Duncan all closed up

heyyitsbean · Apr 16, 2021

I bought my Duncan more than two weeks ago and it was doing great until I went on vacation, when I can back it was closed up but opened up more later, although it is still pretty closed up. My flow is the farthest I can put it and the leds may be to bright for it but I doubt it, I am testing my water today. Please help.

brandon429 · Apr 16, 2021

Duncans can not be evaluated like most corals based on polyp shape and extension.

to evaluate your Duncan use these two modes:
1. Is any tissue along the calice of the coral pulling up / declining like receding gums and revealing white skeletal material along the polyp? If not, disregard what the Duncan is doing currently it’ll decide to be happy in a week typically.

2. evaluate all other corals
if well, and no recession at base on Duncan, it’s just doing what they do.

if it’s color gets any lighter then direct feed it more and or move it down out of bright white lighting, this can irritate for sure but if other corals seem ok with it this one will adapt too. The light is very white and not blue above, if my kessil gets turned to the 10K setting my brain coral will bleach in a month but set to total blue, perfection.

Sharkbait19 · Apr 16, 2021

Sometimes corals just close up. If something bothers it or it needs to excrete waste it will do this. If it goes completely back to normal, don't sweat it.

heyyitsbean · Apr 16, 2021

It has gotten a little better and has opened up a little more, may move it though.

brandon429 · Apr 17, 2021

I feel the dip is the entire problem here.

Something is up with my Dunkan. HELP!

I got this wwc lavender duncan coral sometime in Dec. It has done great up until the past 3 weeks I'd say. It has gotten bigger, the head had great polyp extention. It ate well, it looks like it is starting to grow a new head, maybe. Anyway the past couple weeks it's been going down hill. I...

www.reef2reef.com

we always evaluate duncans by looking at the other corals and then by making sure no basal tissue loss on the polyp. Those two factors in place, dip not.

IslandLifeReef · Apr 17, 2021

heyyitsbean said:
It has gotten a little better and has opened up a little more, may move it though.

If it is looking better, give it time. Moving it may make it mad again. Duncans are pretty hardy. Mine sits in 220 PAR and moderate+ flow.

OREGONIC · Apr 17, 2021

Duncans are great tell corals especially for beginners, they close up over changes. Duncans are also very hardy and adaptable so they can thrive in pretty much any condition, lighting, and flow. My duncans are in pretty high light 250ish par and pretty high flow. The high flow makes them very shaggy with long tentacles. Anytime I notice the tentacles shrink up at all or they close I know its time to test. The dont mind slow changes but any rapid change will cause them to close up some. When I was starting out in the hobby 5ish years ago mine would close up fairly often as I was learning how to keep things stable. I have had the same colony my entire time in the hobby (fragged many times) but never killed any heads other then ones that got completely shaded out. There were several times early on that they would close for weeks. Keep things stable and they will adapt and open back up.

TehBrainz · Jun 14, 2021

brandon429 said:
Duncans can not be evaluated like most corals based on polyp shape and extension.

to evaluate your Duncan use these two modes:
1. Is any tissue along the calice of the coral pulling up / declining like receding gums and revealing white skeletal material along the polyp? If not, disregard what the Duncan is doing currently it’ll decide to be happy in a week typically.

2. evaluate all other corals
if well, and no recession at base on Duncan, it’s just doing what they do.

if it’s color gets any lighter then direct feed it more and or move it down out of bright white lighting, this can irritate for sure but if other corals seem ok with it this one will adapt too. The light is very white and not blue above, if my kessil gets turned to the 10K setting my brain coral will bleach in a month but set to total blue, perfection.

So I've had some tissue recession in mine I've monitored over the last couple months. Parameters have been pretty stable and the only thing I can think of might be lighting and flow (I was messing with those for some algae outbreaks early spring, dumb I know)

Could these issues cause recession and show skeletal structure? I'll take new pictures tomorrow. These are from almost 2 months ago and recession has now cut off that small head in the front and doubled along the thin area on the right side of the images.

The coral gets hit with flow from this right side and it's about midway up in the tank, may move it to the sand and turn it around...

brandon429 · Jun 15, 2021

Hey nice progression shot there. I noticed the greater polyps still don’t show septa sticking out or anything so it seems the bulk of the colony is fine, agreed I’m stumped on that smaller portion receding perhaps it’s just shaded there vs the larger area agreed try and relocate + spot feed them occasionally let’s check back to see if that helps. Good link here we can use this for others Duncan concerns for them to watch for changes

TehBrainz · Jun 15, 2021

brandon429 said:
Hey nice progression shot there. I noticed the greater polyps still don’t show septa sticking out or anything so it seems the bulk of the colony is fine, agreed I’m stumped on that smaller portion receding perhaps it’s just shaded there vs the larger area agreed try and relocate + spot feed them occasionally let’s check back to see if that helps. Good link here we can use this for others Duncan concerns for them to watch for changes

Here's a picture I took today, a video to try to show flow and where I want to move it to.

You can tell there's A LOT of recession in the last 2 months. I'm hoping it's not too late.