Grumpy Duncan or problem? Emergency?

PeterErc · Dec 31, 2023

SaltLifeMom said:
Hey , do the white dots are new budfing heads. It looks wierd in the photo. Kinda wondering if the discosoma mushrooms are stinging him. They aren't close, but they are spreading and constantly putting out some sort of mucous and I wondered if that could be a problem. I hate those shrooms

I don’t know who would win the battle shroom or Duncan. If there is chemical warfare going on, activated carbon could help.

Something irritating the mushroom as well to make them slime?
I don’t recall disco sliming except when I trying to remove them. That was a loosing battle, if you dislike them now, get them out or you will really hate them later.

SaltLifeMom · Dec 31, 2023

Night 2 of him opening a but around this time (6 pm) after I target fed him reef roids. Wondering if he's not getting enough food with this rapid explosion of heads tgis month. Iodine dipping tomorrow and getting rid of the shrooms!

Charlie the Reefer · Dec 31, 2023

Not quite sure what the issue exactly is, but I will say my duncans (two dif species) have closed for weeks, only to return full force. My bet would be to literally just wait and let it do its thing. Duncans IME are a bit of an oddball in that it's not the end of the world if they're ticked off (like most other corals, can indicate a harbinger).

SaltLifeMom · Jan 3, 2024

So.... I did the iodine dip 2 nights ago. Duncan is still closed and tissue seems to continue to receed. I'm attaching pics. Can anyone draw a line on the pic to show me where to frag? I think it's maybe time . So sad!!!

PeterErc · Jan 4, 2024

Can’t see from photos where the tissue recession ends and good tissue starts. Ideally you would want to cut through all good tissue removing the recession. Then hopefully the cut would heal. Duncan’s can grow new heads out of fresh cuts as well.
If the recession is where I am guessing highlighted then you are probably too close to the polyps to get good tissue. I don’t want to be the one to tell you where to cut it and the frags die.. or not to cut it and the coral dies. It’s one of those things, hard telling not knowing.
For me, my thoughts are what’s the worst that can happen. If I am certain it’s not going to make it and fragging it there’s a chance it may, I am hacking. Or removing it and starting over with another frag.
That’s something for you to decide. There the hope that feeding it and dosing stuff will save it.
I don’t know, I do get that it’s sad when something is not well. Unfortunately that is when I learn the most about things.
Best of luck with Duncan and hope she turns around, keep us posted

jabberwock · Jan 4, 2024

SaltLifeMom said:
So.... I did the iodine dip 2 nights ago. Duncan is still closed and tissue seems to continue to receed. I'm attaching pics. Can anyone draw a line on the pic to show me where to frag? I think it's maybe time . So sad!!!

I don't know much about fragging.

I will say that sometimes things in our systems change without being noticed. Like, my return pump is only functioning at 60% capacity over time because of impellor build up. So my flow is greatly reduced than from a month ago.

The difficulty with corals are obvious. No faces, they can't talk...

I would focus on water quality, flow, and lighting, and wait it out. Sometimes when we do stuff to try and fix stuff, it only adds stress. It might be even more stressed about the iodine dip. Hard to say.