New Gorgonias!

[Franco724]

I just received these three gorgonias direct from a diver in the Florida keys. The arrived yesterday and appear well, though both of the purple gorg's appear to have some tissue recession in various small places ... Could this be from shipping and/or from handling them? I also received a yellow finger gorgonia that looks awesome, though I have not seen any polyp extension.

How long should I wait before becoming worried about the yellow finger, and should I be worried about the two purple gorgonias? I've been dosing the tank with Kent Phytoplex and MicroVert, as well as frozen baby brine shrimp.

Please excuse the poor quality photos:

 

[euromomtx]

I'd be less worried about the purples and more focused on the yellow.
Since the purples are photosynthetic as long as you have decent light they should bounce back fine.
The yellow one though really needs to eat. It might take a few days to settle in but then when you insert food into the water near it it should open up after a few minutes

 

[Franco724]

The yellow finger gorg appears to be shedding, How should I go about getting it to feed? Perhaps turn off that powerhead behind it and gently release brine/ shredded mysis?

I was told the purple gorgs were non-photosynthetic ... The lighting on the tank is not much (Reef Sun 50/50) 6500k trichromatic daylight phosphor and actinic 420 phosphor.

What the hell do I do now?

 

[flying_dutchman]

Perhaps turn off that powerhead behind it and gently release brine/ shredded mysis?

do the opposite, blast it with flow. Shoot for about 5-8cm/s

 

[Franco724]

do the opposite, blast it with flow. Shoot for about 5-8cm/s

Just did that and I had no response. I shall try again tomorrow.

 

[Franco724]

Finally after a few days, I have polyp extension on the yellow finger gorg.

The yellow finger and the smaller purple seem to be doing well though the large purple gorgonian still has some tissue deterioration ... Is there anything I can do to stop it?

I'm feeding them Kent Phytoplankton and Microvert as well as baby brine shrimp until I can drive up to the lfs and buy some cyclopeeze and such.

 

[Elysia]

If too much of the tissue seems to be coming off, just snip off that branch. The best thing to do w/ sheding is to aid the gorg by giving it good flow (that is what dutchman was suggesting.) It will also blow off the dead tissue and allow the living tissue to grow again. The purples are photosynthetic, though.

 

[uhuru]

maybe the purple one is not getting enough light, or maybe you have water quality issues

 

[M88A2]

quick question for u guys. how much lighting do the photosynthetic gorgs. need? would 4 bulb sunpower T5 be too much?

 

[brandom]

sweet... use phyto to call out the yellow finger polyps and then feed it frozen cyclops... it will grow like a weed! I feed mine cyclops at least 4 times a day. you can take a turkey baster and put it over the branch so the branch is inside the opening and then squirt in and out and this will help remove the molting skin or cyano if needed. once you start feeding cyclops it will stay out often. good luck!

 

[brandom]

you will have to either clean off the dying tissue or take a scissors and cut off the end of the affected branch... i had to do that to my purp and now its fine.

 

[Elysia]

quick question for u guys. how much lighting do the photosynthetic gorgs. need? would 4 bulb sunpower T5 be too much?

Well, I guess it would depend on how much water was between the gorg and the light, but I have kept phyto gorgs w/ HO T5s w/ no problem. Its unlikely that there would be too much light for them.

 

[Franco724]

Time for an update!