Duncans won't open

[PaulMrks]

I've had them about 10 days. Will not open. Their tightly closed the skeleton is raised higher then the actual polyps. It's like their inside little holes.

 

I don't know what to do. It's healthy the body is bright green so I don't think it's dying. But I've never seen the polyps the person I got it from said it did that because he zero'd out his nitrates. Mine are under 5PPM. I'm thinking about skipping a water change to raise them a little so it can open. It's in a low flow area. On the sand.

 

I tried higher up on rock in direct flow it closed up even more looked like it was gonna tear. On the sand it seems a little more relaxed but still won't open.

 

I know to give them time and everything and they'll open when they want to. But 10 days is kinda ridiculous.

[dpoltsdsu]

Keep them on the sand for now. The more you move them the more stressed they will be. Some Duncans take awhile to open. Were the polyps open when you bought the coral?

[ReefSafeSolutions]

What are your other parameters? I'd expect a duncan to still open up in low nitrates...do you have other coral that are opening up like normal?

[PaulMrks]

They weren't open when I got them. The previous owner told me he zero'd out his nitrates and since he did that it's been this way. So he gave it to me to try. Everything else is open and normal. I have another colony of duncans that open every day. Perams ammonia nitrite 0 nitrate under 5PPM. SG 1.026 calcium 480-500ish ummm pH 8.2. That's all I can check. Oh temp 78°

[ReefSafeSolutions]

Interesting. How well did you know the person who gave it to you? I'd be questioning if it was actually getting nitrates down to zero that irritated the duncan...maybe there's something else that wasn't mentioned.

 

I've had my tank at close to 0 nitrates before and my duncans weren't affected. Interesting for sure.

[PaulMrks]

Interesting. How well did you know the person who gave it to you? I'd be questioning if it was actually getting nitrates down to zero that irritated the duncan...maybe there's something else that wasn't mentioned.

 

I've had my tank at close to 0 nitrates before and my duncans weren't affected. Interesting for sure.

Didn't know him at all. Was on a local forum but I went in and saw his tank everything else was open and healthy. The Skelton is a deep nice green. Looks healthy. No receding or brown spots. Looks healthy. Just won't open. I sprayed it with some zoo plankton and it relaxed a little.

[ReefSafeSolutions]

Very bizarre! Did you dip the coral before you put it in your tank? Maybe there's a small pest on the coral that's irritating it? 10 days seems really long.

[teenyreef]

Didn't know him at all. Was on a local forum but I went in and saw his tank everything else was open and healthy. The Skelton is a deep nice green. Looks healthy. No receding or brown spots. Looks healthy. Just won't open. I sprayed it with some zoo plankton and it relaxed a little.

I agree that's not normal, although I've had it happen too. As long as the water parameters are good they should recover. How much light are they getting? I've had luck with putting mine in lower lighting when they aren't doing well.

 

But feeding with coral food like you did should help a lot. Try target feeding them once a day with the pumps off so they get a chance to sense that there's food out there and to absorb a little of it while they're closed up.

 

If they don't improve with target feeding after a day or two, I'd definitely dip them, too.

Good luck!

[PaulMrks]

I agree that's not normal, although I've had it happen too. As long as the water parameters are good they should recover. How much light are they getting? I've had luck with putting mine in lower lighting when they aren't doing well.

 

But feeding with coral food like you did should help a lot. Try target feeding them once a day with the pumps off so they get a chance to sense that there's food out there and to absorb a little of it while they're closed up.

 

If they don't improve with target feeding after a day or two, I'd definitely dip them, too.

Good luck!

I don't have any coral dip. Would a freshwater dip work? For like a min or two?

[teenyreef]

I don't have any coral dip. Would a freshwater dip work? For like a min or two?

I've never done a FW dip on duncans. I'd recommend picking up some Bayer insecticide from any home center. "Google Bayer Dip for Corals" for detailed instructions. Bayer dip is very mild and you can get it anywhere.

[Andreww]

I agree that Nitrates close to 0 will do no harm .

In fact , my Nitrates are always around 5 or under, and in 6 months, my Duncan grew from 6 heads to about 30. Definitely a huge coral now.

On the sand with medium flow.

I feed it twice a week, eats like a pig.

 

Buy some sort of coral dip ( I like CoralRX), and dip it for 5-10 minutes, rinse with tank water afterwards and put it back in.

Should come back and open up if it is somewhat healthy...

[PaulMrks]

I did the dip. Now the whole coral is gray/brown and looks flakey it isn't bright green anymore. I probably did something wrong.

 

Hoping it'll recover. Oh well

[markalot]

I did the dip. Now the whole coral is gray/brown and looks flakey it isn't bright green anymore. I probably did something wrong.

 

Hoping it'll recover. Oh well

 

You most likely killed them if dipped in fresh water.

 

Your testing did not tell us KH, the MOST important param. <---

 

0 nitrates and low PO4 will wipe out Duncans if the tank is not fed coral food on a regular basis. Upset Duncans can stay closed for weeks but as long as the base stays colored they will recover. My 3 year old green Duncans are not very sensitive to moderate changes in KH but my purple Duncans hate any parameter change. It was the purple colony I ended up almost losing due to very low nutrients and a period of 2 weeks where I underfed the tank. I was able to save 3 small frags that are now growing out again.

[Mr. Arbuckle]

I would recommend moving it to a low flow area - I've had mine for a couple weeks, and experimented with a few different heights and flow conditions and found moderate lighting and a low, gentle flows worked really well. It's doing great now.

 

Good luck!