Gorgonian

[Andreaehlrs]

Does anyone know why my finger gorgonian hasn't been opening its polyps in the past two weeks? Nothing in my tank has changed and the polyps used to be open everyday. The placement and flow is the same also.

 

[djkms]

What are you feeding it and how often? Finger gorgonian is non photosynthetic so it requires a ton of feedings, typically multiple times per day. Also, most non photosynthetic corals tend to only show polyp extension at night.

 

[Andreaehlrs]

When the polyps were open I fed it kent marine microvert every other day. They aare not open at night either.

 

[djkms]

If I were to guess its probably starving. Most NPS corals need to be spot fed at least once a day if not 2-3 times per day. When thy start to decline the first thing you notice is lack of PE.

Also, what kind of light is it under? If it is high in the tank or under bright light I would get it into a more shaded area. Finger gorgonians do not like bright light which may also attribute to the lack of PE you are seeing.

 

[Andreaehlrs]

It's under low light. Will it come back to good health if it's fed enough?

 

[djkms]

It might. Its hard to say. Most systems cannot handle the amount of food that NPS corals require. They typically need a specialized system which can export the overload of nutrients provided by the heavy feeding required for these corals.

More info on NPS corals here:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=555

 

[Andreaehlrs]

Thanks for the help. This morning I found it snapped in half.

 

[djkms]

Sorry to hear

 

[RuRoo]

Bummer