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Toadstool Coral won't open


PRinFairfax

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I bought a Toadstool Coral this past weekend.  Looked great in the store.  It closed once bagged - not surprising.

 

It's been 6 days - still closed.

 

LFS guy said rub some food in paste form on it.  All I have is reef chili and can't seem to get it to paste form. Once it hits the water it dissolves.

 

Any ideas to make this thing happy?

 

Thx

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Edited by PRinWarrenton
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Pics?

toadstool are known to close for several days to shed it skin. If it’s healthy, it should open up once the skin layer shedded.

if not, then it will just melt away.

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I would try lower in the tank and a bit more flow. Was it under LEDs in the store or T5? I’ve had many toads and currently have 3. They can get picky esp when moving them around different tanks. I would skip the food rub, that might make things worse. Give it a day or 2 in lower light higher flow. Got any pics?

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Lower light might do the trick. Let it settle for at least a couple days in the lower light. Likely if you try different other things it’ll just continue to stress.

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I would try lower light and see how it responds.  Either move the coral into partial shade, or reduce your LEDs for a while.  

 

Recently I was gradually increasing my LEDs by 5-10% a week.  At one point my toadstool stopped opening.  I turned the lights back down 20% and I noticed better polyp extension within 48hrs.  After a week or so it was back to normal.  Good luck!

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As others had pointed out, as long as it’s in good shape and not melting, you have nothing to worry about. It will open when it feels like it. Toadstools are finicky, but adaptable. 

I have mine about 2 inches below a direct flow from an MP10. Its placed in the middle of tank and about 5 inches higher than my RBTAs. It’s grown from a quarter-size to about six inches diameter. It goes into close mode frequently for 2-3 days at a time. Ive never feed it directly, so I’m not sure if rubbing food on it would help. 

 

 

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On 12/8/2018 at 7:54 AM, Origami said:

Mine will shut down for several days to a week sometimes.

+1  When mine was a small frag it would close up for 1-2 weeks at a time. Then open for 1-3. Then close. Then open.  Came to realize is was part of it's acclimation and growth cycles.

 

When it got to be the size of a small apple, it would only close up once every couple of months for 2-3 days.

 

When I slice the head off to frag it, the stalk remains shriveled for 1-2 weeks. Then polys begin to show on the top of the stalk. Then it repeats the frequent open-closed growth spurts.

 

As long as yours isn't shrinking in size, I wouldn't worry about it. They're tough as nails. Give it a week or two to adjust.

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