mFrame Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 Last month I bought a frag from Dena of Dragon Eyes. The plug had 5 polyps to start, I'm now down to one. The others just shrank and shrank until gone. The one left is still good size and bright, but I really would like it to live and expand. Right now it's on a piece of eggcrate magnetted to the side of the tank. I did this to get it closer to light and current after having had it on the sandbed with medium to strong current. I feed reef roids 1-2x per week, phyto every few days, and mysis to my other guys. It seems to be holding steady but not prospering. Any advice on it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 What are your water params. I lost several colonies due to low kh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted June 4, 2009 Author Share Posted June 4, 2009 What are your water params. I lost several colonies due to low kh. Need to test again, last time I had aquatek check my kh was low. I've been dosing and doing water changes, but take it I need to measure to see if i'm deficient? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 You should probably have you own tests. Just for situations like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iplantz Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 Maybe it got moved up too quick? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted June 4, 2009 Author Share Posted June 4, 2009 Yeah, bought my own tests, just haven't run the kh yet. Will give it a go tonight. Don't think I moved them up to quick, I had them down low for 3 wks. After half were gone, tried moving them up. One left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 Hey vwmike, I bought a frag of the dragon eyes from Dena too and they did the same thing. I was trying to think of maybe water parameters or lighting had something to do with it since we acclimate for temp and salinity but there are a whole suite of other parameters that are different tank to tank. I have about 10-11 different zoa colonies in my tank and none of them are having an issue. All of them look healthy and are splitting more polyps every month. I have only had one zoa colony melt on me in the 4 years I've had my tank. That's why I am just as puzzled as you are. My theory is that some parameter in her tank is very different from ours or that the dragoneyes strain is just a very finicky strain. Maybe water flow, lighting needs, dissolved organic content.... something, just can't put my finger on it. BTW, this is not a knock on Dena's frags. It was beautiful and healthy to start. It's only that I had a similar situation that the scientist in me would love to try to explain. Any input would be happily received. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 Oh, wanted to explain in detail how the frag melted in case someone has had a similar situation. First day, polyps opened immediately once acclimated. Frag was put on the sandbed of a 72 watt PC system in medium flow. 2nd and 3rd day, all polyps still opening fully and everything still looks healthy. 4th day, 2-3 polyps didn't open that day. 5th day, 3-4 polyps not opening, 2 still wide as can be and healthy looking. 6th day, 3-4 polyps are closed and look soft, mushy, and appearance was very dark. 7th day, amphipods took care of the 3-4 polyps that were in bad shape. The surviving 2 polyps looked healthy as can be. They were attached to the same mat. 8th day, still the same. I dipped them in furan just in case. 9th day, still the same. 10th day, they both closed and progressed along as the other polyps did. They were finished out by the amphipods in my system. I can't tell you parameters 'cause I just take a sample to the LFS whenever anything looks out of whack in the system. My tank has been running steady for 4 years now. Mostly mushrooms, zoas, lps, xenia, star polyps, fungia plates, and a green and pink birdsnest. Moderately deep sand bed 3" for such a small tank (12 gallon nanocube). Chaeto refugium in back chamber. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 I have kept dragon eye in my tank for about a year. Now they are melting. Checked kh, which I due twice a week, kh went from 8 to 5. I think my stoneys are eating all the kh and calcium which is a good thing. I said all that to say this: IMHO If you don't have a calc reactor. Test for kh every and dose until you get to 8. Keep testing everyday to get a feel of how much you tank is eating kh per day. Once you find that out you can dose x amiunt each day to keep your kh up. Dave- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted June 5, 2009 Author Share Posted June 5, 2009 Mine 5 had the same progression as JeeperTy, down to the last one which is still wide open. Since I moved it off the sand bed and onto the side of the aquarium it's hanging on (so far), but I also started dosing calcium about the time I moved it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Dena Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 My kh is always around 8 in my tank. I haven't tested mine in a few weeks, but I'll check it this weekend. The dragon eyes I have left on the rock are doing fine...I'll take some photos tonight with my new camera...if I can figure this one out. Anyway, I have pretty hard water in general so I don't know if that makes a difference or not. I ordered one small colony of something not too long ago and it never opened. Two opened instantly and the last opened, closed, opened, closed and then polyps slowly dwindled away. One of my faves (cats eye i think0 I got a while back started to die...moved the rock around and it grew again. I moved it slightly higher...not but a couple inches, and the thing just melted away. There is another type of zoa RIGHT next to it that is thriving and starting to reproduce. I also lost a single frag of AOG that had been open for a week...it was a larger polyp and you could see it get translucent. Some of my main colony started to close up...I moved it about 3 inches in the tank and all are opening again. All I can think of is there is more MH towards where it is now...despite being on the bottom of the tank. Or that my teal palys were letting off something that bothered it. Dena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted June 7, 2009 Author Share Posted June 7, 2009 Ran my tests yesterday right before my water change. Here's what it showed: Phosphates between 1-2, Calcium 440 mg/L, KH around 214 ppm. Added the phospad to my emperor to try and reduce them. Looks like I don't need to be dosing calcium as much. Do I need to worry about bring the KH down? (about to re-run my tests post 25% water chance yesterday) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted June 7, 2009 Author Share Posted June 7, 2009 Phosphates at .5 today. Calcium still at 440, KH still around 214. Advice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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