My First Coral

[Krimzon]

Went out and got my first ever coral today - a tiny 2 headed Duncan! I got really worried when I put it in the tank it almost looked bleached but not even 2 hours later it fully opened. Unfortunately I still don't have a good camera but these phone pics should suffice. I did notice some white spots on the branch and some of it doesn't glow as much under actinic, normal?

I will upload more pictures under daylight tomorrow, my phone is acting up for sum reason. :/

edit - aaand they didn't turn out right. Sorry guys tilt your head lol.

 

[db7080]

They look good and normal. No worries

 

[TriggerThis]

I wouldn't say those spots are normal and do you have pics of it open?

 

[Krimzon]

I wouldn't say those spots are normal and do you have pics of it open?

You can kind of see them opened in the 2nd picture, I will take more tomorrow.

 

[NanaReefer]

Try taking the pic with just the white lights on. This way we don't get the blue color and we'll be able to see those white spots better. I agree that they are not normal.
Duncan's (One of my favorite LPS) prefer lower light and low to moderate flow. You can target feed them tiny pieces of meaty foods once a week. Yet isn't required for a healthy coral.
Congratulations on your first coral! Great choice!

 

[Krimzon]

Thanks! Here's a few more pictures under white light. I'm pretty sure it had those spots at the lfs, it also looks brown-ish instead of the green on the other side. Wouldn't the heads opening up almost right away be a good sign though? It's fully opened today too as you can see below.
Right now I only have the stock filter pump on and it's mostly for agitating the surface, should I turn on my 240gph koralia too? My tank still has the stock pc lighting which I believe are all 24watts except the cool blue which is lower. And I plan on having the white light 8hrs a day and 1 hour for actinic...

I wish i knew how to make this pictures right, I tried tilting them before attaching, nothing's working...

 

[TriggerThis]

I have never seen a branching one with that long of a stalk on it and such small heads on it. And brown.
Those spots on it remind me of something bad.
Did u dip the coral before u put it in your tank?
I'm guessing not since it's your first one

 

[Krimzon]

Yes I did a 10 min Coralrx dip, drip acclimated for an hour... params are all in check, temperature at a steady 79, and the duncan is still fully open, looking pretty happy polyp-wise, it's the branch that's worrying me. The second picture of the first post kind of shows how green it is on the other side. Everything else is doing fine, my clowns are always active and eat like pigs, I've had my bumble bee snails for 2 weeks now...

Could the white spots be wounds from fragging?

 

[Krimzon]

Nevermind it doesn't like the koralia lol, closed up and 5 min after I turned it off opened up again.

 

[NanaReefer]

The pics tilt like that if your to close

Yes use your Koralia. Just don't give the duncan direct flow. It's cool if it sways a little.
Don't worry about the white spots. Looks like there may have been some branches that were cut off. Also why it looks so tall-it was fragged! Lol
Your safe using the whites & actinics at the same time.
It is a very good sign that it's opening up! If you were to target feed it some thawed frozen brine shrimp I'm sure it would make it even happier

 

[Krimzon]

The pics tilt like that if your to close

Yes use your Koralia. Just don't give the duncan direct flow. It's cool if it sways a little.
Don't worry about the white spots. Looks like there may have been some branches that were cut off. Also why it looks so tall-it was fragged! Lol
Your safe using the whites & actinics at the same time.
It is a very good sign that it's opening up! If you were to target feed it some thawed frozen brine shrimp I'm sure it would make it even happier

Ahh I see, it's not like i can help it though my phone takes terrible pics. And good cameras are overpriced.

Yeah I think the white spots are just an effect of fragging, it's just that it's a brownish so I guess there was another branch there that obviously blocked zooax... not sure. I have mysis shrimp atm.