Kenya Tree not opening

[archie1709]

I bought a Xenia and a Kenya Tree last Friday. I acclimated them both. The xenia is doing really well. However, the cluster of kenya tree isn't. One cluster is opened up and doing really well but the rest look like grapes attached to a trunk. It's been 2 days now.

All of my other specimen (shrooms, polyps, bubble coral, xenia) are doing really well.

Nitrates at zero, Phosphates zero, SG 1.026, Temp at 80F, Calcium at 420, supplements of iodine, strontium/molybdenum, phyto plankton, and Purple Up.

Please help. Are the clusters dead?

 

[jbittner]

Kenya tree will spread like a weed in no time. Just give it a few days to settle in. I would be suprised if the xenia did not do the same thing in the next few days.

 

[vessxpress1]

Make sure it has some flow on it. I've got a small mini-jet designated mainly for Kenya tree duty. They open and close a lot it seems. I've had mine since November. They've dropped a few branches and I thought I was going to have them growing everywhere but for some reason, they don't do so well. They've dropped so many branches, they don't look as good as when I bought them. I've seem some of them attatch to rocks but relatively poor growth. Dont know the reason.

 

[wahwoo]

Kenya seems to like strong lighting. They also go through phases of being open and closing down. Usually thet drop baby branches after they open from being closed for a few days. Its normal for them to close down after being moved to a new tank.

Was it under intense light before you got it? Moving it to a brighter area might help. They also seem to do well in good and bad quality water which leads me to think that light is more important with them.

 

[archie1709]

Here are pictures. The first one is the tank, then a little close up, then the xenia that I just acquired which is doing well, then the kenya tree that I acquired at the same time which looks kinda worrysome for me.

Thanks for all of your input. Should I be watching out for differences in my water parameters? I also read that they rely less on symbiotic algae and more on external feed. I only have trace elements and Phytoplankton to feed. Even if this kinda looks like this, should I continue feeding?

 

[archie1709]

By the way, some peeps sent me messages saying that the kenya tree looks opened up. Yes, the one that's opened up, look directly below it, the grape colored clusters. Yes, those are kenya tree too.

How bad does that look?

 

[jbittner]

My Kenya tree looks like that alot. One week great two days closed up. If I could only figure out how to make all my softies open up all the time.

 

[archie1709]

The kenyas finally opened up. Thanks for all of your advice.

I just picked up a $50 ricordia from Chris' LFS (143Gadgets). It has at least 8 polyps in there (or should I say mushroom heads?). Anyways, I am happy with it.

Somebody needs to stop me from buying stuff.

I am gonna make a poll about how much people buy frags from other reefers instead of buy from LFS. Please do look for it and participate. I'd like to know whether or not it's much better to look for peers and buy frags from them at a cheaper price. Pros and Cons. All that jazz.