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FAQs about Dendrophylliid Corals 2
Related Articles: Dendrophylliid
Corals, Related FAQs:
Dendrophylliids 1, Dendrophylliid
Identification, Dendrophylliid
Behavior, Dendrophylliid
Compatibility, Dendrophylliid
Selection, Dendrophylliid Systems,
Dendrophylliid Feeding,
Dendrophylliid Disease,
Dendrophylliid Reproduction, Stony/True
Coral, Coral System Set-Up,
Coral System Lighting, Stony Coral
Identification, Stony Coral Selection,
Coral Placement,
Foods/Feeding/Nutrition,
Disease/Health, Propagation,
Growing Reef Corals, Stony
Coral Behavior, | 
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Duncanopsammia axifuga - Question for Sara M.? Gen. care, sys.
07/07/08
Dear Crew,
I have noticed that more and more LFS are
selling "Duncan" or "Whisker" corals, i.e., Duncanopsammia axifuga.
Unfortunately, there is not a lot of information available regarding
these large polyps stonies, and the information that is available is not
consistent.
<Yes, I have noticed that too.>
For instance,
suggestions for lighting differ from site to site--some say low light
some say high light, and one site says "1 to 4 watts per gallon" (...uh,
could you be a little more specific?).
<LOL I hate those "watts per
gallon" recommendations. I get this image of light-bulb soup. But never
mind that... yeah, it makes no sense. "Watts per gallon" takes no
account of type of lighting or depth of the tank, etc. It's just a
ridiculous way to try and estimate lighting needs (imo).>
In any
event, given the rising popularity of this coral, I was wondering
whether Sara M. planned to add this coral and its care requirements to
her wonderful website, www.asira.org?
<Yes, I have been planning to.
However, like you, I'm at a loss to know their actual care requirements
(too many conflicting reports). Sure, I could make a pretty good guess
based on what most LPS need, but I'd like to find someone (better yet, a
few people) who have been keeping them well for awhile so I can get a
better idea of what to recommend. Please do ask around, and send me what
info you have (my personal email is XXXX)--[note to BobF, you can't post
this publically please]. Done. RMF>
I really do love this beautiful
coral and would like to get a frag for my 30g tank in which I keep a
Yellow Watchman Goby/Pistol Shrimp and a Pearly Jawfish, but I'm
concerned that the lighting isn't enough--4x24W HO T5s (2x10,000K and
2x460nm actinics).
<I do *think* this would be enough if the coral
were well fed. It does seem like most LPS tend to do ok with lower
lighting if you make up for it with target feeding.>
Every LFS
owner/employee with whom I've spoken about this coral raves about its
growth rate and how they've been able to keep a few colonies and frag
them off with regularity--which always makes me ask them ... "So why are
you selling it at $[insert ridiculous price] per polyp?"
<Haha...
supply, demand and hype. Just as with the Acan craze, the stores will
sell them for what people will pay. But try not to judge them too
harshly. With all the e-venders popping up everywhere, and the economy
slumping, I imagine a lot of these places are struggling just to stay
afloat (unfortunately).>
Thanks!
Andy
<Thank you,
Sara M.>
Duncanopsammia axifuga, Whisper Coral, Duncans -12/25/2007
Hey
Bob, hope this finds you well and having fun. I most certainly am.
First off... thank you for all your input on my elegance and after
reading a few tough emails your way, I would just like to say " with my
dumb luck and your excellent advice my elegance is doing wonderfully." (
I would rather be lucky than good, good only gets you so far!!)
<<Sara here now. :-)>>
Second...I think it cool that you have one of
my pics adorning the masthead of one of the pages on your site :>)
and now my question...any information on this animal, Duncanopsamia
axifuga, Whisper Coral, Duncans.
<<Ugh, these common names can be
annoying sometimes. The first time someone told me they had a "Duncan"
it was actually an Acanthastrea. So then I thought a "Duncan" was just a
name for a type/color variety (or origin description) of Acanthastrea.
But, anyway, thanks for the clarification by including the Latin name.>>
I truly believe I have searched the site and other areas to no avail.
<<Hmm, try searching the spelling "Duncanopsammia" --two m's. ;)>>
I
am to the understanding this is coming out of Australia and that it is
tank cultured and pretty much grows like a weed, is this correct and
other knowledge you can lend would be much appreciated.
<<According
to Veron's "Corals of the World," they're from the family
Dendrophylliidae and naturally found around the northern and western
coasts of Australia and in the South China Sea. But unlike their
Tubastrea cousins, they ARE zooxanthellate. From what I've heard/read,
they prefer swirling water flow and generous feeding. Unfortunately, I
can't seem to find much more detailed hobby-focused articles or
captive-care information on them.>>
This coral seems to be showing up
a lot for it to be "not seen often."
Again, all thanks, and Merry
Christmas
Ron
<Don't know much re this particular species care...
Am asking SaraM here to reply. BobF>
<<Unfortunately, I don't know
that much about them either... but am quite curious now.
Merry
Christmas,
Sara M.>>
Turbinaria.. All hope lost? – 06/26/07
Hi Crew!
<Arvind>
After four years of finding all the answers to questions about my reef
aquarium in your faq archives, I am all set to ask you my first
question!
<All right>
I got a 4" Turbinaria coral from a friend of
mine. The coral is in pretty bad shape - the polyps are all open but
they are pale (bleached?), the calcium skeleton is of a peachish colour
but the fact I am worried about most is that there seems to be no
connecting tissue between the polyps. The polyps seem to be isolated on
the exposed skeleton but are retracting/opening normally. I currently
have the coral under MH lighting and plan to try to feed it appropriate
food in the hope that it will recover.
My question is - Am I fighting
a losing battle here? Are these corals known to regenerate tissue from
the polyps?
<Yes>
Is this even possible? If yes, any other steps
that I could take to help the coral out?
Thanks for your help
regards
Arvind
<... spaces between your sentences... Please read
here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/dendrodisfaqs.htm
and the linked
files above. Bob Fenner>
Coral advice 3/19/07
Greetings Crew,
<Hello
John, Brandon with you this evening.>
I enjoy your site and
visit it almost daily. What a great wealth of info. I tell everyone
I know that is into this hobby about your site and the Conscientious
Aquarist. Usually I can answer my questions in the FAQs, but I think
I need a little help from you on this one.
<I will give it a
shot.>
Anyway, about my tank: I have FOWLR that I am slowly
converting over to a reef. It is a 37 gallon tank (30"Lx22"H). I
have about 30lbs of base rock with 16lbs of Caribbean live rock on,
in and around it. The tank has been up for about 6 months, and all
of the current base rock and a few of the current inhabitants were
moved into this tank 6 months ago from a 29 gallon that I had
running as a FOWLR for about a year. I currently have Old SeaClone
100 skimmer, a Fluval 204 with pre-filter and Seachem matrix, and a
Penguin 170 power filter without the bio wheel. I use a surface
skimmer attachment on the Penguin intake and use a 100ml bag of
Purigen in the box.
For Lighting I have 2 Coralife 36watt dual
T5 fixtures. Each fixture has one 18w 10K and one 18w 03 bulb. I
know this is low lighting and I do not plan on keeping any corals
that require any better.
<You say this now… Once the bug has
bitten you…>
For fish, I have one False Perc, one African Pigmy
Angel, one Royal Gramma, one Banggai Cardinal, and one three stripe
Damsel (I know these guys can get pretty aggressive, but he was my
very 1st fish and I love the little guy).
<Nothing wrong with
that, as long as you are prepared to deal with the aggression.>
For Corals, I am just starting out . I have 2 small mushroom
colonies, a small frogspawn and a small brown button polyp.
<I
would at least look at a stronger lighting scheme. Not much
stronger, but a little.>
I also have one tube coral growing on a
piece of live rock, this is what my question is about.
<I am
guessing that this is what it was sold to you as?>
About 4 weeks
ago, I saw this piece of rock in a tank and my LFS, It has what
appears to be a tube coral growing on it (picture attached). I am
not sure if it is a tube maybe you can identify it by the picture.
<Never heard it called Tube Coral. More commonly called Sun
Coral. Scientifically known as Tubastrea sp.>
It did not look
real good, but the tank it was in had almost no circulation and no
lighting to speak of.
<This particular coral is azooxanthellate,
meaning that it does not need light to survive. You are going to
have to feed this coral, and you are going to have to feed it a
lot. I have two colonies, and I run through about six cubes of
Fortified Mysis shrimp every other day.>
I thought it was worth
trying to resurrect.
<Doh!>
The rock sat in my tank without
doing much for the last few weeks. Despite my efforts, the coral
did not gain any new color or growth, but I did notice it opening up
to accept food on rare occasion.
<You should be able
to support it if you are up to the challenge of hand feeding it, and
upgrading your skimmer, because the one you have will not handle the
amount of food that you are going to have to place in the tank for
this coral.>
I thought maybe I had mis-identified this specimen
and had something that my tank and lights would not support. Then,
the other day, I had to move some rock around due to a snail
attempting to aquascape my tank. I moved this rock with the tube
coral on it over to the other side of the tank when I noticed that
there is what appears to be some kind of rot or a parasite that has
created a large cavity on one side of the coral. It looks as if
something has actually borrowed out from the inside. The polyps
around this area are all dark and appear to be dead. I thought I
saw what looked like a brown worm swimming in the hole, but can't be
sure it was not just some foreign matter or a piece of the actual
coral.
<Sounds like a barnacle to me. I have one in my larger
colony of Tubastrea.>
Here are my concerns:
<Ok.>
Should
I pull this rock and coral out of my tank?
<If you are not up to
caring for it, yes I would remove the coral, and take it back to the
store where I got it.>
Do you have any idea, based on the
picture, what the problem is?
<Mentioned above.>
Is there a
risk to any of the other species of coral that I am keeping?
<Nope. Barnacles pick a place and stay. It will probably die off
after awhile. Barnacles don’t live long in home aquaria. For now
enjoy the diversity.>
If this is a parasite, and I pull out this
rock, is there anything I can do to attempt to save this coral?
<See above.>
Any advice you can offer will be greatly
appreciated.
<At this point your biggest concern should be the
care and feeding of the coral. This is not a species that is easily
cared for, and most expert aquarists won’t make the mammoth feeding
commitment that is necessary for this coral. You will need to make
a trip to a Pharmacy, I like Walgreen’s. Go to the Pharmacist, and
ask for a 3cc/5ml syringe. This is what you will feed the coral
with. Purchase some Selcon, or Zoe and Zoecon. Melt down about
three Mysis cubes, and soak them in one of the aforementioned
products for 10 - 15 minutes. Then suck up as much as the syringe
will hold. You should then proceed to GENTLY squirt each and every
individual polyp with a little of this food. In order to get them
to come out to begin with you will have to do this at night, after
you have turned off the tank lights. With time they can be
acclimated to come out to feed during the day. I have heard reports
that this particular coral needs to be in strong current. I have not
found this to be necessary for long term success, but I will say
that it is most likely needed as the polyp extension is much greater
with brisk water movement. You will need to feed each individual
polyp like this at least three times a week. If you want to ensure
long term health, you should be doing this every other day. As I
said before, this will greatly increase your bioload, and the
skimmer that you have will not handle this kind of feeding. I would
look into the Aqua-C Remora. Another resource for information that
you could find helpful can be found here,
http://www.melevsreef.com/suncoral.html. I am thinking about
writing an article specifically on Sun Coral for this site, and
seeing if Bob will put it up. So without further adieu, Good luck
with this coral. Brandon.><<Will gladly "put this up"... and WWM
will pay for it... I'll offer my image work free for your use...
Help you sell this work to/through the pulp press. RMF>> |
Brandon... did you move the file to the "Emails with Images"?
Nope... lost |
Balanophyllia Reproduction
1/19/07
Probably a dumb question - but if I start out with one
single polyp of Balanophyllia, will it eventually produce baby polyps?
<Mmm, this Dendrophylliid can produce such asexually, yes...>
I
read they were "singular" in nature and couldn't find out much about
their reproduction.
Thanks,
Doug
<See/search with the
correction of your spelling above. Bob Fenner> One more
Balanophyllia question 1/19/07
I forgot to ask this
before. Would the Giant Balanophyllia eat reef fish (polyps are about
3")?
<Can, but unlikely... Most fish species are aware of the
possibility and avoid...>
Also curious about the larger
Dendrophyllia - same question. We are thinking of getting one but have
mandarins and clownfish that have become family pets.
<Again, not
a likely issue... there are some Corallimorphs, other families of
Scleractinians where there is much more potential...>
Thanks in
advance! You have always been a fantastic source of information!!!
Doug
<Thank you. Bob Fenner>
SUN POLYP GODDESS -
06/06/2006
Hi, I read the articles FAQ and u mention that u live
near the Goddess.
I would like to find out more about her tank
<
Know problem, best to email her directly >
Setup / filter / skimmer /
nutrient control
Size of her tank/ Feeding
In fact if I could
would like to see it myself but I have over in theAsia. Do u have pic of
her tank or does she has a website homepage
< Here are links to her
sites
http://home.earthlink.net/~rapplegart/ and also
http://web.mac.com/suzynrob/iWeb/SaltwaterPlanted/LiveFeed.com.html >
thing that can quench my thirst on this biotope, setup and husbandry
< I believe you can email her at
rapplegart@earthlink.net. Be sure to tell her Adam sent you. >
Thanks
< No problem>
Steven
<Blundell>
Cup coral
9/30/05
I bought a Turbinaria (cup coral). It was polyped in the
store. I acclimated it about 45 minutes. My lighting is 65x2 power
compact.<Another instance where little research has been done before
buying. Your lighting is no where near the wattage required for keeping
this coral alive. Five to six watts per gallon is suggested
(250-300watts for 50 gallon tank)> I have a 50 gal system II RTR that
pumps about 400 gph + a Seio 620 on it, and has almost direct current
hitting it.<We want good water flow but not directly at the coral. One
reason it probably isn't opening.> It has been in my tank for four days
and has not polyped yet. The other day it secreted a stringy stuff I
blew off it. It still has a velvety look and an iridescent greenish hue.
The "pores" look as though the polyps are tucked in there. It's about 3
inches from a frogspawn, but it up current from it. Question is how long
can a coral stay in without feeding? is this normal?<Not normal, and
most corals do produce most of their own food with proper lighting
provided polyps are open.> All my experiences has been w/ LPS and they
open within hours. Water parameters. ammonia, nitrite zero, nitrate <10
ppm. dKH bout 8-9(little low, but the other corals are unaffected)
calcium about 500 ppm. ph 8.2 . <Frank, with all due respect, future
queries should be spell checked, grammar checked and capitalize where
necessary. It takes three or four extra minutes to correct these items
as they need to be edited before posting. James (Salty Dog)>
Frank
Crone
Turbinaria peltata
Dear Bob and Crew,
<Keep waiting for
one of our reef-types to chime in... hello!>
I need assistance
please. I have had a Turbinaria peltata in my 50 gallon tank since
August of 04. I have noticed in the last couple of month some of the
tissue starting to recede.
Parameters are as follows:
50
Gallon Flat Back Hex
Ammonia - 0, Nitrate - 0, Nitrite - 0,
Phosphate - 0.
Calcium 300/350 - Alk High on my Red Sea Test Kit
<High?>
Approximately 125 lb Texas Holey Rock almost completely
covered with Coralline Algae.
<... some of this rock is
unsuitable for marine aquarium use>
1 - Yellow Tang approximately
3.5 inches long.
1 - Coral Beauty approximately 3.0 inches long.
1 - Lawnmower Blenny approximately 3.0 inches long.
Assortment of
Mushrooms and Button Polyps.
I have a 300 gal/hr powerhead on
lower right corner. I have a HOT Magnum 200 gal/hr in the middle
upper right side.
Emperor 400 on the left side just behind the T.
peltata.
I set a container of Kalk on top of this and drip it
through the perforations in the top of this unit for make-up water.
Could this be a problem?
<Mmm, don't think so...>
Lighting was
100 watts of 20K NO Light. I upgraded to Coralife 260 Watt Unit
consisting of 130 watts of 10K and 130 watts of Actinics. This unit
was purchased this past weekend. You can see from the picture that
the coral is only 4" from the light source.
<Yes>
I target
feed this coral with a combination of Mysis shrimp, Ocean Nutrition
two to three times per week. It readily accepts what I feed it. I
also dose 30 ml of DT's per week. This is mainly for my feather
duster and gorgonian.
Your thoughts please, I don't want to lose
this coral.
Thanks
Dean
<Likely the animal/colony is just
adjusting to the new lighting... but am concerned re the "high"
alkalinity... Put yourself in our place here... how high is high?...
you don't want any more than 12-15 dKH... I would be checking the
holey rock as a source of excess alkalinity... and either moving
deeper light sensitive life when switching to more intense lighting,
or partially shielding the lamps for a few weeks... when they're new
or replaced. Bob Fenner> | 
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Quick coral ID 8/6/05
Greetings Bob & Crew!
<<Hello
Ray. Ted on this end>>
Sent this one off about 2 weeks ago and
still no response. Lost in cyberspace?
<<Sorry>>
Anyway, found
this little guy growing on a small LR frag. Thought it was just
coralline when I got it but it looks like coral as it is growing. It
has very thin clear-white filaments that come out of the ends during the
day and at night (from what I can see).
No idea what it is. I've
done searches and nothing looks familiar. Perhaps some sort of
SPS? I've also had sun coral suggested, but does not look right to me.
It's currently near the top of a rock pile, under MH lighting and seems
to be doing fine after a few weeks.
<<Identifying corals from
pictures is difficult. Having said that, I am going to take a stab at
this and suggest it may be Tubastrea coccinea (Orange Cup Coral). See
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/dendrophylliidae.htm.>>
Thanks!
-Ray
<<Your welcome - Ted>> |
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