Help with Dendro!

[demonclownfish]

ok so my dendro has looked like S&@# over the past 4 days. i had recently fed it everyday for 4 days. was super happy and then just stayed bloated for a couple days then went FLAT. was not puffed at all and now the top is starting to fall apart! it has a couple babies on the side will they survive???? im POSITIVE i didnt overfeed since each day the large head got 3-4 mysis shrimp and maybe 15-25 cyclops(very hard to count). SO sad this happened as this is my favorite coral of all time :(

[jimsflies]

good chance some of it will live...but it sounds like ate too much. They just don't know when to say when. :fat:

[demonclownfish]

i used to completely GUTLOAD it with mysis then slowed down cuz i didnt want this to happen. i didnt neccesarily think what i was feeding was too much. but i hope it grows back or at least a baby or two lives :(

[rmalone]

Is the main head losing tissue? Or just real flat? Man I have fed those things entire dead chromis before without issue. Keep us posted.

[stunreefer]

Sounds like too much food to me as well.

Most Dendrophyllia species take several days to digest their food. You can see them go through different "phases" while doing so, based on tentacle length, thickness, etc. No need to feed more than a couple times a week.

At this point you'll have to let the dying tissue recede and die off, and hopefully some tissue will remain. If it does it will develop a new polyp and grow again, although it will take a while to come back to full force, and it might actually just develop several smaller polyps overgrowing the original one. The baby polyps you mention should probably be OK.

[jimsflies]

I had the same thing happen with my first dendro after it feasted on about 8 mysis shrimp at once...shrunk back to the point where you could see the rock under the polyp through the center of the polyp. After about a year, it finally recovered and grew back.

Austin, how often do you recommend feeding? Once a week? Every other week?

[ReeferRob]

http://www.captivereefs.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5591

[stunreefer]

I feed at least once a week, sometimes twice. I'll feed (almost) every polyp one full piece of PE Mysis shrimp, or if I've chopped it up several small pieces. Mainly you want to give a few day "rest" period just to be sure they've fully digested.

These guys are really hardy once established and can go long periods of time with no food if they're healthy. I've had them go well over two weeks with no feedings when I was traveling a lot for work. They looked amazing, happy, and plump the whole time. By no means should you do this with newer acquisitions though as they're generally starved through transit by the time we get them.

[ReeferRob]

Stun, I have all the above foods you listed in addition to the Rod's Food and the new FM LPS meat balls. How do you feel about these foods and their nutritional value for dendros and rhizos.

[demonclownfish]

well the big polyp is gone and half of each baby is gone :(. im definitely only feeding 1 or 2 times a week
with my next frag as im am PO'd that this has occured. thanks for the help guys, i dont think these will make it though. will definitely watch for any remaining tissue anyways :cryin: