duncans not opening??

I have a frag of duncans that has 2 big heads and 4 small heads and for the first few days they were opening real big and nice and now they barely come out of the skeleton.. I spot fed them twice also and they seemed to enjoy it with their mouths opening and they were holding the food but still won't come out.. I have them in my 50g lower in the tank but in direct light.. I was wondering if anyone has had this happen to them and what was the result and if they are just like hiding out in there or if they are dying? But they have been coming out a little bit so idk...

 

I had that happen to my duncans once before. It seems to happen when they are either sprouting a new head or going through some other kind of growth. I had mine stay closed for about 2-3 weeks before they finally opened back up. I wouldn't worry about anything yet.

 

You may want to check your parameters, especially the SG. Duncans are a hardy coral that does well lower in the tank and with frequent feedings. I have had them take a day or two to acclimate to a new tank but they never kept completely closed. Any corals near by or fish that maybe bothering it?

 

My duncans are low in my tank, and in kind of a shaded area. They seem to really like it there. When I had them in more light they stayed closed more. Just an idea.

 

+1. Mine only close if something is bothering them. Shrimp learn to take food from them? How are your other corals doing?

 

Yep, mine did the same thing but opened back up after a week or two. Now they are kicking some butt!

 

i dont have anything that is bothering the duncans and all of my other corals are fine ive spot fed them a few times but they are only coming out of the skeleton a little bit more n more every day i hope that they start to come out more i got a steal on them 6 heads fer 30 bucks..

 

How long ago were they fragged? Sometimes they don't really acclimate too well and they might need a few weeks to open up.

I think flow is most important with duncans. Try to move them in the flow that is soft and a spot that is still getting some new water exchange

 

I have a nice colony of duncans that closed up for over 2 months after a tank upgrade. as long as they still have color to them they will be fine.

~Will.

 

I have mine sitting on a rock about 6" below the surface and they get TONS of light from a 8 bulb 54w T5 lighting system.

Never had any issues with them closing up due to light. I will say this the closer that they are to the light the shorter the branches are. The one I have lower in the tank has much longer branches and the higher one is a much tighter bunch.

You will how ever want to make sure you Alkalinity is right on, they tend to close up when ever mine drops. But they open right back up when I get it corrected.

Here is a picture of mine in the tank. I have since Fraged this piece into 4 different pieces about 4 months ago and the second 2 pictures were closeups from after I fraged it. Believe it or not the 2 that I kept are ready for fraging again!





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