Duncan Coral Question - New Head

[Aquatic Dreams]

OK ... so I bought a one head Duncan Coral at the London Fragfest in April. It looked like it had a small new head starting but the new head never really extended it's tentacles. Over the last few days I've noticed the Duncan's main head staying closed most of the time and not coming out much at all.

Today I see that the small new head on the Duncan has tentacles extended but the main head is closed up. I realize that corals open and close for many reasons and we don't really understand why all the time. And I'm not overly concerned yet as I can still see colour in the closed head. I was just wondering if this was normal behaviour perhaps to allow the new head to get some nutrients to help it grow?

 

[Aquatic Dreams]

Good .... Bad ... Normal ... ANYBODY??

 

[zoomster]

Hey @Shooter000 my friend needs your Duncan expertise here. I don't know much about them.

 

[Shooter000]

Just like any zoas or palys, they will close up when making babies, the original head will be fine, just give it some time, it will open back up and bigger and better than before

 

[Luke.]

Well I was like you but I bought my single duncan head from aquarium by design about a year ago and I've watched it go from 1- 18+ heads , mine did the same they sort of close up when they spread mine changes shades sometimes it's very colourful and sometimes it's transparent , do you feed them ?

 

[Aquatic Dreams]

OK Cool ... thanks for the replies guys. I assumed that was the case but wanted to make sure. Yeah I feed them roughly 2-3 times a week. If the tentacles are out and I'm feeding brine, mysis or reef frenzy I try to feed the Duncan some as well. Again today the tentacles from the smaller head are out and the larger is closed up. Good to know that it's all normal though.

 

[Luke.]

Sounds good i feed mine once a week and they grow like crazy just mysis not sure if 3 times a week is a little much ?

 

[Aquatic Dreams]

Sounds good i feed mine once a week and they grow like crazy just mysis not sure if 3 times a week is a little much ?

Yeah ... to be honest it's probably very seldom that it gets fed 3 times a week. And sometimes it doesn't get very much food either. I just offer a bit in case it's interested. Then other times the tentacles aren't out when I'm feeding. Seems to be doing OK though. I hope that it keeps growing new heads.

 

[Aquatic Dreams]

Just wondering how long roughly is normal for the main head to stay closed? I'd say it's been about a week and I can see a couple tentacles slightly poking out but not much at all. Still a nice green colour in the center. At what point should I start to get concerned? The smaller head has tentacles out daily.

 

[Shooter000]

If it's been this long, any other reasons may be, a nip from a fish or a crab may have crawled across injuring the head a little, not enough light?, another coral placed to close?,,

 

[Aquatic Dreams]

If it's been this long, any other reasons may be, a nip from a fish or a crab may have crawled across injuring the head a little, not enough light?, another coral placed to close?,,

Nothing has really changed in the tank. The main head was open daily and then just closed up one day. Then I noticed the baby head coming out more than it used to. I just did a water change late last week but it was closed before that. Maybe I'll keep and eye on it for the next few days and do another water change.

I haven't seen any fish near it. I do have a couple hermits, a couple peppermints, a strawberry conch and a tuxedo urchin. I get that it would be closed when any of those critters are near but it used to open shortly afterwards. Everything else in the tank seems fine as well. The only coral close to it is a singe mushroom a couple inches to one side of it. It seems to be fine other than the tentacles not coming out.

 

[Skim]

Ya they do that, try feeding 1 once a week as they will close some times if overfeed not wanting any more or watch for them spitting it back out, but you may also have another little one coming. If you want to see then get large feed some NLS pellets they love pellets not much nourishment in Mysis. I have some Orange ones and they have nice colour but when I feed the pellets bazinga they get a touch of Yellow and fant green to them.

 

[Aquatic Dreams]

OK so I'm still having problems with the Duncan. I decided to move it elsewhere in the tank. After about a week still no change. So I moved it to the Biocube as everything in there seems to be doing well. It's at the bottom getting a bit of flow but in the light. It's been about a week there as well. I occasionally see the tentacles sticking out a bit but not much and the skeleton seems to be turning a darker colour. I don't want to stress it out more but was thinking of giving it a Coral RX dip to see if that would help.

Any other suggestions?

 

[Luke.]

Pics ?

 

[Aquatic Dreams]

New head to the right. Main head slight tentacle protrusion but not enough to feed. When I add food they don't come out any further.

 

[Luke.]

Ouch bro that looks rough I wouldn't be suprised if it doesn't come back

 

[Luke.]

This is what a healthy one should look like

 

[Aquatic Dreams]

Yup ... mine looked like that from April until several weeks ago.

 

[Shooter000]

Dip it and try and get that algea off from around the main head, that may be what is causing the problem?¿

 

[nathan]

I got a freebie from an order from Canada coral. It opened up the first day. That doesn't look good bro. Doesn't hurt to try dipping it now