I think one of my dendros is dying. :(

psimitry · 11/17/2008, 02:40 PM

So a few days ago, I noticed that one of my dendrophylia heads appeared to be getting harassed by a nearby hammer coral. Not having any desire to see the head dead or remove my hammer, I decided to move the dendros. Unfortunately, I moved it under my halides with some pretty direct exposure.

Now, one of the heads appears to be in pretty good health. The other is pretty retracted, worse yet, I can't feed it. Its tentacles aren't sticky.

Is this something that I could potentially pull out the dendro from the tank and food storm it in a small container and hope it would eat? I'm having troubles figuring out how to save this thing.

The pain in the butt here is that it was the polyp that just sprouted a new one.

hoosierpat · 11/18/2008, 09:58 AM

Why don't you just move it lower and out of the light? Don't pull it out of the tank. It is obviously under some kind of stress right now and messing with it more really won't help. It can go for a long time without eating so let it get comfortable in an appropriate placement and then begin to feed it again. Focus on keeping the piece as a whole alive instead of possibly killing it to save one polyp.

rampantmarine · 11/18/2008, 10:05 AM

Post this in the Non-photosynthetic coral forum - lots of sun coral keepers can give you advice there. try spot feeding mysis to the polyps.

good luck!

bwoody62 · 11/18/2008, 10:55 AM

I would agree with hoosierpat, lower it and give some time, it should be ok.

psimitry · 11/18/2008, 03:51 PM

I should have specified in the original post - I DID move it again. It's now in an area with relative immunity from other corals and virtually out of the light.

The fear that I have of losing one of the polyps is that it's only a two polyp colony.

I guess all I can really do at this point is hope though.

11/17/2008, 02:40 PM	#1
psimitry Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Phoenix Posts: 1,560	I think one of my dendros is dying. :( So a few days ago, I noticed that one of my dendrophylia heads appeared to be getting harassed by a nearby hammer coral. Not having any desire to see the head dead or remove my hammer, I decided to move the dendros. Unfortunately, I moved it under my halides with some pretty direct exposure. Now, one of the heads appears to be in pretty good health. The other is pretty retracted, worse yet, I can't feed it. Its tentacles aren't sticky. Is this something that I could potentially pull out the dendro from the tank and food storm it in a small container and hope it would eat? I'm having troubles figuring out how to save this thing. The pain in the butt here is that it was the polyp that just sprouted a new one.

11/18/2008, 09:58 AM	#2
hoosierpat Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Crete, IL Posts: 862	Why don't you just move it lower and out of the light? Don't pull it out of the tank. It is obviously under some kind of stress right now and messing with it more really won't help. It can go for a long time without eating so let it get comfortable in an appropriate placement and then begin to feed it again. Focus on keeping the piece as a whole alive instead of possibly killing it to save one polyp.

11/18/2008, 10:05 AM	#3
rampantmarine Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Winnipeg Posts: 165	Post this in the Non-photosynthetic coral forum - lots of sun coral keepers can give you advice there. try spot feeding mysis to the polyps. good luck!

11/18/2008, 10:55 AM	#4
bwoody62 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Green Bay Posts: 219	I would agree with hoosierpat, lower it and give some time, it should be ok.

11/18/2008, 03:51 PM	#5
psimitry Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Phoenix Posts: 1,560	I should have specified in the original post - I DID move it again. It's now in an area with relative immunity from other corals and virtually out of the light. The fear that I have of losing one of the polyps is that it's only a two polyp colony. I guess all I can really do at this point is hope though.