gorgonias

[sanababit]

i have had gorgonias since i started about 8 months ago, anyways, they have been opening less and less, the polyps dont come out for days or weeks, is there a trick to get them to stick out more often so i can feed the it, it is slowly wasting away, thanks

sana

[Jessy]

Well if they are opening less and less it's because they are starving and don't have the energy to open up....and they can't get energy if they don't open for food.

Do me a favor, tell me what you are feeding them, how often, and what your water temperature is.

I have 3 species of gorgonia in my tank, one (blueberry) of which has a very low survival rate. And they are doing great so far. I might have some things to try, but I need you to answer those questions first.

[SDguy]

How is that blueberry doing Jess?

[sanababit]

well so far my param as of today are, 0 ammonia, nitrite, 15 ppm nitrate but going down with the help of denitrifier, temp is staying stable at 77 f, salinity 1.025, cal 400, alk 7-8, i run phosban so phosphate should be at a minimum, ph at night 7.90 and day 8.15, tank is 80gal with 30 gal sump.

i used to feed it cyclopezze but later learned that i needed phytoplankton or rotifiers, which i got and want to use, but the polyps arent opening as much, any ideas

sana

[Jessy]

well so far my param as of today are, 0 ammonia, nitrite, 15 ppm nitrate but going down with the help of denitrifier, temp is staying stable at 77 f, salinity 1.025, cal 400, alk 7-8, i run phosban so phosphate should be at a minimum, ph at night 7.90 and day 8.15, tank is 80gal with 30 gal sump.

i used to feed it cyclopezze but later learned that i needed phytoplankton or rotifiers, which i got and want to use, but the polyps arent opening as much, any ideas

sana

well all that looks right. 77 is a good temp, they don't like it hot, and cyclopezze is good for them, but they do need a variety of diet. My mix of food I feed daily is: In a bowl I mix prawn eggs <--very important, cyclops, rotifers, phyto, zooplankton, bioplankton, selcon, and crushed flake food. I mix this up and redistribute it into old brine shrimp cube trays and refreeze.
This gives me one cube a day of all those ingredients. Now how to get your gorgs to open up and eat it, that is a different story. I notice mine open up at different times in the day. I would always have a little cup of this food mix near the tank, and anytime you see ONE polyp open target feed it with a squirt from a turkey baster. You need to get food into it whenever you can and as often as you can. For a while it isn't going to be an easy coral to recover, you are going to have to tend to it like a sick kid. That is the only advice I can offer.

And water changes like crazy after you destroy your tank with all this food trying to save this coral :D.

[sanababit]

thank you, i will try it, i will try to get more varaity on what to feed this coral, of all the items you mentioned i only have cyclopezze and phyto, thanks again

sana

[Jessy]

Any update?