Sad Duncan

reef-nut · Jul 17, 2008

My 5 head duncan has been sad for over a week. I have had him for about a month. The first couple weeks was great and then he closes most of the time, but only opens about 3/4 the way when he is open. I have put him in low flow and medium light by T-5's. I feed him krill and frozen shrimp. He seems to love whatever I give him. The only water test that is a little off is the phosphates is .5. I have done 2 water changes with no luck. He is not dieing, just not happy. Oh yeah, after this started I noticed a new baby head. Could the new head cause this?

oceanparadise1 · Jul 17, 2008

Could be but i would try moving him around a lil bit see if that makes him happy.

jonbar1 · Jul 17, 2008

Test your alkalinity and calcium. When one of those starts to drop, especially alk, my Duncan is the first to tell me.

oceanparadise1 · Jul 17, 2008

O yea good catch jonbar1, i agree with that statement 100%

TritonsGarden · Jul 17, 2008

they also do not like a lot of flow I keep mine inlow-med flow and they love it, they are also under T-5 lighting
KT

Pitcom · Jul 17, 2008

Duncans can stay closed for several days after target feedings. You don't really need to feed duncans very often. I started with 3 heads and now have over 30 and rarely feed them. After eating large pieces of food, duncans can stay in a closed state for up to sometimes 4 days while they digest and clean themselves. Myself and other reefers in my area have noticed the same behavoir with our colonies. Duncans are also a deeper water coral, so being at the lower end of a t5 tank is perfect for them. They can also tolerate higher flow rates, so dont worry too much about flow. Their lashes can get extremely long when in high currents.

My colony for instance goes through regular stages of appearance. Sometimes they blow up huge, each polyp the size of a silver to half dollar. Then for a week they will shrink up a bit after eating or producing a new head. I also now have two wild percula clowns hosting my Duncans for several months and they do not seem bothered in the slightest. Good Luck.

reefermadness · Jul 17, 2008

Mine does this too.....Open for weeks then BOOM! He will open back up in a few days soetimes three....Keep an eye on it. If it was happy there before, he should stay happy!