Help! Is this normal for a Duncan?

[((FORDTECH))]

What should I do to assist this? Can I save the Duncan?

Medium flow medium light. Duncan corals are fairly easy to take care off. Feed little more maybe skip water change for the week. But take it slow so don’t spike up

 

[M3rmaids]

This was one of my issues when I first started. In my head I had it that both needed to be 0 took me many years and many dead corals to figure this out

Wow, I would have been so depressed. What do I do to fix it? Also I’ve been seeding with copepods and I know I can’t see any in the tank. So I put some chaeto in the ref and seeded that as well …. Still no evidence of pods… how often should I be adding more? Weekly or monthly?

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Wow, I would have been so depressed. What do I do to fix it? Also I’ve been seeding with copepods and I know I can’t see any in the tank. So I put some chaeto in the ref and seeded that as well …. Still no evidence of pods… how often should I be adding more? Weekly or monthly?

So in a smaller tank like that with not many fish eating the pods you should have only had to seed couple times and with the right echosystem they will populate fast. Pods eat phyto so best after introducing pods to make sure they have food. I dose phyto daily but will get expensive so I have been growing my own. This is not possible for most people due to room and time so most buy it.

 

[vetteguy53081]

While some can say not normal, I see the light is low in intensity. They do shrink at lights out and fully develop under proper/normal light.
Medium light and moderate water flow is best and these guys need to eat. Feed mysis shrimp at least 2x per week

These are mine starting from 2 heads:

 

[TheTruTaric]

ok so you can feed the Duncan pellets twice a week if you want to do something but make sure its in a spot where the tentacles are blowing around in the flow, they should not be hanging down because clearly not enough flow is directed at them, the coral should look as if its blowing in the wind

 

[vetteguy53081]

Duncan’s can be delicate and thrive best in low to medium light and flow and due to small mouths, I would not feed pellets but rather mysis or phytoplankton and smell plankton which offer fats and aminos

 

[Rmckoy]

Why do all the books and LfS say as close to zero as possible

As close to zero as possible is the old way . In the 1990’s when I first started reefing the hobby grade kits we had . Api was the most popular .
phosphates were tested and if you’re aware it’s either zero or 0.25 for the first 2 being the lower end .
0.25 is obviously too high but there is too far of a window to be accurate .
Nitrates were also the same ( as close to zero as possible ) but a lot of science has proved that a number in the range of 5ppm-10ppm is better .

this is the good thing about this hobby . What once was acceptable is always subject to change .

this is also why r2r is the best reefing forum
Helping others succeed .

 

[Rmckoy]

Okay well thank you so much for that because I legit clean it every week and check and have even ordered nitrate stabilizers so I can get it to zero.
What should phos be for corals

Phosphates generally 0.03 to be the lowest .
0.1 to be the highest

 

[M3rmaids]

Just wanted to update….
I waited three weeks for a water change, checked levels every other day…. I did do a dip of coral RX the day I posted this.
I did add iodine, calcium magnesium week 2.

It is THRIVING! 2 new polyps. This was at sunrise so it was still “waking up” but it is bright vibrant. Not open mouthed anymore.
Of course eats anytime there is food in the tank or I spot feed. Very hungry guy, but it was exactly what you said. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
I’ve been cycling another 100G tank now for 9 weeks. Definitely happy I learned this early on. But every day is a learning process lol!!!

 

[fishgirljockey]

This was one of my issues when I first started. In my head I had it that both needed to be 0 took me many years and many dead corals to figure this out

How do you raise the nitrates and phosphates

 

[legionofdoon]

Neo phos and neo nitrate or feed more.

 

[fishgirljockey]

Neo phos and neo nitrate or feed more.

okay. I am going to the store today. I overfeed and its not helping at all. Just remains at zero. It's frustrating.

 

[reefah]

Picture Attached!

I just got a Duncan a week ago, first few days he was doing great. But yesterday it completely closed up, today it’s tentacles are completely retracted and it’s mouth is open.
Is it dieing

please help.
Water parameters are all in check, only 10 point down on calcium so I added a little bit.

is it normal?

What are the mag levels? Duncan’s love low /moderate lighting with a little flow. I would also say higher nitrates will do good for the Duncan. My Duncan is thriving with nitrates at 30.0 and mag levels at 1600. Do you have any other corals in the tank? Are they showing any symptoms?

here’s my Duncan to give you an idea of flow and lighting and placement.
YouTube

 

[cloud9aquariums]

0 Nitrate certainly won't make it happy. I didn't see anyone ask. What's your Salinity and what are you testing with? Recently calibrated?