first gorgonian care tips.

[BrassMonkey030]

just grabbed a gorgonian from the store and need some growing tips.

 

its red with yellow polyps. are these kind hard to care for?

 

i bought phytoplan and going to be dosing once a day for it.

its at the bottom of my ap24 with 70w mh and 40w pc.

 

i put direct current on it and was 2 mutch. so i pointed the loc line just above it and it gets what is bounced back from the glass. seems to be ok flow. it waves just slightly and i can see some polyps moving.

 

this going to be ok?

[Izzue]

Sounds good....

Just remember deep water gorgs dont like a lot of light...they do like some flow...but not real strong.

I would recommend a cave with some flow if possable.

I feed mine DT live Phytoplankton and Phycopure phyto...also add some decapusulated brine eggs and oyster eggs.

Ive yet to try this:

VERY VERY experienced source--- If you want them to really grow

take them out and put in bowl of tank water or fresh made salt water thats the right gravity and temp. Bout a gallon or half gallon of water.

Add 2 caps of DT Phyto---place in the sun for one hour...this will excite the Phyto and you should see great polyp extentions absorbing food.

Place back in tank.

This is a good way of feeding them heavily without fouling tank water.

Im gonna try this method myself this weekend (got the info last weekend)

0.02

Izzue

[VannReefer87]

keep us posted on that Izzue...sounds interesting

[BrassMonkey030]

already starting to crap out on me. tried more flow, tried less. seems to be closed up more then open.

[jeremai]

Yellow or tan polyps usually mean it is photosynthetic. I know of a few that are red with yellow polyps, all difficult to care for. A photo would be nice.

 

Most (read: 80%) of gorgonians do not derive any nutrition from phytoplakton. They will consume anything that is the right size, but rely on zooplankton for the majority of their energy needs. This applies especially to non-photosynthetic gorgonians.

 

Also, you got it two days ago. What do you mean 'crapping out'? Put it in one spot and leave it be. Gorgonians shed often, so that's not a cause for alarm.

[BrassMonkey030]

camera is mia at the moment. red/maroon base, smooth not bumpy and bright yellow opaque polyps skinny branches. i dont think its doing well cause about 90% seems to be staying closed. never messed with it to adjust flow, just adjusted the locline.

[jeremai]

Yeah, some of mine tend to stay closed for up to a week before shedding; sometimes they don't open if I move them around too much. Just let them be for a while, see what happens. When they get hungry enough, they'll open.

[Izzue]

Yellow or tan polyps usually mean it is photosynthetic. I know of a few that are red with yellow polyps, all difficult to care for. A photo would be nice.

 

Most (read: 80%) of gorgonians do not derive any nutrition from phytoplakton. They will consume anything that is the right size, but rely on zooplankton for the majority of their energy needs. This applies especially to non-photosynthetic gorgonians.

 

Jeremai...I agree that Phyto is not the best of foods...but it does at least feed the zooplankton.

What do you recommend to Feed Deep water Yellow with white Polyps??? Ive been stuggling with mine for a couple of months. I dont want to give up but Im getting frustrated. Ive tried these foods with no real polyp extention.

1. Oyster eggs...I think they are to large to utilize

2. Decapsulated brine eggs...same thing...to large

3 Phycopure...it has 6 different algaes from 2 to 20 um

4 Dt Phyto... 3 different algaes from 2 to 20 um in size

5 kent .. Micro-vert...Chromaplex...I was told both of these products are crap

6 Coral Vital...Marc Weiss product

7 Cyclopeeze...Frozen- I think they are to large for any good unless you direct feed and let the tank set for hour or so.

 

Im gonna try the bowl trick in the sun this am during water change with mixture of

Dt and PHycopure...Next time Ill try so add some meat like cyclopeeze to see if I note any difference

tks

Izzue

[jeremai]

The oyster eggs should have been perfect... I feed mine Kent ZooMax and get a definite feeding response. Others have had luck with powdered Cyclo-peez.

 

Check out this article, it is about the gorgonian you have, Diodogorgia nudilifera.

 

Just a note, if you look at the photo in my 29g tank thread (in my signature), mine don't have total polyp extention, either - as long as they are actively feeding, you should be ok.

[Izzue]

Tks Jeremai...Ill get some Zoomax and give it a try.

 

Well my gorg has not been eating well and was dieing from the bottom up

When I 1st received it...it was unattached so I used some epoxy to create a base...the tissue started dieing from this area so I fragged it into 4 by using tonga branch drilling , shaving the outer tissue then superglueing in the hole.

 

Ok...there where 2 frags that had polyps out when I started water change yesterday morning. I used a large pyrex bowl filled with tank water added the frags and 20 mls of DT Phyto and 10 ml Phycopure, placed in window in sun for 1 hour.

Observation: The 2 frags that had polyps already out seemed to extend more in this mixture... The closed ones never came out or showed any responce to bowl method. At the end of one hour...the phyto had a stronger odor than in the beginning and the bowl mix had really heated up from the sun. I placed the frags in a bucket with 6 inchs water until I was finished with tank maintance 4 hours later (had a lot of macro so syphon out). As of this am no change in the frags that have not extended polyps...ones that had been open are still open and feeding.

 

Next bowl method will be tried with phyto and either Zoomax or powdered Cyclopeeze.

Izzue

[BrassMonkey030]

jeremai that gorg you have in the background is or looks close to what i have.

 

so far during the day there are some sparse patches of polyps open. but at night when i feed they all open for most of the night.

[Prowland]

I use coralife invert gormet gumbo liquid for my gorgonia. I have moved all but one to a 5.5gal with less light as mine are non-photosynthetic.

 

I feed it everyday with about 1.5x the reccomended amount and I have total polyp extension quite a bit.

 

Its good stuff IMO

[Izzue]

Cool...Tks for the info Prowland.

Im off work today...SO THIS POST NEEDS SOME PICS...

 

My gorgs

[BrassMonkey030]

doesnt look good for my gorg. im now having to baste off slime or whatever it is daily now. brown stringy crap. will be trying the deep sea type next.

[Izzue]

My deep water are going down hill also Monkey...

 

Ill never try another gorg in a mixed tank...my water iS TO Clean

 

Unfortantely Im entirely to lazy to remove them more than once a week to

do the bowl method of feeding.

 

Izzue

[non-photosynt]

Better later, than never.

 

Here is my Diodogorgia nodulifera, only red. Was very healthy at the purchase. Have it since Aug 27.

1 - Aug27 - at purchase

2 - Dec3 - progress in time

3, 4, 5 - Aug29 - catches dried Cyclop-eeze.

It's in Nano-cube 6g, flow - Mini-Jet 606, all tank is fed, several times a day, nitrates grow quickly, massive water changes once a week (will do better soon, was buzy with other tanks), IO salt mix.

 

Feeding - dried Cyclop-eezy, pinch into the water (would better to rehydrate for a few minutes before feeding), to concentration looking like snowfall, but not blizzard. Plus 1-2 times a day water, left after defreezing mysis, marine cuzine, ocean plankton (with smallest particles). Last weeks - once a day ZoPlan, for chili coral with smaller polyps.

 

First months filter floss filtration was few times a week at night only, now - almost all the time, daily-2days change.

 

Gorgonian closes, when food is absent in water for a long time and water parameters are really bad (phosphate 1 ppm - I drastically reduced maintetance of this tank after crash in another). No shedding skin ever.

 

Will do soon personal chambers for it - 1g high acrylic tank from Wal-Mart, 3L sump - food container from dollar store (same, as was done here), with heater, pump and chaeto. HOB power filter on the sump (will be turned off during feeding, NC6 doesn't have this option). If I will be able to find container that allows put skimmer in (cut Lee's CC or Visi-Jet), will add skimmer (also will be turned off periodically). Planning insulate sides and the back of all this composition - the first plan was to use high coffee pot, but now it's too cold in the room.

[BrassMonkey030]

here is a week old picture of mine. polyps are bright opaque yellow.

 

 

 

[Phixion]

Something to consider (have a stalk of gorgonian myself) is that since they shed, they need to be cleaned off perhaps once every 2 or so weeks. I know with mine (it's a yellow stalk) it gets a build-up of what looks like reddish dust on it. I used a pipette to clean it off last night, and after not opening for the past several days, it opend right up after "dusting" it off. Just a suggestion to owners of it...

[jeremai]

BrassMonkey, the brown slime is definitely rot; sad to hear. I would suggest taking a powerhead and a bowl of saltwater and jsut having at it. I usually clean off my gorgonains once a week. The photosynthetic ones get a blast in front of my powerheads (300gph), and the nonphotosynthetic ones get a rub down with my fingers, and a blow under the powerhead. Don't be shy.

 

Izzue, if you're looking to unload that gorgonian, let me know; my water is plenty dirty enough.

[clifford513]

Im off work today...SO THIS POST NEEDS SOME PICS...

They look nice! Good luck!

[BrassMonkey030]

is it that that the type i have is just an "expert" coral? its under heavy flow and feed it at least everyother day, mostly every day with zooplan.

 

it looks to be wild caught, maybe thats another reason its not doing so great?

 

would i have better luck with the deep water yellow gorgs?

 

jeremai- i pick it up every day and put it under the return of my tank. as soon as i do that some of the polyps will open back up.

[jeremai]

I still don't know what you have, but yes, any non-photosynthetic coral is going to be tough. You may have better luck with a Diodogorgia, but they need to be fed at least once a day to survive.