Dendro closed after adding new dry rock

nystang

New member
Two days ago I added a small piece, about the size of a large fist of a new dry rock with a few zoa frags. I noticed right the next day that my dendro is completely closed. It is one head with a baby. While the main head was closed frequently recently, the baby was always open with long tentacles. It is in a 29g tank. The new rock is very close about 1-2" from the dendro. I don't know if this what caused the problem but nothing else changed in the tank except this. What do you think?
 
The new rock may have disturbed the flow the dendro was used to, or there was something on the rock that irritated it when you placed it in there. I'd give it a couple of days there and if your coral still isn't opening, move it or the rock
 
I checked alk an Ca. kH is only 5, while Ca is normal, as usual 380. I started to add baking soda and balance with Ca and the dendro started to open up.
 
Is the dendro dying? (video)

Is the dendro dying? (video)

Could you please take a look at this 18sec video and tell me if this is normal? It looks like flesh is peeling off the mother. Is it normal behavior?
Thanks!
 
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It's definitely stressed. With your parameters, I'd be far more concerned with the 5 Kh, than the 380 calcium. That is extremely low and could be the cause but, some questions first:

What is your feeding regimen?
- how often, what kind of foods, vitamins; if any
How long have you had the coral?
- same tank as always, same spot?
Flow and lighting
- how much flow is in the tank and is any directly at the dendro
- what type of lighting and how many hours? Looked ok in video but want to be sure
Parameters
- you checked ca&kh which is good. What are your nitrates running? Any ammonia or nitrites? If the coral is new, you may have some built up from feeding it
- these corals are very sensitive to high salinity, over long periods. Check that and calibration of refractometer

If the dendro is eating, feed it daily! They are very tough corals and can come back from death's doorstep. Mysid is good, Fauna Marin LPS Pellets; also good. If you have, or can get, Selcon; soak every food in that, for now. If you can't pick Selcon up locally, grab some Zoe. Also very good and usually easier to find.

Let me know the answers to those questions and we'll see if we can figure this out. Still in good shape and if we figure it out this early, it should be a speedy recovery. There are other possibilities but these are the most common issues. If you'd like to pm your email, I can send mine in return, which may speed up responses
 
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Update

Update

So I decided to follow some of MarineSniper's recommendations and my Dendro looks much, much better. First of all I started to feed it every other day and I soak Mysis Shrimp in Selcon. The Dendro started to open and now it is opened 90% of the day unless it's bothered by a crab or shrimp. I will try to get the other stuff you recommended.
Thanks for your help MarineSniper!
 
:celeb3: Very happy to hear that and was glad to help. As I've said, these corals are pretty tough hombres and if corrective action is taken while they're still eating well, there's little they can't recover from. Good job, id'ing the problem; we usually get the "Help!" thread when there's zero pe and massive tissue loss. Great to hear everything is improving!
 
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