Duncan closed up for two days now..

Benga · Sep 8, 2018

I can't tell what's wrong with my duncan coral. The only changes I've made recently is adding four new frags from my trusted LFS. All my other corals seem to be fine it's just that one duncan... I moved the powerhead from it's usual spot after this happened to see if maybe for some reason it wasn't happy with the flow but nothing..

I just did a water change today and haven't seen any real improvement.
I tested water parameters and everything seems to be fine too. I haven't tested ph because the API ph test is horrible imo.

IO Reef Crystals
Calcium: 480
Alk: 8.5
Salinity 1.026
Temp: 80
Mg: 1450
Phosphate: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm
Ammonia < 0.1ppm

Current State of Dunca, and my ricordea which seems fine.

FixIt · Sep 8, 2018

Benga said:
I can't tell what's wrong with my duncan coral. The only changes I've made recently is adding four new frags from my trusted LFS. All my other corals seem to be fine it's just that one duncan... I moved the powerhead from it's usual spot after this happened to see if maybe for some reason it wasn't happy with the flow but nothing..

I just did a water change today and haven't seen any real improvement.
I tested water parameters and everything seems to be fine too. I haven't tested ph because the API ph test is horrible imo.

IO Reef Crystals
Calcium: 480
Alk: 8.5
Salinity 1.026
Temp: 80
Mg: 1450
Phosphate: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm
Ammonia < 0.1ppm

Current State of Dunca, and my ricordea which seems fine.

I have the same issue with my Duncan. Mine opens maybe half way if that. I haven't changed anything in my tank however.

Benga · Sep 8, 2018

FixIt said:
I have the same issue with my Duncan. Mine opens maybe half way if that. I haven't changed anything in my tank however.

Right, no changes but this happens..
I'm pretty careful about washing my arm and drying with a fresh paper towel too. Mine doesn't look like it's dying but certainly not going to be doing well at this pace.

Mal11224 · Sep 8, 2018

Duncan's will do this from time to time. Usually because of some imbalance in the water chemistry or new heads growing. Duncan's closing up is a good sign that something could be off a little but they bounce back. Can take up to a week to open.

Benga · Sep 9, 2018

Mal11224 said:
Duncan's will do this from time to time. Usually because of some imbalance in the water chemistry or new heads growing. Duncan's closing up is a good sign that something could be off a little but they bounce back. Can take up to a week to open.

I have an idea of what it might be but first I have about 20-30 astrea babies hatch and start eating everything in the tank in terms of algae and all. Could that have any adverse effect on the duncan?

the only other thing i can think of is i dropped about a gram of sodium bicarb on the tank and a little bit of it (undissolved) fell directly on the duncan. So it's gotta be one or the other

Katrina71 · Sep 9, 2018

My son's Duncan is moody. I'm picking up one for my tank Monday. I'm looking forward to it stressing me out!

najer · Sep 9, 2018

Duncans can be sulky for weeks but as above they are a good indicator if something is "off".
If the powder hit them directly I would say it was that, I would just wait if it was happy before that happened.

Mal11224 · Sep 9, 2018

Benga said:
I have an idea of what it might be but first I have about 20-30 astrea babies hatch and start eating everything in the tank in terms of algae and all. Could that have any adverse effect on the duncan?

the only other thing i can think of is i dropped about a gram of sodium bicarb on the tank and a little bit of it (undissolved) fell directly on the duncan. So it's gotta be one or the other

I definitely think that the powder is part of the issue. Just give it time. They should bounce back as long as your parameters are good.

FixIt · Sep 13, 2018

So here is mine today a week later. Looks normal hope yours are doing better also.

AquaticOttawa · Feb 17, 2021

Hey this just happened to mine as well. No tissue damage. I did add zooplankton earlier in the day. Maybe a feeling response? Also happened shortly after adding regular regiment of ph+. Fingers crossed. If anyone has info other then what has already been contributed I'm all ears. Will update

AquaticOttawa · Feb 22, 2021

Update they have opened one again. Seemed to last 4-5 days

Lovelydrew · Feb 22, 2021

I've had pretty good experiences with Duncans. What I've learned is they are pretty hard and sometimes they don't open. Like what someone else posted it could be it is growing a new head or it could just be reacting to the water change. You didn't change the position of a powerhead or anything like that right?

AquaticOttawa · Feb 25, 2021

Lovelydrew said:
I've had pretty good experiences with Duncans. What I've learned is they are pretty hard and sometimes they don't open. Like what someone else posted it could be it is growing a new head or it could just be reacting to the water change. You didn't change the position of a powerhead or anything like that right?

No changes to the power head. The smaller heads are now considerably larger though.

EuphylliaAddict · Feb 25, 2021

Benga said:
I can't tell what's wrong with my duncan coral. The only changes I've made recently is adding four new frags from my trusted LFS. All my other corals seem to be fine it's just that one duncan... I moved the powerhead from it's usual spot after this happened to see if maybe for some reason it wasn't happy with the flow but nothing..

I just did a water change today and haven't seen any real improvement.
I tested water parameters and everything seems to be fine too. I haven't tested ph because the API ph test is horrible imo.

IO Reef Crystals
Calcium: 480
Alk: 8.5
Salinity 1.026
Temp: 80
Mg: 1450
Phosphate: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm
Ammonia < 0.1ppm

Current State of Dunca, and my ricordea which seems fine.

I'd say feed more because 0po4 and 0no3 aren't ideal for a duncan. Everything else looks good tho, maybe running a little warm at 80°