Help with Red Lobe Brain Coral please.

[apw63]

I have a red lobe (Lobophyllia hemprichii). I'm not sure if its opening up. I have not seen any tentacles come out of it. I purchased it from vivid aquariums. In their website description they say it will double in size. I have not seen anything remotely like that. When I check out the tank in the morning the mouths look to be open. In the afternoon then mouths close up. The mouths go from small roundish holes to slits. Then coral has 4 or 5 mouths. Is this normal or should it be opening up more? I have had the coral 5 days.


Tank perimeters:
Temp 77-78 F
pH 7.97-8.14
Salinity 1.025
NH4 0
NO3 0
NO2 0

Ecotech Radion GEN 2 45% intensity in natural mode.
vortech in reef crest mode max power 70%

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y166/apw63/_DSC0029-03_03_13-16_03_zpsa7e1ad0d.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y166/apw63/_DSC0045-03_03_13-16_06_zps9c5db284.jpg

Any info, help or insight greatly appreciated.

Thank you
Andy

[footballdude2k3]

alk, ca, mg?

[apw63]

I do water changed once a week. I don't have test kits for those yet. I will be ordering the Red Sea pro kit this week. I know for shame :-(. All or the other 8 corals I purchased at the sometime are open and doing great.

Andy

[falos]

it looks like there is tissue missing is that bare skeleton on the sides hard to tell in pic
if so i would call them asap and let them know
this is my lps saving strategy
take 1gal tank water add 1 cube of myiss shrimp along with 5ml of amino acid place lobo in the mix
and stir lightly every few min let it stay in the mix for 30 min it should show a feeding response after 10 after 30 min place lobo in a cup or small dish dont let it come out of the water as you can pop the mantel place it back in the tank in a low flow area for a day
lobo can handel high light sps levels and pretty high flow areas over time
hope it makes it gl

[footballdude2k3]

It might be that those levels are not proper, what do you have for flow? If you have an LFS that will test your water, I would do that.

[apw63]

it looks like there is tissue missing is that bare skeleton on the sides hard to tell in pic
if so i would call them asap and let them know
this is my lps saving strategy
take 1gal tank water add 1 cube of myiss shrimp along with 5ml of amino acid place lobo in the mix
and stir lightly every few min let it stay in the mix for 30 min it should show a feeding response after 10 after 30 min place lobo in a cup or small dish dont let it come out of the water as you can pop the mantel place it back in the tank in a low flow area for a day
lobo can handel high light sps levels and pretty high flow areas over time
hope it makes it gl

Thank you for the info. I will try your procedure tonight. Yes I believe that the skeleton is showing. The lob is not uniform around the coral. Vivid aquarium will be getting a call this morning. I need to get some amino acid. What product do you use, can I go to any drug store and buy amino acid? I hope it makes it to.

It might be that those levels are not proper, what do you have for flow? If you have an LFS that will test your water, I would do that.

We have a LFS AND 2 petcos. I'll take in a sample tonight. The flow in that section of the tank is mid to low.

Thank you for the help! Will keep posting updates.

Andy

[falconut]

Mine would put out feeders at night only, but slowly adjusted to doing this during feeding time. It should be opening a little more.