Large Duncan Colony half open half closed?

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dosercody

New member
So I have a Duncan colony of about 30-40 heads. Right now a section of it is completely closed like it would be after lighting hours (and even then usually mine are still partially open). I noticed it around 3:15 when I got home from work. My cleaner shrimp was dead or molting right next to the Duncan (the cleaner is now in his own aquarium, I'm leaning towards dead since it has yet to move...though I've heard of some weird molting before) and I attributed it to the cleaner irritating the Duncan so that section was closed up. Now almost five hours later I went to look at the tank, and that section is still entirely closed up. I turned the whole piece around a bit to see if it somehow had any effect. Nothing yet. Ideas? I'm going to do a water change tomorrow and hope that helps. But its my understanding that when they are completely closed up, something is majorly wrong. Its just weird cause it's not the whole piece. Rough day for me...

P.S. Relative newb here. Still learning all I can from this inherited tank I got about a month ago now.
 
IMHO Duncan's are weird, mine does what yours is doing for a couple of days then they all open up and extend to their max. The next day they are closed, the next some closed, it all to do how they feel on the day I reckon.
 
Thanks for the reply Shanet!

Thanks for the reply Shanet!

You know in all the research I'm doing I'm hearing more opinions of that variety than anything else regarding Duncans. I guess they are hardy little suckers and my favorite piece in my small reef tank. This is the first real trouble I've had in a month and since I got into this hobby all in one day, I count myself lucky. lol
 
Yesterday my Duncan was 98% closed up like an armadillo and today it's back to normal...I do have cleaner shrimp too though and they can be pesky. Mine behave best when I feed them directly every day.
 
JoeA7 I have T5's, and again the Duncan has been fine until yesterday. No idea what brand of powerhead I have, it's the one that came with the tank. But I have the Duncan on the opposite end of the tank in the sandbed, and by my definition of low flow it is getting that :) Not to mention the section that isn't opening is lower, towards the sand, and on the right side of the Duncan (while the power head is on the far left of the tank) and shaded by other heads so it gets less light too as I know there supposed to be low light as well.

Small update: Last night I was keeping an eye on things and noticed about 4 to 5 out of the 8 closed wanted to open so bad, but just wouldn't. Could see the polyps just barelt poking out a few mm. This morning, 100% closed again. LFS opens at 11, and will be getting some more water to do a change, lights come on at 2:30 and we will see what happens.
 
yeah - defining what these words mean is difficult. By luck I got my small colony - 4 heads - in a great spot first time. Then for other reasons I needed to revise the landscape of my tank and I have not been able to duplicate the conditions. So what seemed optimal was as follows:

Offset about 4" from the edge of a Radion 3 Pro, and far enough from the second fixture so that is was out, or nearly out of it's coverage area. 16-18" deep. The maximum I run the R-3 pros at is 50% right now.

It had enough current so that its tentacles mostly waved around but it wasn't too buffeted.

So after some trial and error I seem to have found the lighting sweetspot but am unable to get both the lighting and current simultaneously. Currently (heh heh) the flow is very low and the tentacles while nicely expanded don't get moved around very much.

Photo of current location. When I finally get this where it will be permanent I will clip it off the plug and epoxy in place.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...1169618973686.26704.1624339018&type=1&theater
 
I do the same in regards to polyps movement in guessing flow. The Duncan has very light movement, so I assume very light flow. I honestly think the placement is perfect for mine ATM, as it was SO happy just a day ago, something weird is just going on and I'm chalking it up to the dead cleaner shrimp that was bumping it on the one side. At least I'm hoping that... Starting to really worry! Stressful hobby! lol

Yours look great. Interesting how you can only get one "sweetspot" at a time lol you will nail it down before you know it.
 
I think you'll be ok, and I wouldn't worry too much yet. From your pic... the colony looks healthy, and I don't think it's terribly unusual for Duncan Heads to close up for a day or two... even seemingly with no cause. I've got a colony (my first coral!) that I started with 3 heads... and am now counting at least 26 or 27. It gets harassed constantly... my clowns host it, or rather it hosts them I suppose? And my shrimp often steal food from it's polyps after feeding, causing the heads to close. I've seen the whole colony closed for a day or so at a time... for seemingly no reason. However it always opens back up in full, and continues to grow new heads, leading me to believe this is normal. I've even heard stories of these guys being closed for weeks, and coming back just fine. Just my .02c but I would give it a few days before I was really worried... assuming nothing else 'off' is going on with your tank?
 
Thank you for your input Scott07. As far as I know nothing else is wrong with the tank other than the cleaner shrimp dieing that I mentioned when starting this thread. I have a small cluster of candy canes that need a lil love, but have been that way since I received them. Other than that, everything seems happy and healthy. A few of the the heads on the closed section are looking like they are trying to open still, but nothing substantial. The other few are still 100% closed. Just did a water change that will hopefully clear up anything funky th dead shrimp left behind.
 
No problem... and best of luck! They're awesome LPS... always the first coral I get comments on when ppl visit.
 
My favorite by far, which is why it has me so down lol Almost an hour into the new day and the start of the lighting cycle and a few are starting to pop out, but not opening really, I just see the tentacles. Good sign I guess.

On a side note, my love of Duncans has me determined to get some sun coral or Dendrophyllia. Same look to them, just different color. Any suggestions Scott? I might open a thread on it somewhere else....

p.s. on reefs2go Dendrophyllia are 5.99 right now a head.... Crazy cheap, but I've heard bad things about that site.
 
Shesacharmer,

Shesacharmer,

I plan on it :) I didn't mean to make it sound as if I was saying the care for them is the same at all, as they are completely different. Just the look is similar, which is what I love. Care is very interesting for sun corals, and I think when my duncan comes back completely (or doesn't) I will look into it more. That way I'm not introducing new coral into a shoddy system.
 
Iv had mine for 3yr and they are funny iv had some closed for a week and then it popped lol I thought that there was something I was missing and they still do it some times just may 2cents
Good luck
 
Thanks James!

Thanks James!

The 8 or 9 heads that have been closed are looking to be like yours that do the strange opening and closing thing. At the moment 6-7 of them are now extending, but still very small compared to the rest of the heads. I don't know if it was just a Duncan being a Duncan or my water change, but either way it is looking better. There's still two heads that refuse to open though.
 
Just an update. Now 40 hours later, the Duncan section that has been closed is partially open, with the last two stubborn heads showing a lil tentacle, 2mm worth I'd say. For anyone who has Duncans I would say it looks like they do in the middle of the night when lights have been off, meanwhile the rest of the Duncan is as healthy as can be. I really think something irritated it, as it did open up yesterday and looks like it will today, but stays so small with very short tentacles. Who knows? Depending on how it looks today I might move it around and try to get the closed area a lil more light as it is on the bottom and maybe thats affecting it? Idk. Any more suggestions are welcome, and hopefully this thread helps out any new Duncan owners, such as myself, in the future!
 
Have you had any shifts in tank temp? I've had a colony for years and I can set my watch by them. When they close up in late spring it's time to get the sump fans going and turn the ac up. They are hardy but like very consistent conditions. That's a nice size group you have. If you want to see them really grow. Feed um. I actually stopped to slow growth down as I don't have anyone to give frags to anymore. Lol
 
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