uhuru
New member
Over five years ago, Charles Matthews and Chuck Stottlemire started a Dendronephthya spp. study group. This Dendronephthya study group was also responsible for the birth of this non-photosynthetic forum, and several of the participants in that group are still participants here.
Rather than continue the original thread, which got too sidetracked, I want to start a new, more focused thread. This thread is for Dendronephthya owners only. Anyone can read it of course, but please don't post unless you can actually provide real data based on your experience. In other words, this is not the thread to ask questions about how to care for them, whether you have a dendronephthya or not, what is wrong with your dendronephthya, etc. Such posts will be ignored and if possible deleted by moderators.
The goal of this thread is simple. We want to gather data, and then analyze that data. I would like to treat this thread like a collection of medical records. Before trying to analyze anything, lets start collecting data. So, lets try to start with the following guidelines:
1) Before you can post, you must give your:
- Age of system
- Net water volume including sump, fuge, etc
- Dimensions of tank(s) with Dendronephthya
- Biological filtration (biopellets, fuge, etc)
- Mechanical filtration (skimmer, filter sock, etc)
- Chemical filtration (carbon, GFO, ozone, etc)
- Brand of salt(s) used
- Amount and frequency of water changes
- Feeding regimen (what you feed, how much of each type and how often)
- Fish species kept
- Type of food fed to fishes and how often
- Circulation pumps and total gph
- Type of flow (laminar, alternating, random, any combination of these)
- Lighting
- Lighting period
- Other corals kept
- pics of the dendronephthya
--- provide a caption with the pic with your username and D1, D2, etc.
--- in the caption, also provide the date acquired - date expired
--- example:
Uhuru D1 (9/2010 - present)
- optional: FTS
2) After providing a complete "history," please list the problems you have experienced. If you have multiple Dendronephthya, please list each one separately and include a pic for each one if possible. I realize we don't all have pics of the ones we've lost, but from now on let's try to photo document everything. When listing the problems, try to be as detailed as possible.
- example #1: I had a purple Dendronephthya purchased from DD, from now on called Uhuru D1. This specimen started out in full expansion within 24 hours of being placed in the tank. It stayed expanded for the majority of the time for the first 2 weeks. By the third week it was expanding 75% of the time. By the fourth week, only 50% of the time. By the fifth week it stopped expanding. By the sixth week, it was completely limp and polyps and branches were falling off.
- example #2: I had a red Dendronephthya purchased from Blue Zoo, from now on called Uhuru D2. The specimen initially only expanded during darkness. After 1 month it was expanding in response to food as well as darkness. After 2 months it appeared to show increased expansion. After 3 months new polyps were noticed. From 3 - 5 months it continued to show slow growth. At 6 months it stopped growing. By 7 months it started expanding less. By 8 months it appeared smaller. By 9 months it was only 50% of its original size. By 10 months it rarely expanded. By 11 months it was limp and appeared dead.
3) Additional information:
Uhuru D1: During week 3 I doubled the Shellfish Diet dosing because of the decreased expansion. By week 4 it looked worse so I went back to the original dosing.
Uhuru D2: Throughout this time I experimented with different foods but I always consistently used FM Ultra Clam, Ultra Min F, Ultra Seafan and Ultra Min D as well as Reef Nutrition Roti-Feast.
These are just examples, but you get the idea. Even in relative success we have problems, so whether you had it for 2 months or 1 year it doesn't mean you didn't have problems. We will not be listing "successes" because it will only mix up the data. By listing the problems we will be able to infer relative success.
I know, this is a lot to ask, but it is the foundation for our discussion. Within these details we might find common practices that work or don't work.
Lets get started! :thumbsup:
Rather than continue the original thread, which got too sidetracked, I want to start a new, more focused thread. This thread is for Dendronephthya owners only. Anyone can read it of course, but please don't post unless you can actually provide real data based on your experience. In other words, this is not the thread to ask questions about how to care for them, whether you have a dendronephthya or not, what is wrong with your dendronephthya, etc. Such posts will be ignored and if possible deleted by moderators.
The goal of this thread is simple. We want to gather data, and then analyze that data. I would like to treat this thread like a collection of medical records. Before trying to analyze anything, lets start collecting data. So, lets try to start with the following guidelines:
1) Before you can post, you must give your:
- Age of system
- Net water volume including sump, fuge, etc
- Dimensions of tank(s) with Dendronephthya
- Biological filtration (biopellets, fuge, etc)
- Mechanical filtration (skimmer, filter sock, etc)
- Chemical filtration (carbon, GFO, ozone, etc)
- Brand of salt(s) used
- Amount and frequency of water changes
- Feeding regimen (what you feed, how much of each type and how often)
- Fish species kept
- Type of food fed to fishes and how often
- Circulation pumps and total gph
- Type of flow (laminar, alternating, random, any combination of these)
- Lighting
- Lighting period
- Other corals kept
- pics of the dendronephthya
--- provide a caption with the pic with your username and D1, D2, etc.
--- in the caption, also provide the date acquired - date expired
--- example:
Uhuru D1 (9/2010 - present)
- optional: FTS
2) After providing a complete "history," please list the problems you have experienced. If you have multiple Dendronephthya, please list each one separately and include a pic for each one if possible. I realize we don't all have pics of the ones we've lost, but from now on let's try to photo document everything. When listing the problems, try to be as detailed as possible.
- example #1: I had a purple Dendronephthya purchased from DD, from now on called Uhuru D1. This specimen started out in full expansion within 24 hours of being placed in the tank. It stayed expanded for the majority of the time for the first 2 weeks. By the third week it was expanding 75% of the time. By the fourth week, only 50% of the time. By the fifth week it stopped expanding. By the sixth week, it was completely limp and polyps and branches were falling off.
- example #2: I had a red Dendronephthya purchased from Blue Zoo, from now on called Uhuru D2. The specimen initially only expanded during darkness. After 1 month it was expanding in response to food as well as darkness. After 2 months it appeared to show increased expansion. After 3 months new polyps were noticed. From 3 - 5 months it continued to show slow growth. At 6 months it stopped growing. By 7 months it started expanding less. By 8 months it appeared smaller. By 9 months it was only 50% of its original size. By 10 months it rarely expanded. By 11 months it was limp and appeared dead.
3) Additional information:
Uhuru D1: During week 3 I doubled the Shellfish Diet dosing because of the decreased expansion. By week 4 it looked worse so I went back to the original dosing.
Uhuru D2: Throughout this time I experimented with different foods but I always consistently used FM Ultra Clam, Ultra Min F, Ultra Seafan and Ultra Min D as well as Reef Nutrition Roti-Feast.
These are just examples, but you get the idea. Even in relative success we have problems, so whether you had it for 2 months or 1 year it doesn't mean you didn't have problems. We will not be listing "successes" because it will only mix up the data. By listing the problems we will be able to infer relative success.
I know, this is a lot to ask, but it is the foundation for our discussion. Within these details we might find common practices that work or don't work.
Lets get started! :thumbsup:
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