Some of my corals don't look as good as what they should...

[GermanShepherdGirl]

I have some corals that ever since I put them in my tank have not looked 100%....they aren't dead but don't look as good as what they should. My ph is always about 8.3. My nitrates, nitrites, and amonia is always zero. Calcium always around 440. Alk is 8.4.

1- I have several colonies of polyps that won't open all the way. I had them in my 75 and they were always fully open. Ever since I put them in the 150 (which as been up for 4 months) they won't fully open. There are a few colonies that do fully open and look great. So I don't understand why some colonies don't open up. I've even tried moving them around to different spots with no luck.

2- I have a plate coral that when I bought it from Rich looked great. But ever since I put it in my tank it hasn't extended it's tentacles/polyps during the day. It extends them very slightly at night and puffs up. It had it's tentacles extended in Rich's tank. So I don't understand why it won't in mine during the day. I have it on the sand and have tried moving it around to see if that helps....but it doesn't.

3- I got a devils hand that when I bought it looked wonderful (polyps fully extended). In my tank it won't extend its polyps. I tried moving it after a few weeks and the second spot I put it was worse than the first and it almost died. I moved it again and it has looked much better but still the polyps don't come out. Sometimes I can see the tips of the polps like they want to come out but they never do.

I have many other corals in my tank that look great! So I'm not sure why some of my polyps, devils hand, and plate don't look as good as what they should. I'd appreciate any suggestions...

[DrHank]

Let me take a guess. I'm betting that you had your previous tank up for quite some time and all was well. The tank was established and your params probably didn't change much. Then you moved to a larger tank. You moved everything from your old tank into the new one plus undoubtedly added some extras like more rock and twice the water.

Now what you have is a half old and half new tank. Four months isn't much time and my guess is that as your new tank matures things will settel down and all will be well. I think that you just need to be patient and give your tank some time. Many animals don't like to be moved at all. Just changing their position can upset them. Just keep up your normal maintenance and I'll bet that everything will be good in six - eight more months.

[GermanShepherdGirl]

Yes my old tank was up for 2 years. I guess I'll sit back and see what happens!