Yellow Finger Gorgonian Help

[JoeR]

2 hours ago, GregEmmitte said:

Yep, and these can withstand light. I have this and the purple one. Would love the red one.

I've read high O2 levels prevent cyno. Lighting definitely grows it.

How much light can the YF gorgonians take? I suppose the best thing to do here is post a pic of my setup to best understand my predicament. The 3 gallon has the smaller branch that I cut off. It gets enough flow to make it wave a lot. the 8 gallon has the main frag it came from, and it gets less flow but also less strong light. Neither of them are permanently glued into place yet. 

Here's the 8 gal, and yes, I know she's ugly lol...

[GregEmmitte]

You caught me at feeding.. you can see he ditritus build up on my red finger. That's due to a bactieral outbreak I've since remedied. But once deteriation starts it doesn't stop. The parts covered in detritus will die. In the back however the yellow finger is doing well. He wasn't around when I had the bacteria bloom. 

>Bactiera bloom

>Gets on red finger

>detritus builds up on damaged area

> finger falls off and dies.

the bottom picture is where my light is on location to the tank. It's directly over an overflow that's full of chaeto.

 

[JoeR]

On 7/31/2017 at 8:33 PM, GregEmmitte said:

You caught me at feeding.. you can see he ditritus build up on my red finger. That's due to a bactieral outbreak I've since remedied. But once deteriation starts it doesn't stop. The parts covered in detritus will die. In the back however the yellow finger is doing well. He wasn't around when I had the bacteria bloom. 

>Bactiera bloom

>Gets on red finger

>detritus builds up on damaged area

> finger falls off and dies.

the bottom picture is where my light is on location to the tank. It's directly over an overflow that's full of chaeto.

 

What do you feed your gorg? And do you ever see the polyps open? Mine have yet to open even at night which worries me....

[GregEmmitte]

21 minutes ago, JoeR said:

What do you feed your gorg? And do you ever see the polyps open? Mine have yet to open even at night which worries me....

To be fair, I have a dedicated system. I keep them in the back in the darkest part. I've personally seen them eat mysis but they'll eat anything small and meaty. 

I feed frozen mysis ( the smallest variety ) kelp, ocean plankton, cyclopeze, real ocean eggs, oyster feast, calanus, and a 24 hour aerated stream of live phytoplankton. Click right to see the gorgs. They don't look so hot because I used to have algae and cyno grow on them.

 

 

[JoeR]

18 hours ago, GregEmmitte said:

To be fair, I have a dedicated system. I keep them in the back in the darkest part. I've personally seen them eat mysis but they'll eat anything small and meaty. 

I feed frozen mysis ( the smallest variety ) kelp, ocean plankton, cyclopeze, real ocean eggs, oyster feast, calanus, and a 24 hour aerated stream of live phytoplankton. Click right to see the gorgs. They don't look so hot because I used to have algae and cyno grow on them.

 

 

Ahh dedicated system huh, no fair lol. Love that tank too btw. What are those yellow corals in the center? 

 

I see the polyps on yours ARE open- I saw one single polyp open today on mine so that's at least a good sign. But it's been covered in crap and I can't keep it clean, annoying. Supposedly a soft bristled brush works for cleaning it- would like a toothbrush work? And how did you get rid of your cyano?

 

thanks again

[GregEmmitte]

When I had a more standard tank I put my lights on a timer to reduce daylight. I also fed less.

on this one I have a skimmer rated for double the tank size, a refugium with macro algae that's illuminated 24/7, 15 gallon weekly water changes, and way less lighting.

The yellow coral is sun coral

[JoeR]

3 hours ago, GregEmmitte said:

When I had a more standard tank I put my lights on a timer to reduce daylight. I also fed less.

on this one I have a skimmer rated for double the tank size, a refugium with macro algae that's illuminated 24/7, 15 gallon weekly water changes, and way less lighting.

The yellow coral is sun coral

How long are your lights set at now? You also say 15 gallon water changes- what gallon size is the tank?

 

Definitely going to look into some sun corals now.

[GregEmmitte]

My light runs from 11am to 9 pm on my photosynthetic tank. On my NPS it's mostly off. My nps is 60 gallons. My photosynthetic is 5. I also use reef re-start from Dr Foster every now and then.

[JoeR]

Thanks for the help @GregEmmitte, their condition has improved dramatically . Here they are just as they begin to open in the evening.

 

So when I spot feed them (finely chopped mysis mixed with the stuff the LFS sold me) the polyps never close around the food, and I don't think they're actually eating. Do yours close when they get food?

 

Oh, and magic erasers do a great job of cleaning them btw 

[GregEmmitte]

Yea mine grab the food. You might have to keep trying if it's just now opening up.

[Lula_Mae]

I saw a blueberry gorg in an LFS the other day for the first time.  Now THERE's a creature that should never leave the ocean.

 

Great info in this thread btw!

[JoeR]

10 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

I saw a blueberry gorg in an LFS the other day for the first time.  Now THERE's a creature that should never leave the ocean.

 

Great info in this thread btw!

I don't know why that is, but after looking at pictures- WOW those things are beautiful!!

[GregEmmitte]

10 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

I saw a blueberry gorg in an LFS the other day for the first time.  Now THERE's a creature that should never leave the ocean.

 

Great info in this thread btw!

These creatures are as simple as anything else. They need food and clean water. Both can be achieved though the main issues we have is providing both simultaneously. In out enclosed systems it's typically one or the other. As soon as I move I'm going to attempt a 200 gallon NPS tank with a massive resivor system and multiple filtration and nutrient consumption tanks.

 

we shall see.

 

these animals will be on the market regards of supply/demand.

[JoeR]

16 minutes ago, GregEmmitte said:

These creatures are as simple as anything else. They need food and clean water. Both can be achieved though the main issues we have is providing both simultaneously. In out enclosed systems it's typically one or the other. As soon as I move I'm going to attempt a 200 gallon NPS tank with a massive resivor system and multiple filtration and nutrient consumption tanks.

 

we shall see.

 

these animals will be on the market regards of supply/demand.

That's ideally the benefit of a pico like mine- you can do 100% water changes if excess nutrients become a problem. I don't normally do 100%, but it's always an option.

[Lula_Mae]

2 hours ago, JoeR said:

I don't know why that is, but after looking at pictures- WOW those things are beautiful!!

They are gorgeous, and I'm not aware of any accounts of anytime successfully keeping them alive in the home aquarium. We just don't understand their needs well enough. Hence, the general thought that they should be left in the ocean because if they leave it, they die.

2 hours ago, GregEmmitte said:

These creatures are as simple as anything else. They need food and clean water. Both can be achieved though the main issues we have is providing both simultaneously. In out enclosed systems it's typically one or the other. As soon as I move I'm going to attempt a 200 gallon NPS tank with a massive resivor system and multiple filtration and nutrient consumption tanks.

 

we shall see.

 

these animals will be on the market regards of supply/demand.

Well, my understanding is that no one has successfully kept one alive for more than a few months even when offering a variety of particle size foods. A dedicated NPS system like what you're planning would probably give them the best chance but no guarantees of course. They may be in the supply chain now, but if people would stop buying them and demand dropped, you'd see them less and less and they'd more often be left in the ocean to thrive. It happened with Moorish Idols, so I'm hopeful it can happen with our beautiful blue-polyped friends. 

[GregEmmitte]

There's a guy named Mike Cao, that's kept dendronephthya and blueberry gorgs successfully. And tidal gardens has seen growth in dendronephthya as well.

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2011/1/aquarium#section-6

 

this is who got me in it.

https://reefbuilders.com/2015/10/29/preliminary-success-dendonephthya-carnation-corals/

[Lula_Mae]

12 hours ago, GregEmmitte said:

There's a guy named Mike Cao, that's kept dendronephthya and blueberry gorgs successfully. And tidal gardens has seen growth in dendronephthya as well.

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2011/1/aquarium#section-6

 

this is who got me in it.

https://reefbuilders.com/2015/10/29/preliminary-success-dendonephthya-carnation-corals/

His system is absolutely gorgeous and amazing, but I wouldn't say it's something your typical hobbyist will be able to replicate (or be willing to).  Most people are just going to say, "Oh pretty blue polyps, I'll take you home with me!" and it will die. I suspect most don't have the space or the inclination to figure out how to set up a continuous water change system and a continuous feed system.  Same with the tank in the Reef Builders link--it's plumbed into a 2,000 gallon tank to help stabilize water quality, but most people won't be able to do anything like that.  Just like with Moorish Idols, a few people having success doesn't mean it's something that should be readily available in the hobby; it's unfair to the creatures to take them knowing they are probably going to die.

 

I will look forward to seeing the system you're planning out, though.  It would be very cool!

[GregEmmitte]

@Lula_Mae it has to be a costly obsession that's for sure lol. 

[JoeR]

2 hours ago, GregEmmitte said:

@Lula_Mae it has to be a costly obsession that's for sure lol. 

The entire saltwater aquarium hobby is a costly obsession lol...

 

My gorg is still irritating me. It only opens its polyps at night, and I'm not gonna wait till 10 every night to feed it. But, before bed last night, I checked to see if most of the polyps were out and indeed they were. What time do you feed yours? It needs to be "trained" to open its polyps during the day somehow

 

[Patrick17]

On 31/07/2017 at 9:48 PM, Ebn said:

Yep, skip the phyto if you're trying to feed the gorgonian. Here's a non-photosynthetic Menella sp.

 

 

Polyps are out throughout the day since I feed the fish multiple times. The polyps are small and cannot consume anything larger than reef caviar. Does fine picking off the smaller particles though, such as oyster eggs.

 

Those are stunning photos!

 

Really shows the polyps catching a larger particle size than I thought possible