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Haley'sfish 
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 Topic: Yellow Finger Gorgonian
Posted: July 06 2010 at 11:23pm |
So 3 weeks ago I was out of town and my friend let the tank temp get up to about 90 degrees. I have lost a lot of coral and still am suffering. I have a yellow finger gorgonian that is starting to deteriorate at its tips slowly. Does anyone know what I can do to get it back to health? I did a large water change after I got home and have been doing about 10% weekly or every other week. I feed it rotifers a couple of times a week.
This is in a 30G BioCube. Calcium is 450 ppm. KH is ~3.1 (I just slowly brought it back up from around 2). Nitrate got a little high for the first time ever (although Im not confident in the test), it was at about 50 ppm before my last water change. Ammonia is good as is phosphate. If anyone has any suggestions that would be great. Thanks for the help.
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CapnMorgan
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Posted: July 07 2010 at 12:35am |
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Your dKh should be around 9-12 so that is still really low at 3.1, just be sure to raise it slowly over a day or two. Also try what I like to call the tupperware method to get the gorgonian to feed. Place the gorgonian in some tank water and add some food to the water, then wait for the polyps to extend. After they are extended target feed them. Be careful not to move the tupperware or gorgonian while waiting for polyps to extend otherwise it won't open. After a good feeding place it and the water back in your tank. Yellow Fingers need considerable amounts of food to survive because they lack zooanthelae, so I would plan on feeding it at least 3 times per week. I directly target feed all my nonphotosynthetics every other day. I like to use the Reef Nutrition Oyster Feast. It's the perfect food for gorgonians and SPS, I would also recommend a regular waterchange schedule to manage the higher nutrient load they need to survive. Most LFS have no problems selling them to you, but make them out to be much more durable than they really are. I would also recommend fragging off the dead/dying tips as well. If you run into any more problems just let me know, I'm more than happy to help.
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Steve My Old 180G Mixed ReefCurrently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: July 07 2010 at 8:38am |
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If the KH is expressed as meq/l that number is okay, but at the bottom of the range. The appropriate range for meq/l is 3-5
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Haley'sfish
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Posted: July 07 2010 at 10:38am |
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The KH is 3.1 meq/l sorry about that. Yellow fingers cannot touch air right? Also this is attached to some LR with glue so if I am going to be taking this out often how do you recommend keeping this in the tank? Should I attach it to a plug? Also I have never fragged anything, so do I just take a clean razor and cut off the tips? Thank you guys so much for the help I really appreciate it.
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CapnMorgan
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Posted: July 07 2010 at 2:27pm |
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They can touch air for a few seconds without issue, just don't let them dry out. To frag it just use a pair of sharp scissors and cut off the dead/dying tips. My yellow finger is attached to a small rock about the size of a ping pong ball, that way it is easy to move it if I have to. Ideally after a couple weeks of the tupperware feeding you should be able to start directly target feeding it in the tank a few times every week with a sea squirt or turkey baster.
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Steve My Old 180G Mixed ReefCurrently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8
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drivr08
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Posted: July 09 2010 at 12:00am |
 thats co  ol on the advice and i had a similar problem with mine at one time and i put it in my refugium after cutting the tips and week later i brought it back to the main tank and he polyp up again....but i had 210 gallon tank with 55 gal sump just a thought maybe a friend can help you out
Edited by drivr08 - July 09 2010 at 12:05am
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loving life as a english teacher kids are what the world is made of
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Haley'sfish
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Posted: July 10 2010 at 2:20am |
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drivr08 if you could re-post your comment I would be very interested. Thanks!
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hydro phoenix
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Posted: July 10 2010 at 2:37pm |
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CapnMorgan got it right, he's rehabing mine right now. Trust what he says.
Hydro Phoenix
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CapnMorgan
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Posted: July 10 2010 at 2:47pm |
 hydro phoenix wrote:
CapnMorgan got it right, he's rehabing mine right now. Trust what he says.
Hydro Phoenix
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Thanks, BTW I did see a couple polyps on yours last night  , hopefully we're on the downhill side of the problem.
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Steve My Old 180G Mixed ReefCurrently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8
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Haley'sfish
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Posted: July 10 2010 at 7:08pm |
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What happened to hydro's? Are you just treating his like you told me to? I haven't been able to get any polyps on mine to come out durning the tupperware feeding although a few have come out here and there in the tank. It could have just been bothered because I took it off its rock. Ill try again tonight.
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CapnMorgan
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Posted: July 10 2010 at 7:32pm |
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Hers was having the same problem of starving to death. I am currently treating it just like I do my own, and it is showing some signs of recovery. Sometimes the tupperware method take an hour or so for the polyps to actually extend. It also helps to do it in dim lighting conditions to simulate night time. If you can get polyps to show in your tank feed it immediately after the polyps open. Keep doing that and it should eventually open more and more polyps with frequent feedings.
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Steve My Old 180G Mixed ReefCurrently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8
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