carnation coral (dendronepthya) help

[cooksalot]

hi everyone...i'm new to reef keeping, and let me preface this entire post by saying, yes, i know i made a mistake here. i have an aquapod 24G with dual sunpac lighting (64W). tank cycled, water parameters are good...0 nitrites, 0 ammonia, <5 nitrates, ph 8.1-8.3, alk - upper normal range, calcium 420, phosphate 0. my fist coral is a mushroom that is thriving. i also have some frags from my LR that are thriving. last week i purchased a flavia (brain moon) that started to fail within a day. i brought it back to the lfs, they tested my water, said i did everything right and it was one of those things..hadn't been in their tank long. they let me exchange it for another, and i went on the advice of the guy at the lfs (there's my big mistake) and bought what i have come to find out is a carnation coral. lfs guy said it was hardy and would do fine in my tank...grrr. i have come to find out they are incredibly hard to care for. i am feeding it phytoplankton by disolving some in tank water and then squirting it over the coral with a turkey baster. i am afraid of taxing my new system though by overfeeding it. i've had it for three days and so far it looks ok, but i'm not really sure how much to feed it and how often. i have it in a lower light area, but still in good flow (not under a ledge or anything). here are two pics, the first of it closed, the second open.

first of all, is my ID correct? and secondly, does anyone have any advice or success stories with these corals? it droops slightly when it goes to sleep at night, but then perks right back up in the morning. i've read so much conflicting info on these that i just don't know what to do with it. thanks for any advice anyone has.
christine

 

[saltycreefer]

A nfriend of mine had one for about 6 months on a skimmerless tank but it melted eventually. They need a steady plankton supply to live.

 

[tmplge]

Trun off the powerheads and feed it plankton SEVERAL times a DAY. I wuold say at lesat 3 times a day for starters until it gets larger thank maybe you can get away with 2 times a day if your lucky. Its beutiful btw!

 

[cooksalot]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8782292#post8782292 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tmplge
Trun off the powerheads and feed it plankton SEVERAL times a DAY. I wuold say at lesat 3 times a day for starters until it gets larger thank maybe you can get away with 2 times a day if your lucky. Its beutiful btw!

yikes! 3x a day? i have the ability to do this (time, money, desire for it to live), but what will this much plankton do to my water parameters in a 24G? i suppose the upside is that my nassarius snails will be thrilled lol

 

["Umm fish?"]

Ouch. Well, good luck. Do not turn off your power heads, they need lots of flow to live. Don't bother with the phyto, the latest consensus is that they like meat. Small meat and lots of it and the flow has to be right. Charles seems to be having luck with his with a constant trickle of small plankton pretty much 24/7 and with tons and tons of laminar flow.

Check out this thread. Since you're trying to keep something alive, I would start at the last page and work backwords.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=524097

Good luck! (I have to admit, while I want to try one of these ... in your circumstances I would take this one back, too. I would also raise holy hell with the owner of the LFS.)

 

[cooksalot]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8782587#post8782587 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by "Umm, fish?"


Good luck! (I have to admit, while I want to try one of these ... in your circumstances I would take this one back, too. I would also raise holy hell with the owner of the LFS.)

thanks so much for the link...i read through a lot of the posts, and i'm thinking i may have to take this back. i may have been dumb enough to bring it home not knowing its requirements, but i'm not so dumb that i realize i'm in way over my head with this one as a newbie.

christine

 

[cooksalot]

ok, so i opted out of this coral and returned it for a finger leather (i decided i was only taking a mushroom or leather in exhange). definitely not as pretty, but much more suitable for both my tank and myself. thanks again for everyone's help.