How long did it take for your Dendrophyllia to open?

[andrewkw]

I bought my colony 10 days ago and it still hasn't opened. I'm starting to get worried. I can get some of the polyps to eat but they only extend enough to eat and I see very little extension otherwise. I've moved the colony to a higher flow area as I was told this might help.

Any other suggestions? how long before I really should be worried? It arrived from who knows where 2-3 days before I bought it so its really been closed as least 2 weeks (one day+ on the plane, 2-3 days at the reef shop and 10 days at home).

I've been dusting it with cyclopeeze trying to encourage it to open, only when I place some mysis or regular shrimp directly on the polyps with the pumps turned off will some take in the food, it really has to be right on top with zero flow otherwise it won't eat as the slightest bit of current will knock the food off.

I wasn't too concerned when I bought it since I heard from several people how hearty they are. I just want to see it already! The skeleton colour still looks good, there is no smell either on top or under the colony.

[skydragon]

do have a pic of it . i keep my very low light

[Qckwzrd]

All my dendros opend in the bag and stayed open during acclimation. I do have one polyp that doesn't open much at all. Hardly any polyp extention but since I've had it, it has grown 2 babies. I have to place the food right on it for it to eat. Its right next to another Dendro I have which has its polyps open all the time. As long as its eating a lil its better then nothing. Try feeding it at night rather then the day. And turn flow off when you feed it and feed mysis after you hit it with cyclops.

[fishyfishy23]

put more flow over them they seem to like moderate indirect flow IME it entices them to come out.. Also add rods food or something to the tank and feed everything else and I bet they'll be out.

[ReneX]

My two dendros both opened up in the bag, one after being in transit for over 48 hours.

If they're getting some food, that's better than nothing. How do your other corals look? How are your water params? Have you checked to make sure nothing is bothering it at night, like brittle stars or large bristleworms?

[fishyfishy23]

I'd take a pic.. do you think its possible its a sun coral and was sold to you as dendro? a LFS to me had some labeled incorrectly.

[Echidna09]

Which species is it?

[andrewkw]

I'm pretty sure its fatsula but I could be wrong here's a pic when I first got it, looks pretty much the same

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y234/andrewkw/dec07/IMGP2420-1.jpg

I will do a water test tonight, but everything else in the tank is happy, xenia, acans, zoas ect.

It's in my acan / frag tank which I feed everyday I would have thought by now the amount of food in the tank would have encouraged it to open.

[skydragon]

im sorry is that a sun coral? wii my dendro like like that. http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/152923mini-mini-05122007043.jpg

[ReneX]

Definately not a sun coral. Looks like a dendro.

[skydragon]

will it look alot like dendro but. because dendro grow out in heads.and there branching dendro that grow in branch. but this one look like sun coral. because the way how it grow. can i ask how much you pay for tho? because dendro go about 55-80 aheads and sun coral go about 30-45

[Echidna09]

How much he paid could be a good reference if it was D. Coccinea (which grows giant heads, and the most common species in the trade) or D. Arbuscula (which grows small, branching heads), but most other species are likely to sell as a sun coral whether they are or not. If this one was correctly labeled as a dendro, I doubt the price was extreme. This piece is neither D. Coccinea which go for $50-$70 a piece or D. Arbuscula, which I have only seen offered at one place, and that is for $75 (I believe) per polyp. Skydragon, you have D. Coccinea, so it will never look like this specimen.

Do you check if they open while the lights are out? I had a colony of D. Arbuscula that refused to open for a month and resulted in most of the polyps dieing. Four polyps remained and would open at night or partially when I fed. I got tired of feeding at night and there are currently two diminishing polyps.

I would put in in low light so that if it starts to recede it doesn't start growing hair algae. If you get it to open you should be fine moving it back wherever you want. That's just my opinion though.

[Mikigo]

My dendros tissue do not blend together, but sun coral do. just my observation.

[skydragon]

Echidna09 right i would put him in low light too. but i see sun coral open in day and night too. Mikigo that what im talking about dendro dont blend together but sun coral do. ya will have to see how much he pay for tho to get a good reference

[andrewkw]

Well I perhaps found a possible reason. The calcium in my frag tank was only 350, I've since moved the colony to my display where it's 420. There is a small amount of nitrate present in both my tanks approximately 5 and for sure less then 10 (so hard to tell with the colours sometimes). I use Salifert test kits in case you're wondering.

I don't really keep many SPS frags in the tank other then things that frag by accident so I haven't closely monitored the calcium rate until now. It was 390-400 prior to me putting the dendro in as I did test before putting it in. I add 2 part since there is no reactor on the frag tank.

I normally don't like posting what I paid but just to ensure you guys know this is a dendro I paid $350 for the colony. I could have bought 8 sun coral colonies 2 vats over at the same shop.

It's now on the sand bed indirectly under a 250w 14k light getting some low to moderate flow. I just checked it with the lights off and its still not open. I don't think light effects these guys at all. I have tried turning the lights on and off to see if it made any difference and the tiny bit of extension it did have did not change with lights on or off. It's more of a pain in the *** to feed in the display but I will try and entice it later today.

[Echidna09]

Even at 350, your calcium should not affect polyp extension. Lighting does not matter with non-photosynthetic corals as far as being careful to not bleach or brown it out. Since they lack zooxanthellae they cannot do either of those. The only reason I said keep it in low lighting is so that if you do not get a response out of it and flesh starts dying it will not grow algae. If it does grow hair algae it will be really hard to remove all of it without damaging the coral.

Turning the lights off won't really help. You need to look at it at nighttime after your lights have been on for their regular cycle. You will probably want to wait at least an hour of the lights being off before you check it for polyp extension.

[nanotrigger]

turn off your flow, place some mysis around it..

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff149/jkfactor/IMG_0094.jpg

[skydragon]

nanotrigger nice dendro frag you got there. i belive dendro is a deepsea species low light. everone that i know keep them very low light just like yumma. i agreet with Echidna09 on that calcium should not affect polyp extension. i realy think you should keep them low light for 1week and see any polyp extension. dont worried about they eating or not yet. because if they dont eat. they will not eat.
keep them in low light that way you tell is a sun coral or dendro too because frome what i see dendro open all day and night....im sorry for keep say your new coral is a sun coral. i just never see a dendro tissue blend and grow together. dendro alway grow in heads. any keep us update good luck

[nanotrigger]

thanks. i've had them for 3 years. just figured out how to get them to bud. haha. yes they are deepsea species. but they don't care for light at all...light or no light thye will thrive as long as you feed them. I have mine on a frag rack near the top almost under a 150w MH.

i do agree if they are New you might want to keep them in lower for a little while... but later you can keep them higher up.

[Qckwzrd]

http://www.saltbucket.com/d/10470-1/P1010799.JPG
Dendros open in the bag, while being temp acclimated.

[nanotrigger]

NICE!

[Qckwzrd]

http://www.saltbucket.com/d/10760-1/P1020006.JPG

[otiso777]

Yep mine opened in the bag as well. I fed it the second night that it was in my tank and have been feeding it every other night since then. It hasn't had a problem opening up yet and I've had it for almost a month now.

[Echidna09]

Andrew's dendros are going to look different from those pics because they are not D. Coccinea.

[Qckwzrd]

Otiso how many babies have yours produced since you've had them?

[andrewkw]

thanks for all the tips guys. They were in very low light originally, now they are at the bottom of a 24" tank under a 250w halide. I'm going to try feeding again tonight, as I said in the frag tank I was able to feed them with no flow but they'd only extend enough to eat.

If I can't get them to open up by the end of the week I'll consider moving them to a friends tank to see if that makes any difference.

I'll try feeding again tonight and see what happens. I do see the tips of the tentacles now but not much extension. I'll have to wait for the fishes to sleep.

[Qckwzrd]

My dendros are in a 15 nano with t'5s. All directly under the lights. Just feed during the night with cyclops and some selcon.

[andrewkw]

I noticed some weird oyster like creature closing and opening while I was feeding the cyclopeeze. Not sure if it was eating it or what. Should I attempt to kill said creature?

I got a bit of extension. I will try again in an hour after the lights are out. Feed my fishes a little extra so hopefully they won't bother with the bits of cyclopeeze around the dendros.

[otiso777]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11553066#post11553066 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Qckwzrd
Otiso how many babies have yours produced since you've had them?

None yet. It was kind of a rescue job as it had fallen behind the rocks in the guy's tank that I got it from, so it had been neglected for a while. It looks good and is growing now though. Like I said, I've haven't even had it for a month yet

[Patwa]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11554542#post11554542 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by andrewkw
I noticed some weird oyster like creature closing and opening while I was feeding the cyclopeeze. Not sure if it was eating it or what. Should I attempt to kill said creature?

I got a bit of extension. I will try again in an hour after the lights are out. Feed my fishes a little extra so hopefully they won't bother with the bits of cyclopeeze around the dendros.

a little creature??? a baby clam? i'd definitely investigate until you have a positive ID...the worst case is you have an irritator that is somehow affecting the dendros.....you did say they do show a limited response to feeding....at this point, anything is possible.

more so, given that the colony cost so much, i'd ID the hitch-hiker ASAP and remove it completely....maybe transfer it to some other rock.

also, try very small lumps of raw shrimp for food...my dendros, FME, react more vigorously to shrimp than cyclopeeze, surprisingly enough.

Zach

[nanotrigger]

i have also noticed that Hermit crabs and peppermint shrimp love to use dendros as a dinner plate....

[Echidna09]

I have seen what I believe you are talking about come in on some coral rocks before. The clam (or whatever it is) looks just like a rock, until it opens up. Then in looks like a rock with 2 open halves of a clam shell on it :D. I'm not sure what exactly it is though, but it shouldn't be bothering your dendros.

[andrewkw]

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y234/andrewkw/jan2008/IMGP2839.jpg

it's getting there FINALLY, hopefully some time this weekend I can enjoy it open during the day.

[thecichlidpleco]

I ask this question all the time, but what is everyone's growth rate with these. I have produced one smallto medium sized polyp in about the past 6 months, wow that time went by, most likely has to do with only feeding it once a week.