Ricordia folding??

tgunn · #1 01/16/2007, 09:22 PM

Hey all,
Just curious what's up here. Should I be concerned about this?
In the past few weeks my Ricordia seem to fold up at times during the day..

Should I be concerned about this?

Tyler

Joshua1023 · #2 01/17/2007, 10:09 AM

It almost looks like there is alot of current pushing against them. Do you have them sitting directly in the stream of you power head?

kiknchikn · #3 01/17/2007, 10:12 AM

If they're folding up they might be stressed out by something. You should try and figure out what could be stressing them out and if you find something fix it as soon as you can.

tgunn · #4 01/17/2007, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Joshua1023
It almost looks like there is alot of current pushing against them. Do you have them sitting directly in the stream of you power head?

They're in the front bottom corner of the tank up in the front. There is a lot of turnover in the tank, but there's no direct strong current that would be hitting them there.

Tyler

tgunn · #5 01/17/2007, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by kiknchikn
If they're folding up they might be stressed out by something. You should try and figure out what could be stressing them out and if you find something fix it as soon as you can.

Calcium was a bit low for a while (around 390 ppm), but I've been bringing it up slowly over the past few days.

I'm feeding the tank twice daily; once around noon a mix of spirulina and prime reef flake is fed automatically.
Around 5:00pm I feed a home made food made from all kinds of things (squid, cuttlefish, cyclopeeze, nori, spirulina, etc).
I have a skimmer rated at 800g that pulls out any leftover food pretty quickly.

The only thing I can think of is that my halides were getting old which I think was the culprit for an algae outbreak in the main tank. I've replaced the bulbs recently. I've been acclimating to the brighter light since Saturday using eggcrate and windowscreen.

Is there anything that Rics are sensitive to that I should check for?

Tyler

kiknchikn · #6 01/17/2007, 10:31 AM

Yumas are slow to acclimate to new lighting conditions, especially very strong ones, so it could be that? Or was this happening before you replaced the bulbs too?

tgunn · #7 01/17/2007, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by kiknchikn
Yumas are slow to acclimate to new lighting conditions, especially very strong ones, so it could be that? Or was this happening before you replaced the bulbs too?

This was happening before I replaced the bulbs..

I'm trying to run a somewhat low nutrient system since I have a number of SPS and what not, but clearly the fact I have an algae outbreak at the moment means there's some kind of excess nutrients.

I had thought perhaps they weren't getting enough light down at the bottom in the corner.

I'll do a complete testing of all my parameters and see if anything is amiss...

Tyler

kiknchikn · #8 01/17/2007, 02:40 PM

I would think if they arent getting enough light they wouldn't be closing up and getting even less light, but maybe I'm giving them credit for more intelligence than I should

tgunn · #9 01/17/2007, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by kiknchikn
I would think if they arent getting enough light they wouldn't be closing up and getting even less light, but maybe I'm giving them credit for more intelligence than I should

I was under the assumption that they would not be closing due to lack of light either.

I'm going to have to keep a closer eye on them and see if there is a pattern to them folding up like this.

I would hate to lose them; I've always loved the look of them. They're certainly not cheap here either!

Tyler

bigScott · #10 01/17/2007, 03:25 PM

looks like to me , thier in to much flow..

tgunn · #11 01/17/2007, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bigScott
looks like to me , thier in to much flow..

I will have to check on that tonight.. Perhaps a new location would solve the problem. We'll see.

Tyler

Joshua1023 · #12 01/17/2007, 10:43 PM

Did you say that you are feeding your tank twice daily? Am I the only one who feeds corals but once a week? Could be phosphates are high. Keep us posted. I'd like to know how you make out.

tgunn · #13 01/17/2007, 11:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Joshua1023
Did you say that you are feeding your tank twice daily? Am I the only one who feeds corals but once a week? Could be phosphates are high. Keep us posted. I'd like to know how you make out.

Yes, the tank gets a small feeding during the day, and then a larger feeding later on when I'm home. The feeding is primarily for the fish, some stuff like the cyclopeeze the corals will get though..

I stirred up the sand near the rics and observed a very strong leftwards flow... I presume this might be why they are folding as in the picture... I have moved the rock somewhere else where I think the current is a little less strong. We'll see if that helps..

Keep in mind I'm running something like 60x tank turnover, so flow is certainly something I have lots of .

Tyler

tgunn · #14 01/19/2007, 11:54 AM

I've moved the little rock with the ricordia on it to a more stagnant spot. They seem to be flattening out more there. So it looks like the flow may have been the culprit.

thanks for all the help!
Tyler

kiknchikn · #15 01/19/2007, 12:09 PM

Congrats, I hope the new spot works out great for them

tgunn · #16 01/19/2007, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by kiknchikn
Congrats, I hope the new spot works out great for them

Thanks for all the help! I'm hoping this new spot works out too. If it still proves to be too much flow I've got another spot in mind but it wouldn't showcase them so well..

Tyler

kiknchikn · #17 01/19/2007, 12:19 PM

Hey, if you can't find a good spot for them I have a perfect spot for them in my tank

socalreefer73 · #18 01/19/2007, 01:15 PM

Don't a lot of mushrooms have purse-string reactions to feeding? Closing up like a bag around the edges? But, to me it does look like flow.. good luck.. I was lucky enough to get a ric for 10$.. neiner!!! : P Of course, it was split nearly in half to the mouth, but it's recovering perfectly!!!

Again, good luck.. I love yuma's...

kiknchikn · #19 01/19/2007, 02:06 PM

None of my rics wrap up around the food to eat, instead they just manuever the food to their mouth with their tentacles. I turn off the powerheads in my tank when I feed though, so that reaction may have something to do with flow being present.

tgunn · #20 01/19/2007, 02:12 PM

kiknchikn,
Heh, I live in Canada.. I can't imagine what customs would do with a package with a cylinder filled with water in it.

socalreefer73,
Lucky! $10 is a great deal!

The LFS charges $35 per head, and he usually only has rocks with around 10 or more heads. Something about paying $300+ for a ric just doesn't cut it for me.

I finally lucked out and found a two polyp rock.

Tyler

socalreefer73 · #21 01/19/2007, 03:20 PM

Total deal!!! They usu go for 80$ a single at my LFS. I think I got it at that proce because it was damaged and single and less than an inch across... I love it though... need to get a good pic an put in my gallery...

-M

kiknchikn · #22 01/19/2007, 03:23 PM

Yeah, I'd like to see a pic of it

I can't wait to get more yumas.

socalreefer73 · #23 01/19/2007, 04:50 PM

it's a crop from a full sized tank pic:

kiknchikn · #24 01/19/2007, 05:45 PM

You can almost get a feel for what it looks like it.. but not quite =P

socalreefer73 · #25 01/19/2007, 06:25 PM

Yeah, I know.. I'll get a better pic of the lil bugger.. since he is my fav... : P