New Deodronephthya sp. study group?

[dendro982]

I bought recently Dendro of incredible color - it melted within 4 days in my tank, only the shell with slime inside was left.
Other corals are without problems, water parameters are normal.
What can cause so fast deterioration?

One possibility is, that there was some mechanical damage, during shipping and carrying home - a lot of sclerites were shed to the bottom.
What else could be?

 

[graveyardworm]

I've had other soft corals succumb to a similar problem, ove the course of a day or two they literally melt leaving nothing but a pile of spicules. Probably an infection within the coral, and a complete shutdown.

 

[Steve Atkins]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9723478#post9723478 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dendro982
Can you describe this plastic bin? I have the same problem with tank inhabitanta, dropping frags to the bottom.

The bin started life as a storage bin with small roller wheels and was designed for under bed storage. It is nothing special, just the right size. I drilled a hole in the middle of the bottom and put in an oveflow riser pipe that drains straight down into the sump. The inlet supply is just a piece of 4mm garden irrigation hose T'd into a main return line.

Steve

 

[dendro982]

Thank you both for the information!

David: I always suspect the water - like alkalinity. My mushrooms are sensitive to it (at least it seems so), could be particular preferences for non-photosynthetic corals too. If the coral was not in a good shape on arrival - nothing could be done...

Steve: Now I see, how the flow and security are achieved. I'm using soap holders on suction caps - much smaller scale

 

[zoozimmy]

wow

 

[xilofonx]

That' right!

_________________________________
bondarenko@sget.kaspersky.com

 

[reefgeek84]

Well, I will be starting a tank specific to this coral. I have many years in the hobby and feel I have the time, knowledge and determination to tackle this coral. I would love to give something back to this hobby and would like to do it, via this method. If I could give a little knowledge and help to keep a coral that is other wise "impossible" that would be awesome.

I have heard the arguments, of this coral can not be kept, etc. but like others have said, there was a time that we could not keep acropora in tanks. But now it is one of the biggest parts of this hobby. Everything has a learning curve and not everyone should try and beat this learning curve, but some people should try, because that is the only way anything gets better.

Despite what people say about keeping this coral in a smaller tank, I will be setting up a 33gal cube. I will keep mostly dendro's, but will have some Scleronephthya, alevapora, and gonipora...just to add a little more to this tank.

I currently have some dendro that I got from a local fish store, that had it for a month and it seemed to be doing and still is, but it is in my main 120gal SPS tank, and I really think it needs to be in its own tank.

I will be of course taking pictures and documenting everything in a thread, somewhere...may not be on here, but somewhere.

Thank you to all who have participated in this thread, it is a great thread and has lended some great knowledge.

 

[ziggy222]

it has now been one yr since i bought my Scleronephthya coral and it is now a meer shadow of what it once was.my biggest problem was the fact that hair algae grows on its rock and smothers it even when the rest of the tank has no algae.i solved this problem buy adding a sea hair to the tank that alows no algae to grow.what i have left of my Scleronephthya is just several specks with only one polyp each and a couple peices that have maybe 3 polyps.like i said,most of the damage was done by the algae which is now solved but i'm still very cautious about trying to keep this coral again.i guess i will just observe the small raining peices left and think very carefully before deciding whether to try keeping them again,but most likely i will not.

 

[mikekman]

Any new pictures from anyone here who has dendronepthyas or info? Want to keep this great thread alive!

Mike

 

[reefgeek84]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10017806#post10017806 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mikekman
Any new pictures from anyone here who has dendronepthyas or info? Want to keep this great thread alive!

Mike

Give me another two weeks and I will start a major thread on my success with photos of the 4 I have and more then likely more then that in the coming months. These are one of my main focuses on my new tank, I am just waiting on the details on getting it set up.

 

[ziggy222]

i can't get a good picture of mine .not much to look at anyway after a yr its now down to two tiny polyps sticking out of a rock, you can hardly see them.i put it in a cave now where its hard to take a picture cause its mostly just a bare rock.its funny how so many post photos of theirs when their new and healthy but they don't show photos of their slow decline or come back here an let people know when they die.it would be useful info for people trying to grow them.it would give them and idea what not to do and see it and also let them know how long they can expect them to live.

 

[graveyardworm]

I've got pictures of mine dying somewhere.

Reefgeek, when you start your thread post a link to it here. Thanks

 

[mikekman]

Can't wait to see pictures or any info from you guys.

I've been thinking of starting a nano tank devoted just to nonphotosynthetic corals like sun corals, dendrophyllias, dendronepthyas, chili coral, non photo gorgonias, etc. I think I might be very successful but will see.

This thread has been extremely helpful!

Mike

 

[reefgeek84]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10020682#post10020682 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by graveyardworm
I've got pictures of mine dying somewhere.

Reefgeek, when you start your thread post a link to it here. Thanks

I will for sure...

 

[Morgandy]

BIG Dendro Tank

BIG Dendro Tank

Here is some great eye candy for you all....the owner of this tank will post a write-up tomorrow or so about it all. I'm too tired to add more pics just now, organize, label, or make this linked page nicer at the moment, so bare with it. There will be a lot more pics and a flick posted too tomorrow that I'm working on.

The tank is part of a 500gal system, is non-photosynthetic, has a huge variety of corals and creatures! Enjoy... (and a lot more to come)

Non-Photosynthetic / Dendro System

 

[sammy33]

Re: Big Dendro Tank

Re: Big Dendro Tank

I am looking forward to any updates or writeups about experiences with dendronepthya or other non-photosynthetic corals. Think of how much money we could save on lighting if we could figure out a good "Dendro Recipe".

One thing I noticed about the pics at the link Morgandy posted is there are no fish in any of those pictures? Is that true? No fish in this part of the 500g system? I did see a snail in one of the pics but no crabs..or fish?

This leads me to a question I have had. Would it not be wise to reduce the number of none essential animals to reduce food competition in a "Dendro tank"? It is not that cleaner shrimps, clever hermits and fish (who can reach anywhere) are all capable of stealing a meal...but that they will. Having no shrimps, crabs/hermits or fish in a "dendro tank" will leave a lot of food for the corals. That is corals that do nothing but eat and get no benefit from light.

 

[reefgeek84]

Re: Re: Big Dendro Tank

Re: Re: Big Dendro Tank

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10027903#post10027903 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sammy33

This leads me to a question I have had. Would it not be wise to reduce the number of none essential animals to reduce food competition in a "Dendro tank"? It is not that cleaner shrimps, clever hermits and fish (who can reach anywhere) are all capable of stealing a meal...but that they will. Having no shrimps, crabs/hermits or fish in a "dendro tank" will leave a lot of food for the corals. That is corals that do nothing but eat and get no benefit from light.

Dendro, eats very small particles of food and mostly phyto at that...most fish do not eat phtyo, so there is not much competition for it.

 

[Morgandy]

Video....

Video....

Video is up..Chuck will be able to answer your questions about his system. There are fish, rays, and a 3' eel, amongst other things (sea pen also!), which I didn't get shots of (not good ones at least).

Dendro/Non-photosynthetic reef system - Video and Pics

 

[mikekman]

Great video! Get the owner to sign up on RC and start telling us what his secrets are for his tank. All the corals looked great. The gorgonias looked good.

 

[Kreeger1]

Chucks on RC, he just never ever seems to post. I've seen the tank in person a few times now and its a really interesting setup. The corals are growing and encrusting over the epoxy hes used to hold them down. Now if we can find a cost effetive way to feed the dendros that will be the big ticket!
Nice photos Amy!
Erik