Rescued dendro needs help, care tips

[easterly81]

I rescued this dendro from my friend who about killed it. It has about 3/4 of one good head left. I have been feeding it brine with omegas, phyto, reef planton, aminos, and arcti pods, two time and day. I was curious about flow and light requirements. I have it in a cave for now. I have a 72 gal with 4 slr 54" t-5s. Only had the dendro for two days now. Getting a lot of bad info. Friend had it in high light and was not feeding it Please help
oh yeah most frustrating part is brittle star steals dendros food all the time

 

[tahoe61]

Dendro

Dendro

My dendro likes PC lighting, had it under MH in the bottom before and it did not do as well. Moderate to high flow, SG has to be right on 1.024-25, and feedings daily to every other day at least. Started with one head and now over six in about 5 months. Pic's included.

 

[SanJuan]

My dendro likes PC lighting, had it under MH in the bottom before and it did not do as well. Moderate to high flow, SG has to be right on 1.024-25, and feedings daily to every other day at least. Started with one head and now over six in about 5 months. Pic's included.

I believe that is a duncan (Duncanopsammia), not a dendrophyllia.

 

[SanJuan]

I rescued this dendro from my friend who about killed it. It has about 3/4 of one good head left. I have been feeding it brine with omegas, phyto, reef planton, aminos, and arcti pods, two time and day. I was curious about flow and light requirements. I have it in a cave for now. I have a 72 gal with 4 slr 54" t-5s. Only had the dendro for two days now. Getting a lot of bad info. Friend had it in high light and was not feeding it Please help
oh yeah most frustrating part is brittle star steals dendros food all the time

Continue feeding it regularly and heavy. Feed larger sized foods, I would not bother with phyto, but the arctic pods are excellent and so are the brine shrimp. They are non-photosynthetic, so they require no light. I would keep the flow for now around medium. I am assuming that you are spot feeding, correct? with turkey baster/ pipette? You can keep the brittle stars away either by placing a dome over the head when feeding, or removing the dendro and feeding it in another container, or by dropping some food around/ near by the dendro for the brittle stars and then feeding the dendro. Let me know how it goes.

 

[tahoe61]

Dendro not Duncan

Dendro not Duncan

Yep your right that is indeed my duncan, momentary brain lapse. Feed away.

 

[SanJuan]

Yep your right that is indeed my duncan, momentary brain lapse. Feed away.

It looks gorgeous none the less

 

[tahoe61]

Dendo

Dendo

Thanks.:rollface:

 

[doorlady]

+1 for Duncan, just give it good light and it will grow like crazy.

 

[easterly81]

Ya thats a duncan far sure...Thanks for the great advice about covering after feeding..love it.

<a href="http://s64.photobucket.com/albums/h182/easterly81/?action=view&current=dendro.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h182/easterly81/dendro.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Pic of it closed you can see the dead spot on top. Opens good at night and morning.

 

[easterly81]

+1 for Duncan, just give it good light and it will grow like crazy.

DENDRO light??? I thought no light

Oh yeah i use the phtyo because it open it right up so i can feed it the bigger stuff.

 

[rowjimmy]

DENDRO light??? I thought no light

Oh yeah i use the phtyo because it open it right up so i can feed it the bigger stuff.

doorlady was talking about the Duncan needing light not the Dendro.

 

[easterly81]

will it do bad if i put it on the sandbed under my t-5s it about 23 inches away 4 slr 54watt? cannot really fit anything in the cave i had it in to cover it. 2 of my fish stole its food tonight. would be easy to cover on sand bed.

 

[SanJuan]

Yes you can keep it on the sandbed under the t-5's.

Just keep an eye out for algae growth on the exposed skeleton.

 

[easterly81]

Coraline algae? Thats about all i got. From my friend tank it was a little green, but that should go away.

 

[rowjimmy]

It will do fine. They are not photosynthetic, so it doesn't matter where you put them IME as far as lighting goes. Keep it in an area with good water flow and feed it regularly, and it should do fine. I keep a Dendro colony at the top of my 75 gallon reef tank under two 250 watt MH lights and it expands beautifully during full lighting periods directly under the halides. I also have a colony at the bottom of my tank under a cave. They both do fine and are both fully expanded for the majority of the day/night light cycle.

If the colony isn't healthy, and has bare/exposed skeleton I would put it in a lower light setting. This will help to prevent algae growth on the exposed skeleton, and allow it to heal/regrow.

Here's a pic of my Dendro at the top of my tank exposed to full halide lighting:

 

[uhuru]

Beautiful pic! Mine are open pretty much 24/7. They are one of the best NPS corals to start out with IMO, because you don't have to work so hard to make them look good

 

[easterly81]

well my dendro is doing better, eating like a beast. I have left the cup over the top twice on accident now and noticed it opens and expands a lot more. i was wondering if this is from the lack of flow or less light. Do they not like high flow. my tanks is a 72 gallon bow front with a vortech mp20, an ocean motion on a mag 9.5 return and 2 koralia nanos, so i would consider my tanks to be pretty high flow.

Here is a pic i got of it in my friend tank

Pictures today

 

[easterly81]

Made a cage to stop the fish and star fish from stealing its food its a need point thing from craft store and some zip ties.

 

[easterly81]

Ahh grow little dendro and be happy! Even the big dying carter one is getting skirts and mouths. It turning into 2 heads. There is a little one coming back too, not much bigger than a pin head. I can see little skirts forming in it.

 

[easterly81]

Updated picture