Is there hope?

[Hermannsae]

I got this colony from a LFS a few days ago. I believe this is an orange sun coral colony or Dendrophyllia fistula. However, I am not 100% sure.
Maybe someone can help out here.
According to the LFS the colony was not fed separately. They had it for approx. 3 weeks in their tank. Actually I thought, I bought just an orange colored rock. I thought I give it a try, it was almost for free.
After treating them with a food-bath very night, finally the polyps showed up just barley. Surprisingly they seem to be still alive. I was using Reef Bugs & Reef Chilly as well as some frozen Mysis shrimps to get their attention but without much success. You can see them but still they will not fully expand.
Does anyone has any ideas? Is there still hope?

 

[teriyakithunder]

For a food bath, does that mean picking the colony up out of the water and putting them in another container every night? I would imagine the colony wouldn't like that and cause them to not expand. I hand feed my Dendro colony and never take them out and put them in another container since they don't like to be taken out of the water.

 

[Hermannsae]

Funny thing you mentioned that, last night I left the colony in the DT, added some food and let a small powerhead blowing it over the colony. They responded positive.
Although still didn't expand full. I guess I have to be patient.

 

[Terryz_]

Notoriously difficult.. Lost 2 colony.. They just dun open..

 

[Hermannsae]

Yeah.... I guess that's why I got them so cheap....
But, improvement last night, they opend more and I was able to feed them .... We shall see ...

 

[reefwars]

Notoriously difficult.. Lost 2 colony.. They just dun open..

actually thats not true, they are an easier species to take care of, it just needs the proper care and enough time.


your SUNCORAL is still in acclimation, sometimes it takes weeks its part of what makes keeping nps corals difficult as time goes by if you keep up with the feedings they will come out more easily and can even be trained to come out timely.

all my suncorals and dendros are out 24/7

try this , instead of removing your suncoral:

place your suncoral on the sandbed....dark or light is not gonna matter.
cut a 2l pop bottle off leaving the top of the bottle and about 6" of length
place the cut off bottle top over the coral and twist it into the sand.

use a turkey baster to blow some food into the bottle and place cap on the bottle.


if it spent 3 wks in the lfs not getting fed then you have some work cut out for you but def not impossible just takes persistance.

make sure your water quality is good and flow not to strong untill it acclimates.


i know you got it for a steal but always give nps corals of any type a good look over and for the most part the longer its at a lfs the worse off you are unless they are putting the right care into it.

 

[sqwat]

u can easily save it by doi8ng the tub bath every other day it doesnt botherthem much leave in tup for 1 hour 1/2.pulute the water with mysisi and oyterfeats dont bumb or move container just use a baster to move food around in water they will open and eat some the first time some the second time.them add back to tanknot the water.this takes 2 to 3 weeks i just saved a colony like that.i would frag it up because some colonie that size will be a ***** to feed.get them opening and eating frag and sellthis takes time but doesnt pollute water and works if you are patient dont bumb container and scare them and make shure you move the food around the container with a baster

 

[Hermannsae]

Thank you for all your input!

Today many of the polyps were out the whole day, which is a good sign I guess. Still not 100% out but progress. I was able to feed them tonight.
Because I do not have any fish, a lot of reef "snow" is flowing around. Guess the upstream refugium helps too and they are stimulated.

The bottle method will not work because the colony is too big. I might end up to build a special "cover" to feed them.
The Tupperware method didn't work either. I made sure I was not touching the bucket and i was using the turkey baster as described by squat.
Maybe I am wrong, but I think the low laminar flow from the small power head did the trick. The colony is located under an overhanging rock which functioned as a funnel.

Anyhow, I happy there is improvement. :spin3: I think this are fascinating animals.

 

[Terryz_]

actually thats not true, they are an easier species to take care of, it just needs the proper care and enough time.


your SUNCORAL is still in acclimation, sometimes it takes weeks its part of what makes keeping nps corals difficult as time goes by if you keep up with the feedings they will come out more easily and can even be trained to come out timely.

all my suncorals and dendros are out 24/7

try this , instead of removing your suncoral:

place your suncoral on the sandbed....dark or light is not gonna matter.
cut a 2l pop bottle off leaving the top of the bottle and about 6" of length
place the cut off bottle top over the coral and twist it into the sand.

use a turkey baster to blow some food into the bottle and place cap on the bottle.


if it spent 3 wks in the lfs not getting fed then you have some work cut out for you but def not impossible just takes persistance.

make sure your water quality is good and flow not to strong untill it acclimates.


i know you got it for a steal but always give nps corals of any type a good look over and for the most part the longer its at a lfs the worse off you are unless they are putting the right care into it.

Unless it is a different species we are talking about.. These Branching ones, I have not seen anyone keeping one alive.. Those normal ones yes, they are easy to get them to open.. Unless those that I got from lfs is already starving from the collector and the lfs.. I have tried the target feeding with the soda bottle, but they only open up very little, can only see a bit of the tentacles and slowly they stopped opening..

I believe there is another thread long ago about this type of dendro..

 

[Terryz_]

Here is the thread...

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2036901

 

[sqwat]

terry i keep the branching black and dendro alive all the time most dendros are branching just sold as a single polyp.dont wory bro you doing the right thing and will have no problem dndro are branching corals its just people sell the larger polyps off for big bucks they take along time to grow a piece like youres i just brought one back and fraged it down yes a branching one and this is the second one i have done like this besides the black ones wich are open all day also.allot of people dont have succes because they dont relise how starrving the coral is that they bought most havent been fed in months and take allot of work to bring back wich the average reefer isnt willing to do.gl

 

[sqwat]

that post is a yesr old and it just says they are hard to open but if you do the tupperwar e method you will have a beautifull colony in no time they had no idea what they even had or were doing.the only way to truly tell the differance in dendro is from a dead polyp or corallite.they also can be right in dirrect light if you want them.i bought 2 colo0nies the same you have over the past year and a colony of the so called impossable blacks and have them open all day and happy growing and producing in direct sunlight.i did the tupperware method on all three did it for 2 to three weeks these guys are starving and wasting away in the center you can actually see the heads get fatter evryday like they are regrowing.fat head dendro is only a dealer name for a large dendro polyp they get bigger you just have a smaller colony they will grow larger if fed allot.my blacks are a inch across.and the first dendro is allmost a inch and they were the size of youres when i bought them.you just get back what you put into these corals thats how nps work.most peop[le think you can buy a colony and just put it in youre tank and it will open from broadcast feeding but only rarely does this happen if you bought them from someone who was feeding them or a single head they pump up and sell for 50$ a polyp.they are leteraly eating themselves when you get them.gl

 

[Terryz_]

terry i keep the branching black and dendro alive all the time most dendros are branching just sold as a single polyp.dont wory bro you doing the right thing and will have no problem dndro are branching corals its just people sell the larger polyps off for big bucks they take along time to grow a piece like youres i just brought one back and fraged it down yes a branching one and this is the second one i have done like this besides the black ones wich are open all day also.allot of people dont have succes because they dont relise how starrving the coral is that they bought most havent been fed in months and take allot of work to bring back wich the average reefer isnt willing to do.gl

I have kept the black ones and others with no problem making them open daily, just this particular branching one.. No matter what I do, it doesnt open fully.. Maybe it is already starving badly at the shop.. Because I bought it twice at the same shop..

 

[Terryz_]

If not wrong this is a different species all together..

But the bucket method is the best way to go with these big dendro..

If I dont remember wrongly, Aquabac have successfully got them to open..

I really hope to see this turn out to be a healthy piece too, it is a sight to see it growing and opening..

 

[MarineSniper]

Branching dendros are slower to acclimate but do fine, once they do. I have a colony of over 150 heads and it took almost 2 weeks for every polyp to finally open, in an nps tank with suns being fed daily. When feeding, I would shut off all flow, and allow the mysid to sit on the colony. The smell will encourage them to come out. It's hard to do this with fish in the tank but, without that issue, you can do it easily. I would also soak the mysid in Selcon or Zoe to enhance the nutritional value. When they haven't eaten for so long, they can use the extra vitamins

If these are orange branching dendros, they are far more rare than you think, most are yellow. I'd love to find a colony of them!

 

[Terryz_]

It showed up a few times in lfs from time to time.. And often huge.. But most are bought by newbie who thinks they are nice and know nothing about getting them to open and feeding them.. I would love to get them but I have no success with them as it is impossible to get them on broadcast feeding which I am doing for my seafans, Christmas trees, dendro, ball-tip, strawberry and halcurias anemone..

 

[slapshot]

It showed up a few times in lfs from time to time.. And often huge.. But most are bought by newbie who thinks they are nice and know nothing about getting them to open and feeding them.. I would love to get them but I have no success with them as it is impossible to get them on broadcast feeding which I am doing for my seafans, Christmas trees, dendro, ball-tip, strawberry and halcurias anemone..

Yep, my experience also. Can't get them to broadcast feed. It's impossible to feed them long term if they wont broadcast feed. Having said that I'm a sucker so I am trying again but getting the same results.........ugh, frustrating!

 

[Hermannsae]

Here is the thread...

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2036901

Thank you for the link.
To all: thank you for sharing your experiences with dendros. Appreciated!
Although not very encouraging …. but we shall see …. there is still hope and the challenge to get them fed & thrive ...

Does anyone know the exact name of this type of dendro? Seems like all kind of names are floating around ...

 

[Terryz_]

I certainly hope that it will work out well for you.. And the method you are using is a very good way to get the dendro to open and feed..

All the best...

 

[Terryz_]

Yep, my experience also. Can't get them to broadcast feed. It's impossible to feed them long term if they wont broadcast feed. Having said that I'm a sucker so I am trying again but getting the same results.........ugh, frustrating!

I never had luck on Dendro or it cousins.. Even tried putting in cyclopeeze in my mix to se if it would help but its seems they would prefer more meaty food..