duncan coral issues. help?

[reeferrmadness]

ive had this duncan for weeks now and its been opening up and growing well. just recently the 2 clowns i have in the tank have been nipping and attempting to host it. i noticed it about 4 or 5 days ago and thought it was cute. 2 days ago i came home and saw the duncan completely closed and it hasnt opened since.
im assuming its because of the clowns but idk. anyone ever had this issue?
id rather not remove the fish or the coral..would adding a bigger coral..maybe a frogspawn help? would they switch to it and not kill my duncan? or will the duncan eventually open up and get used to the abuse.

the duncan has 8 heads and the clowns are about 2" each.
ive also seen them nip at the coral then spit out what i guess is coral poop? im worried and any help would be appreciated
thanks

 

[rrasco]

My clowns never messed with my duncan and the frogspawn they host is about 2 inches away. My duncan did however close up for about a week, then just opened back up one day like nothing was wrong. If everything else looks happy and water params are in check, it probably is due to the clowns. I have had my clowns "mouth" my candy canes, kind of looks like they put there mouth on it, but don't bite. It's weird.

 

[gnu]

Duncan's are very touchy I think. I have one with about 20 heads and a branching one with about 15. They also were open for months then they closed up when I put in some more fish. It's either my clowns or my dwarf angels that are bothering it. I left in in the tank for a month after and it still stayed closed during the day. At night it would open though. I moved it to diff locations and had the same results. So I took them both out and put them in the Q tank just to see what happens and check there health. Within 1 day they opened right back up. I kept them in there for a month then put them back in the display tank. They stayed open for a day or so. Now there closed again. I'm about to sell them or trade them in. It's to bad b/c they do very well in my tank. Good luck

 

[kurt_n]

My duncan seems to close up for no reason whatsoever every 6-8 months or so. I've heard this from many other folks, too. I think it's just the nature of the thing. Right now, about 1/2 of my colony of 100+ heads is doing that very thing. After a few days, it's always back happy as normal. Nothing nips at it in my tank.

Hopefully, that's all it is in your case. However, clowns hosting in various LPS have been known to "love" them to death. Keep an eye on it. I'd be worried if it hasn't opened up again after a week or so.

 

[Jgut3]

My clown did the same thing after he decided that the new Duncan was more comfy that my hammer. The Duncan got use to the clown is happy as can be and it's my fastest growing coral too. I think it'll be fine.

 

[scsdukefan408]

If they decide they want to live in the duncan theres really nothing you can do to stop them instead of removing the duncan...Mine live in my torch and I think the torch actually likes it.

 

[reeferrmadness]

the duncan has been opening up about halfway the last few days and the clowns still roll around in it just not as much idk what happened but hopefully it continues to improve

 

[haftafish]

I need to find a nice Duncan.

 

[sqwat]

My marroon does the same thing.clowns also nip anemones I think its to warn the nemesis not to sting I have seen all clowns do this but I don't no why for sure.the nemesis are tough and can take it but sometimes when he nips the Duncan it takes the tips off.it rarely works out well for the Duncan most of the time they close and waste away.this is why I say don't put clown in ops tanks without a nem. Gl I hope u don't lose Duncan don't care about clowns dime a dozen

 

[Sacohen]

I got my Duncan last Sunday, put it in the tank and he hasn't opened at all.
I see him coming out of the head about a 1/4 inch, but that's all.

I have a Perc Clown and a Flame Angel, but have not seen then nipping on the Duncan.

I check all my levels last night and the were all good Calcium was a little high (600 if I remember), but everything else was right on.

I have him in moderate to low flow with CoraLife Aqua Lunar Compact Flourescents.

Any Ideas would be appreciated.

 

[W.Scott]

my duncan seems to be one of the quickest to close, and quickest to open in my tank.

 

[willietang021]

I have had many different duncans through out many years. They tend to close up for a couple of days if they are stress out. But eventually open back up. I had a 350+ heads huge duncan colony that close up altogether for about a week. I was so worry that the whole colony was a goner, but they open back up after 5 days. Most coral do not like being host by clownfish, But I did see some duncans had no problem having a pair of clown fish hosting it.