Duncans

[Joshifer]

Got these duncans from victor earlier. Their pretty mad. lol they looked even tighter in his tank because he dropped his nitrates. they relaxed a tini bit here. They look like their gonna tear. But they sure are beauties. Love the green and their not even open yet.

 

Anything I can do to coax them out besides time? My other duncans when they smell food they open wide. I feed them krill.

 

 

 

 

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[Joshifer]

I knew it. I squirted them with zooplankton and they loosened even more. Duncans are little piggies. Can't wait to see the beauty of them opened. I think I'll give them their own island up front once they open. The Xenia can be moved in the back.

 

I have a naked island reserved for a nem. But screw the nem. Too hard to watch. These beauties and my other duncans are getting the front right island.

Edited October 2, 2016 by Joshifer

[Joshifer]

Can see their mouths now

See Guys I'm not a total failure. Corals LOVE me.

 

 

 

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[Apcoleman]

dude, you need to chill and relax.  this is a hobby that takes patience.  corals will open when they want to and fish will hide when they want to and come out when you stop messing with them.  let it happen.

[DBL]

dude, you need to chill and relax. this is a hobby that takes patience. corals will open when they want to and fish will hide when they want to and come out when you stop messing with them. let it happen.

Exactly "chill and relax" lol. I do agree with him though

[Joshifer]

I'm just happy and your raining on my parade.

I'm not rushing anything. I just knew duncans are pigs. It was stressed and closed up to the point you see the skin stretching over the skeleton to the point of it looks like it would tear from tension. I relaxed it with the zooplankton.

And Was just happy about it so I shared

 

The Royal gramma is another story he's sick so I need to keep an eye on him for ich. I'm hand feeding him because he's afraid to come up to the top.

 

I won't post what I do anymore. I'll keep my Updates to myself. Only reason I ain't being a total ***** is I like tom and the other mods don't wanna give them a hard time modding stuff.

 

 

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Edited October 2, 2016 by Joshifer

[Origami]

Only reason I ain't being a total ***** is I like tom and the other mods don't wanna give them a hard time modding stuff.

Much appreciated. 

 

Post a pic when they open up. Good luck with the Royal Gramma. The few threads that I read the other day about nose-diving RGs were not very encouraging.

[Joshifer]

Boom. How's that for rushing. I just relaxed a stressed animal is all. I didn't grab it with a tweezer and pull each polyp out of the head.

It was nitrate starved. So I sprayed it with zooplankton. and it opened. I remember reading reviews Seachems zooplankton had nitrates in it. So I sprayed 1 ML mixed with tank water on it. And it opened. And now the skimmers pulling it out as we speak. No harm done. And i could afford a little more nitrate being their under 5PPM. Like 3 ish. My tank is LPS dominated. They thrive on managable nitrates. The few SPS I have for some reason like the low nitrates too. Their happy. Clowns are happy. Fire fish isn't a skiddish and is best friends with the clowns. He follows them around like he's one of them. My only problem honestly is the RG freaking out which wasn't my fault it got bristled and it's not taking it well. He's eating when I spot feed him. He's looking better. Hopefully tomorrow he'll go back to his grouchy cave dwelling self.

 

 

 

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Edited October 2, 2016 by Joshifer

[aquamom]

Looks like a nice little colony you got there

 

 

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[Joshifer]

Looks like a nice little colony you got there

 

 

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Thanks I adore them. Thanks again victor. Their happy now.

[tom39]

Looks happy to me. Thanks for sharing.

 

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[Origami]

They look nice.

Let's recap (your experiences of the last few days) as an exercise and to be fair to others that have offered advice. Corals and fish are often stressed when their environment changes too quickly. Stress can lead to compromised immune systems and opportunistic infection, or other factors that weaken the organism. This is one big reason why wild caught fish that just arrive at your LFS are particularly at risk. Think about it, in less than a week or so, these organisms, which have lived their lives in the big, stable ocean are suddenly caught and then tossed into a bait well on a small boat. Then, on shore, they're tossed into holding containers. Within a day or so, they're hauled across some back road in the tropics to the airport. If you're in a developed area, it gets a straight flight to LA. But if not, the box is put onto a puddle jumper to get to the nearest large airport. Twelve hours later, the box is at LAX. Twelve hours after that, if it's still alive, it's put in a tank at the wholesalers. Within a few days, it's on its way to your LFS.

So the journey is hard and the behind the scene losses are probably not insignificant through this entire (typical) chain of custody. If your LFS takes the time to hold fish and to treat them for latent problems, then they bear the loss risk and it's reflected in the price. If you get it shortly after it arrives, you bear that additional risk.

So.... getting back to the primary thought here. Stressed animals often hide or retract. Time in a stable, less stressful environment can help them to recover. Food may or may not be required, but sometimes the best weapon in your arsenal is patience.

Now, that Duncan came from somebody else's tank and may well have opened on its own in a day or two without intervention. Feeding may have helped encourage it, but it may also have led to increased ammonia and the subsequent bloom that may have further stressed your fish.

The lesson of patience offered earlier is reflected in this adage:

"Nothing good happens fast in a reef tank."

You're not breaking new ground here. Most of us, including me, (in our enthusiasm) have rushed things only to have negative, and sometimes catastrophic consequences. Especially with a young tank, every new addition you make, every additive, every water change, every time you put your hand in the tank, it's a change to the environment that your tank will respond to in order to reestablish an ecological equilibrium.

So be patient. Good things will come from it. And, when bad things happen, dig deeper and learn from them.

But, again, the Duncan's look good. And keep in mind that they would likely have opened up on their own had you just waited.

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[zygote2k]

Fwiw, there was nothing amiss in Victors' tank.

I serviced it for nearly a year and last visit was right before you picked it up.

It's common for corals to retract after being bagged and transported to the point where it seems like there isn't any polyps in there.

You tend to make irrational statements based upon your lack of experience- this why people tell you to chill and relax.