Duncan closed up and died suddenly

[nickp9054]

I got a Duncan frag abt 2-3 weeks ago and put it in my nano 30 gal which has been around for abt 9 months. Yesterday I lost a fish, and I think it caused a nutrient spike because the Duncan closed up. For context it was one head, but it was starting to bud of new ones already. I am sick so I figured I’d do a water change later this week and that would fix the problem. But I wake up today and check on the tank and all of the tissue fell off of the Duncan frag. It was just a dead Skelton. It was in medium-high flow and high light, but it was acclimated to the light. Is there some sort of disease going around with duncans? Or is it just the nutrient spike? Should I be worried for my other lps frags (trumpet coral and acan but also have like 6 more coming on Friday)? Or maybe even my softies?

 

[Fishinabarrel]

I had a single duncan die similar to this.
It was near a large duncan colony and that colony was happy and thriving.
I never figured out a plausible cause. Good luck on the CSI autopsy!

 

[nickp9054]

Lol thanks I’ve done some research and apparently Duncan’s can just lose a head randomly. Looked a little bit like polyp bailout because all the tissue fell off and floated away. I hope my other lps aren’t in danger as I just put an order in with asd and it’s fairly large

 

[RicanKing]

Lol thanks I’ve done some research and apparently Duncan’s can just lose a head randomly. Looked a little bit like polyp bailout because all the tissue fell off and floated away. I hope my other lps aren’t in danger as I just put an order in with asd and it’s fairly large

What did you end up doing with the duncan?

 

[KenRexford]

Be careful. Duncan’s can look dead for months, many months. If the skin is fluorescent, the polyps are in there. My Duncan coral spends most of its life looking more like a fairly ugly trumpet coral. Then, there’s a party for a few days, and poof — back in the cave.

 

[Kellie in CA]

Also, they will grow back from just the tiniest bit of tissue.

 

[Heather Kastory]

I just gave my lavender tipped duncan to a much more experienced reefer. He did the same thing but I could still see color and wanted him to live. Best of luck!