Carnation Tree Coral

[menzies2901]

Can anyone help........I have purchased a carnation tree coral and it has gone all limp, i have spoken to the shop and he said that it will do this for about 1 week and then straighten up.

I am currently using coral grow 10ml per day, is it recommended to direct feed this coral, and can anyone point me in the right direction on finding out more about this coral. Everything i can find is pictures no facts on the requirements for this coral.

 

[menzies2901]

I am also dosing the water with idione 5ml per 120lt of water.

 

[graveyardworm]

What the guy at the shop neglected to tell you is that carnation coral (most likely dendronepthya) have an almost 0 survival rate in captivity. They are nonphotosynthetic and require almost constant feeding, and to top it off the food it requires to survive isnt fully known yet although there are alot of people trying to figure it out. I'll post a link for you to read.

 

[graveyardworm]

Its a long one, but you'll find alot of information. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=524097

 

[sugartooth]

I've had one (pink) for a few months and seems to be doing fine. I had a nano, and put it at the top w/lot and lots of flow. It swelled nicely and was pretty fuzzy. I upgraded to a 45 and it's still doing okay, however not as 'swollen' looking.
It needs high flow and I have been feeding the tank oyster eggs, rod's reef food, a dash of phyto every so often, cyclopeeze, rotifers, and artic pods.

 

[graveyardworm]

I had one which persisted for a year. It looked okay for about 6 months then it slowly shrank, split off some babies, all of which have disappeared. There are new foods available now like DT's oyster eggs which may hold some promise. I think arctic pods would be way too large, as far as I've read dendro polyps take in very small food. Rotifiers and cyclopeeze may even be too large, although some people are reporting success, just have to wait and see how they do long term.

 

[sugartooth]

yep, I would agree that the Artic pods are way big. That's just the list of stuff I feed the tank to cover my bases with the corals and pods in there.
Perhaps the new DT's premium blend would be better?

 

[graveyardworm]

I read this some time ago and I dont know if I can provide the reference so please dont quote me, but I believe some research has been done to determine its diet and phytoplankton was found to be a small portion of its diet, and alone is not enough to sustain dendronephthya.

Sugar tooth, what kind of livestock do you have the you've dtermined to be eating arctic pods, they look like an interesting new food. Mostly I'm interested in feeding it to my suncoral for alittle more variety.

 

[sugartooth]

Graveyardworm,
That's a good question. I haven't "seen" any of my livestock consume the artic pods while I'm there. I got them as you said, for variety. They are quite large, much larger than the copepods in a bottle in my opinion.
I usually mix it with a dab of rotifers, oyster eggs, and cyclopeeze. Sometimes I will rotate instead of mixing. Right now I have the following in my tanks:
Lobo brains & open brain
Acros
Pocilliporas
millis
xenia
zoos/palys
favia
acans
blastos
chalices
carnation tree coral
feather dusters
leathers
shroooms/rics
gorgonians/sea blade
clove polyps/daisy polyps
green star polyps
montis
monti caps
monti digis
I figure some of these (LPS) will get those arcti pods! If not them, I've got fish that I have seen go after them.
So far everything I've read about Arcti pods has been positive so I thought I would give it a try as well.

 

[graveyardworm]

I have not seen the arctic pods myself to know exactly how large they are, just from pictures of the bottles you can see the pods inside. I would think that most LPS would eat them unless they are larger than the polyps. Spot feeding might accomplish this.

 

[sugartooth]

Yep, I usually spot feed once a week. Also, I was thinking of trying the DT's premium reef blend since that covers range of sizes to feed as food. That may work well also.
I have only been trying these pods for about 3 weeks so maybe one of these days I will catch one of the corals with a mouthful.

 

[graveyardworm]

Keep an eye on the LPS after lights out, thats when the feeder tentacles generally come out.

 

[graveyardworm]

I've been using the DT's premium phyto for a little while now. You should know that most corals dont feed directly on phyto. The phyto is eaten by zooplankton, and filter feeders which then reproduce and in turn their larvae become food for your corals.

 

[sugartooth]

Hi Gravey!
Thanks for the advice, I only meant I don't catch them eating because I don't stick around long enough to watch. I've been battling ich with a puffer and all my efforts have been to treat him and his tankmate so I haven't been looking in my reef tanks much.
I usually spot feed after lights out, when polyps are extended, etc. and then move on to the next tank.