tips for getting a NPS gorgonian to open?

[biophilia]

I bought a ~3" non-photosynethetic gorgonian frag (Diodogorgia nodulifera) from a source online and it arrived two nights ago in what I would consider pretty poor packaging and clearly experienced a wild ride through the USPS system. I have it placed in my NPS tank and have been trying to entice it to open and feed with regular spot feeding (cyclops, rotifers, Reef Roids, phytoplankton, etc.). It's in an area of medium to high flow and is in the dark 18 hours per day and somewhat dim, blue-heavy lighting for 6.

It has yet to extend any polyps. Anyone have any tips for enticing a NPS gorgonian to open? Thanks!

 

[YellowFinsReef]

How long have you been running your tank? I find that most gorgs struggle with low nutrient systems or relatively new systems.

I'd give it some time to open though. Most of my gorgs open up within a day or two. Play around with the flow a bit. Some of my gorgs do well in high flow while others do well in low to med flow. In my experience, food usually don't entice them to open. Keep us posted.

 

[biophilia]

How long have you been running your tank? I find that most gorgs struggle with low nutrient systems or relatively new systems.

I'd give it some time to open though. Most of my gorgs open up within a day or two. Play around with the flow a bit. Some of my gorgs do well in high flow while others do well in low to med flow. In my experience, food usually don't entice them to open. Keep us posted.

This is a new tank (cycled, and just under two months old) that I set up to be NPS dedicated with an automated food doser, though has some rock and media from my established reef tank. Also, 100% of the water in this tank was taken from my other tank so it has 15ppm-ish NO3, 0.04ppmish PO4, etc and likely lots of dissolved organics. If necessary I can try placing the frag in my other tank (2+ years old) if it doesn't open within a week or so. I'll try adjusting the flow and its placement a bit in the meantime and see if that helps. Thanks.

 

[LordJoshaeus]

I haven't kept gorgonians yet (planning on it), but something that works for getting my sun coral to open is to turn the current off and gently squirt some smelly food (in this case a mix of seachem zooplankton and phytoplankton) over it. It typically opens in 15-30 minutes. Worth a try anyway.

EDIT: Oops...see you're already doing that. I can offer other advice, though...I read somewhere that gorgonians with large polyps, like yours, feed best in currents of 6-10 cms per second. Faster than that and some gorgonians cannot feed because the current deforms their polyps.

 

[biophilia]

I haven't kept gorgonians yet (planning on it), but something that works for getting my sun coral to open is to turn the current off and gently squirt some smelly food (in this case a mix of seachem zooplankton and phytoplankton) over it. It typically opens in 15-30 minutes. Worth a try anyway.

EDIT: Oops...see you're already doing that. I can offer other advice, though...I read somewhere that gorgonians with large polyps, like yours, feed best in currents of 6-10 cms per second. Faster than that and some gorgonians cannot feed because the current deforms their polyps.

Thanks for the flow suggestion. I'll do some reading on it and adjust the flow to be in that range -- since everything else I plan on keeping seems like it will be okay in anything from medium to high flow. I just got my sun coral a few days ago, but have noticed the same thing so far. A little squirt of some food with the return pump turned off and it opens up almost right away!

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

I bought a ~3" non-photosynethetic gorgonian frag (Diodogorgia nodulifera) from a source online and it arrived two nights ago in what I would consider pretty poor packaging and clearly experienced a wild ride through the USPS system. I have it placed in my NPS tank and have been trying to entice it to open and feed with regular spot feeding (cyclops, rotifers, Reef Roids, phytoplankton, etc.). It's in an area of medium to high flow and is in the dark 18 hours per day and somewhat dim, blue-heavy lighting for 6.

It has yet to extend any polyps. Anyone have any tips for enticing a NPS gorgonian to open? Thanks!

I got my tesoloe coral, same source as yours, bad packaging too. Bummer