Duncan Tentacles

roberthu526 · Nov 27, 2017

I have a Duncan that has been in the tank for about a year and half and recently (twin months or so) the tentacles started to shrink. When I first got it it had three heads now it has ten plus. But i think it has stopped growing. It used to be really puffy and the tentacles would extend to over one inch. Now I barely seen them. Has anyone else had similar experience?

Some changes that happen: I had hair algae out break so I went to biopellets, then it stripped my system with nutrients so after running pellets for two months or so I took it off line. At about the same time I switched from black box LED to Kessil 360WEs. It is a five feet tank and I have four lights over it. The Duncan was doing fine even when I had bio pellets. I think the tentacle shrinking happened after I took the pellets off line. The weird thing is the new Duncan frags I put in the tank does just fine with tentacles extended. I am dosing Red Sea NOPOX at the moment. My nitrate is around 5 and phosphate is around 0.1

Below is a pic of what the troubled Duncan looks like now.

EriksOasis · Nov 27, 2017

Could possibly need more nutrients. What are other parameters? And have they changed recently?

roberthu526 · Nov 27, 2017

EriksOasis said:
Could possibly need more nutrients. What are other parameters? And have they changed recently?

Thank you. The Alk is around 10 and Calcium is around 410. They are fairly stable since I don’t have much corals left.

DSC reef · Nov 28, 2017

Sounds like a lot of changes have upset the coral. I would pick a routine and stick with it. Let it acclimate to the new conditions, just focus on stability at this point.

roberthu526 · Nov 28, 2017

DSC reef said:
Sounds like a lot of changes have upset the coral. I would pick a routine and stick with it. Let it acclimate to the new conditions, just focus on stability at this point.

Thank you. That is what I am trying to do right now. Sticking to Red Sea program and see how it goes. If it doesn’t get better by Christmas I am going to send a sample to Triton.

AdamNC · Nov 30, 2017

I’ve noticed my Duncans do not like change. Be it light, flow or a chemical imbalance. After some time they adjust and once mine was closed for about 3 months. Been in my tank now for about 2 years now and has gone from 3 heads to about 25.

Rajil · Nov 30, 2017

Mine did the same thing once I started fighting a dino outbreak. It's been months since they have opened all the way.

roberthu526 · Dec 1, 2017

AdamNC said:
I’ve noticed my Duncans do not like change. Be it light, flow or a chemical imbalance. After some time they adjust and once mine was closed for about 3 months. Been in my tank now for about 2 years now and has gone from 3 heads to about 25.

Thank you for sharing. I figured it was too much change too quickly.