40 head Duncan closed virtually overnight

[Jeeperz]

Have a 34 gallon reefer 170 with various sps, lps, softies, etc. 2 photon clowns and a biota Mandarin. Everything has been good for awhile. Been dosing allforreef for about 2 months maybe. I have a 40+ head Duncan that mostly closed up yesterday, and today it's totally closed. Everything else is fine except I lost 1 head on a hammer for some reason. No new additions in maybe a year. Try to keep all at 9, cal is 430, mag around 1300. No clue on phosphate or nitrate, I'll have to order new kits. Salinity is 1.026 via the tropic marin glass hydrometer. I've had this Duncan for like 4 years from a 13 head. Would an iodine dip help?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Iodine is helpful for bacterial infections; bacterial infections don't usually present with an entire colony closing up overnight... I'd be hesitant to stress it out with a dip before knowing what your parameters are. Also, what lighting do you use, has the flow changed at all recently (sometimes pumps slow down or speed back up if they're dirty, just cleaned, etc). Have you seen any inverts bothering the coral?

 

[Lavey29]

If you don't know what your complete parameters are now it's hard to make an assessment.

 

[polyppal]

No clue on phosphate or nitrate, I'll have to order new kits.

These are the most important tests when LPS are acting up, you prob got a po4 spike. Don’t start messing with other things until you can get a reading on these

the only tests I bother to do are phosphate nitrate and alk - keep those in line and your LPS will be happy

 

[3429810]

Have a 34 gallon reefer 170 with various sps, lps, softies, etc. 2 photon clowns and a biota Mandarin. Everything has been good for awhile. Been dosing allforreef for about 2 months maybe. I have a 40+ head Duncan that mostly closed up yesterday, and today it's totally closed. Everything else is fine except I lost 1 head on a hammer for some reason. No new additions in maybe a year. Try to keep all at 9, cal is 430, mag around 1300. No clue on phosphate or nitrate, I'll have to order new kits. Salinity is 1.026 via the tropic marin glass hydrometer. I've had this Duncan for like 4 years from a 13 head. Would an iodine dip help?

Have you had any swings in the parameters you can test for? How often are you testing? You really need to check the two nutrient levels especially if you haven’t for a while. If nothing else changed in its environment flow or lighting wise and you didn’t move it or anything then water quality is the next obvious one for a situation like this. Do you calibrate your hydrometer at all? If not I would do that and check your salinity again and if possible maybe borrow/buy a refractometer and some calibration solution or make some. Hopefully it’s something you can test for and get it figured out ASAP.

 

[damsels are not mean]

Unless you know what is wrong with it, dipping seems like just more stress. Let it be and see how it develops? Whatever happens you will have time to frag it and save the colony if it does go downhill.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Have you had any swings in the parameters you can test for? How often are you testing? You really need to check the two nutrient levels especially if you haven’t for a while. If nothing else changed in its environment flow or lighting wise and you didn’t move it or anything then water quality is the next obvious one for a situation like this. Do you calibrate your hydrometer at all? If not I would do that and check your salinity again and if possible maybe borrow/buy a refractometer and some calibration solution or make some. Hopefully it’s something you can test for and get it figured out ASAP.

The hydrometer he is using is the Tropic Marin. It's not the cheap plastic thing with the swing arm. It is precise and never loses calibration.

 

[3429810]

The hydrometer he is using is the Tropic Marin. It's not the cheap plastic thing with the swing arm. It is precise and never loses calibration.

Missed the glass part somehow, mind skipped to hydrometer and just pictured the cheapies. As long as he doesn’t have any crud on it and the temp is right that should eliminate salinity as a concern.

 

[Jeeperz]

Iodine is helpful for bacterial infections; bacterial infections don't usually present with an entire colony closing up overnight... I'd be hesitant to stress it out with a dip before knowing what your parameters are. Also, what lighting do you use, has the flow changed at all recently (sometimes pumps slow down or speed back up if they're dirty, just cleaned, etc). Have you seen any inverts bothering the coral?

I have not changed the pump or lighting recently. The only thing that has changed is I pull skimmer air from outside and this week they have been burning slash piles 24/7 in the field next door. Serious smoke, even causing my girlfriend asthma issues. I don't even want to work in the garden as it seems it's mostly bark/wet wood, so super horrible smell

 

[Jeeperz]

Have you had any swings in the parameters you can test for? How often are you testing? You really need to check the two nutrient levels especially if you haven’t for a while. If nothing else changed in its environment flow or lighting wise and you didn’t move it or anything then water quality is the next obvious one for a situation like this. Do you calibrate your hydrometer at all? If not I would do that and check your salinity again and if possible maybe borrow/buy a refractometer and some calibration solution or make some. Hopefully it’s something you can test for and get it figured out ASAP.

Hydrometer is the glass lab grade, you can't calibrate it. Got tired of inaccurate refractometers. I have not checked nitrate/phosphate in 2+ years. I do weekly to bi weekly 6-12 gallon water changes. Here's the kicker, there's another Duncan within 6 inches that is wide open and putting a new head on

 

[Jeeperz]

Missed the glass part somehow, mind skipped to hydrometer and just pictured the cheapies. As long as he doesn’t have any crud on it and the temp is right that should eliminate salinity as a concern.

Temp is controlled by a homemade inkbird controller and seems steady in the 77-78 degree range

 

[Jeeperz]

Unless you know what is wrong with it, dipping seems like just more stress. Let it be and see how it develops? Whatever happens you will have time to frag it and save the colony if it does go downhill.

All the heads closed, not just a few

 

[Jeeperz]

I will make some water and do a 50% water change Sunday. The big 3 parameters have been more stable since I started dosing all for reef. Before it swung between water changes and I rarely tested but the Duncan was always open and growing new heads. Tempted to stop all for reef. I did just mix a new batch of it that now coincidentally I have a Duncan closed.

 

[damsels are not mean]

I have not changed the pump or lighting recently. The only thing that has changed is I pull skimmer air from outside and this week they have been burning slash piles 24/7 in the field next door. Serious smoke, even causing my girlfriend asthma issues. I don't even want to work in the garden as it seems it's mostly bark/wet wood, so super horrible smell

maybe that's it? But you'd expect more than one coral to be affected.

 

[mcgullen]

Any sign of coral pests?

 

[Jeeperz]

No pests that I can see, but that doesn't mean there are none

 

[BanjoBandito]

Duncans are sensitive to PH swings, temp swings and low Mg from what I can tell.

 

[Jeeperz]

Duncans are sensitive to PH swings, temp swings and low Mg from what I can tell.

Knowing that, why would my other Duncan be wide open? I will quadruple check my mag. I don't check pH but maybe I'll break out my spendy Hanna hydroponic meter and get it calibrated to check pH. Temp is stable between 77-78 with an inkbird. Something is off for sure as this tank has been neglected and abused for 3 years and does better than my tanks I try to maintain. Now that I've been maintaining it, it takes a dump

 

[BanjoBandito]

Knowing that, why would my other Duncan be wide open? I will quadruple check my mag. I don't check pH but maybe I'll break out my spendy Hanna hydroponic meter and get it calibrated to check pH. Temp is stable between 77-78 with an inkbird. Something is off for sure as this tank has been neglected and abused for 3 years and does better than my tanks I try to maintain. Now that I've been maintaining it, it takes a dump

I have hammers in mine that randomly one will be puckered for a day and then magically look great the next day. There’s a difference between “in peril/dying” and “being moody”. Just because I wake up cranky doesn’t mean I have cancer. The first thing I would look for visually is anything near or bothering it. Pests, fish and/or crabs. This could be a sign of decay as they are prob nipping the dying parts. If you think it’s dying due to infection a mild dip could help if you can get it out, but that’s extreme reaction.

I am not saying there isn’t a problem, but early on I made the decision that I would wait X days before I reacted. So if I had a coral closed up for 5 days then I would react. Especially if no other coral showed stress. Obviously there is wiggle room because stuff can happen fast.

I’m guilty, I’ve been fussing over my Foxface who’s sulking and was advised to freshwater dip him out of precaution. I did, nothing came off. Fish is fine, I’m just paranoid. But I did take a sulking/stressed fish and dip him because I’m insane. Lol.

I don’t have real good answers but check the easy boxes first.

1. is coral being nipped or harassed

2. Is it being attacked by other corals

3. Parameter swings or other changes

4. visual signs of decay or decline beyond not opening

If the other corals aren’t phased it’s an isolated incident

 

[BanjoBandito]

You’ve also learned that doing less and just letting it happen works well!