Help with Dendrophyllia tank? :)

[chris k.]

I feed mine 2 or 3 times a week and sometimes only once but i only feed him shrimp or scallops his tentacles are almost always out. I changed my power heads and he seems to like the higher flow.

 

[Centerline]

How's the ph in the tank? Most of my lps start having fits and don't fully puff up if it drops below 7.8.

 

[Costas]

Here's an update:
So far I haven't attempted any feedings or otherwise touched the dendro since Friday. Since then he's retracted his tentacles, and I haven't seen them since. This morning, his center did seem a bit fuller, a bit like he was about to stick out a tentacle or two, but he sunk back into his skeleton I replaced one gallon of water today, and conditions look good. Here are two pictures I took a few minutes ago. His central/mouth area appears sunken back. Maybe he's hungry/empty again? Anyone feel free to let me know what you think!
Thanks!

 

[Costas]

How's the ph in the tank? Most of my lps start having fits and don't fully puff up if it drops below 7.8.

I'm not sure what the pH is, but last I checked KH was at 8... I'm looking for a pH test kit now. Thank you!!!

 

[Maximizer]

How's it's doing now? Any better

 

[Costas]

How's it's doing now? Any better

So far, he's still closed! I saw the tips a tentacle or two start to poke out two nights ago, but other than that he's all closed up He hasn't eaten since the weekend, so maybe it's time to try coaxing him out with a bit of shrimp? Or should I just leave him be for a while longer?

 

[Sea MunnKey]

Try enticing with a mixture of tank water & Reef Roid & then pour the mixture into your tank. If it does respond then it's all good. An indication that it's alive and I would feed it meaty food but in smaller pieces at least once or twice a week.

Sometimes newly acquired dendro takes a short period to acclimatize.

Routine weekly 50% water changes is fine

 

[Costas]

Try enticing with a mixture of tank water & Reef Roid & then pour the mixture into your tank. If it does respond then it's all good. An indication that it's alive and I would feed it meaty food but in smaller pieces at least once or twice a week

Thanks! I think I'll try something along those lines. I don't have reef roids, but I could grind up a few of the the reef frenzy pellets I have and mix with some tank water. What say ye?

 

[Sea MunnKey]

That's a starter ...

 

[Kj2186]

Hey I have fathead dendro colony of 21 heads I used to feed mine every two days and I also have a lot of fish as well so as far as mine ever being really touchy when it comes to nitrate levels I never had an issue with that. I have recently only been spot feeding once a week and I feed the same food to my fish 3 days throughout the week and just let my dendro catch the food on its own. I feed regular shrimp from grocery store minced up and I mix reef roids into my mincer while mincing up the shrimp. I would hold off on feeding for a few days.

 

[Tigweldpro]

This coral is non photosynthetic but I have put mine in low light under a monti and it did not do well, stayed shrunk up like yours. moved it back to med/high light and out it came again.
Totally just my opinion and observation but I do believe they like lots of light.....

 

[Esage]

Mine loves high flow and it is on the sand under direct light from a Kessil

 

[Saltwaterfrenzy]

I have a small colony. I take it out of the tank every other day. When I bought it the polyps were not connected so I am healing it. Once all of them are connected I will leave it in the tank since you don’t have to feed all of the polyps. I feed mine mysis, brine, and reef frenzy in a small cup.

 

[Kj2186]

I have mine in the sand under some rock so it's not directly getting a ton of light. The flow is pretty strong. It's next to a hammer and torch.

 

[Sglinias1]

I am in no way an expert but i can share my experience. I had a similar problem with the polyp when i accidently broke it off a plug while doing maintenance. I took it out of water to reglue it and ended up pushin on the skeleton too much so that when i looked at it the next day, it was closed and all the flesh was pealing off before my eyes. I let it be and didnt move it expecring it to die. It wasnt opening and had its mouth wide open just like yours. About 2 weeks later, it started opening up again. I have had best success with less feedings. About once every week-2 weeks. It does sometimes catch food from the fish but not too often. It opens up huge every evening now after about 3 weeks. I think best bet is to not touch it or move it. Keep it where it was happy and dont feed so much. If after a week you see the polyps somewhat extend, give it a small amount of food but then wait at least a week before feeding again. Ive had better results with flakes or mysis than with coral frenzy. I think most important thing is to keep your hands out of the tank and dont move it too much. Just my opinion. Let us know how it goes