Dendro is not doing well

[Jakef150]

I have dendro over 2years.

It has 4heads and 2 babies

I noticed that 2 adult with 2 babies aren't opening and changing color little dark skeleton from orange..

One huge head is doing okay, eat good..

I'm afraid it might spread to others, will it?

Should I dip it w/ coral rx under 5min?

I love denrdro...I hate to see it dying..

I have not move it for19 months.

Temp 78
Cal 450
Alk 8.6
Ph 8.2
Mg 1380
Nit (spite set showed zero
Phos 0.00-0.04
Feed every other day

Help

Thanks

 

[willietang021]

how long had it stay close?
sometimes they do close up for a while. Do a water change helps sometimes. anything bothering the coral? Any new additives?
cut down the target feeding to once a week might help.
a pic of the color change would be great

 

[Jakef150]

I will take a pic when light comes on.

Its been like this for more than a week...only one is doing good..

I just dump food into tank and let it float around every other day.

the color (3 of 4) are changing it look like dead and tissue are about to be gone

I ll be back in here tonight to post a pix.

Thanks

 

[Jakef150]

see picture before and after

SO far only one is opening and do well..

what do you think?

Thanks
Jake

 

[va_blue_stang]

Dendros need to be spot feed to make sure they eat. Broadcast feeding will not cut it with nps corals.

 

[Jakef150]

they do catch food cuz i always make sure they get food...they catch mysis, etc


jake

 

[StephLionfish]

+1 to va blue stang. Realize that every head has to eat.
If they are getting enough food, then the pieces may be too large, which is killing them. The color change is algae growing on the skeleton, which is very bad. If the coral is in low flow, I'd move it somewhere where it gets a little to keep the algae from growing on the skeleton.

 

[willietang021]

On your first pic. I see you have algae growing on the skeleton, which is always bad to start with. Because this type of algae will not grow on tissue. If you use a turkey blaster and gentle blow those algae away, you will the the skeleton in place of the orange tissue.
On the second pic, I can see you did blow away the algae and I can see skeleton without tissue. The head in the middle more toward the back, that one is a goner, the tissue from the inside of the polyp has melted away. The third head from the left is still surviving, not dead yet.
Don't give up. I once receive a mini colony with a polyp of dendro hurt. it was the cutting point of the band saw. 2/3 of it was gone. After weekS of resting and feeding, a full head had grown back without the skeleton. So don't give up, because they are very hardy!

 

[Jakef150]

Alrite thanks.

Yeah i used turkey blaster gentle to blow it off..

Ill update in a week

Thanks

 

[MarineSniper]

Definitely needs spot fed. If you've had it for 2 years and it only has 2 new heads, it's not thriving. You should probably have closer to 20 or 30 new heads in that time, at least. Not saying you need the new heads but it's definitely indicative of the coral not being in optimal condition. A turkey baster or even a larger dropper will work. Hit each head with several mysid and they should come back around. You'll also have less waste that way. If your fish won't allow it during the day, do it after lights out

 

[Jakef150]

So far 3 coming out and 1 baby are doing well...2 dead..

20-30 huh ? I was told its very slow grow ?? Guess wrong.

Feed it everyday ??? can i feed it pellets lps ?

Thanks!

 

[MarineSniper]

You can feed it every day, and may want to; just watch your nitrate levels. I alternate my regular foods with Fauna Marin LPS pellets but I don't know that you'd want to use any other brands. Most are harder than the FM and may be too much for a stressed dendro to digest. If you're not doing so already, soaking the food in a vitamin such as Selcon would definitely help, as well. I use Vita Chem, Zoe or Selcon with every feeding

Dendros are very fast growers, ime. I got a 93 head colony in May and it has close to 200 now. Suns, the same way. As long as they're healthy, I wouldn't worry about growth, though. Glad to see you taking the extra effort to bring them back. Too many get nps, quickly tire of the effort they require and just let them die

 

[Dexters Reef]

I would say to start off feeding each head individually a few mysis every other day and keep an eye on nitrates. If they dont increase then you can move to daily feedings. If you feed it this way, the growth will increase.

I had 3 duncans for 6 months that were happy and healthy and just never multiplied. After I started feeding to the above schedule, I had 7 total within two months.

So 6 months no feeding no growth. 2 months with dedicated feeding more than doubled my colony. I have experienced this with Dendros also, but I lost my mini colony during a tank move.