out of state at that time of the month. I will try to move it and see.

 

[davelin315]

If it's turning white in the center, it's obviously bleaching, but since cup corals generally seem to grow up towards the light, it doesn't make sense that it could be getting burned from your lighting. If that was the case, I would guess that it would be bleaching from the edge inwards, since those would be higher up towards the light. Maybe there is a lack of current there? Try and move it to the bottom of your tank and point some current in its direction. Maybe the lighting is contributing to the problem. I have a montipora capricornis in my tank that got white blotches all over it when I first introduced it into my tank, but they colored up within a few hours, and I'm not quite sure why it got them in the first place. Good luck, sorry I can't do more than guess.