How often do I need to feed my Diodogorgia nodulifera

[small alien]

I have two colonies of Tubastrea that I feed 2-3 times per week and they're doing great.

I just got a Diodogorgia nodulifera and I've been feeding it Cyclopeez almost daily but I can already sense the Gorg is suffering.

Do they need "continuous feeding". If they do, I think I'll have to take it back to the LFS as I'm not prepared for that. Writing this, I realize I should have done more homework. I thought of it as a kind of experiment to see if I could keep it alive and thriving. I'm afraid I may not be able to. Thanks.

[dendro982]

If you can make continuous feeding device, it will be better, but 5 feedings a day should keep your diodogorgia alive. I was giving a pinch (1/4 teaspoon) each time for a 6g tank.

Try to keep it in a good flow, in low flow and once a day feedings it may decline within one month. Open for shorter periods of time, become matte, then skin will peel off - nothing can be done at this stage, except of fragging of what is still healthy to the central core. IMHE of course.

If you have yellow, not the red morph, they could be thinner and slower, but eventually will grow new branches faster.

If polyps are almost always open, branches are glossy and without deterioration, no red slime or microalgae film (or aiptasia) on them, with good feeding in a good flow diodogorgia should be OK. With time you can add aminoacids and vitamins and more variety in food, zooplankton or blended flake food (GARF flakes recipe for gorgonians).

I have seen discussion about adding iodine, but I'm keeping mine without it.

Good luck!

[Premiumaq]

Another thing to look for is which side of your Dio has the more developed feeding structures and make sure that it's facing the prevailing feeding current. Reorientation can mess with their processes.

[small alien]

Wow. Thanks you guys. I don't know if I'm going to be able to do it. Such a beautiful organism. But there's not way I'm going to be able to feed 3 times a day, let alone 5. :(small

[dendro982]

- If you have live rotifers culture, you can drip it in the tank slowly, keeping them suspended by slow air bubbling from air pump.

- There are in tank brine shrimp hatcheries, when hatched baby brine can swim out in the tank.

- This thread (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1087891):
I fed mine basically 24/7, by preparing large batches of food that I froze in 15 ml centrifuge tubes with the tip cut off. Every morning I take a tube out of the freezer and put it into a lager centrifuge tube with a bigger hole at the bottom, hanging above the intake of the return pump in the refugium. Over a couple of hours the food slowly thaws and drips into the water where it is sucked up by the pump and spread into the main tank. When I came home after work I exchanged the tube for a fresh one, before I went to bed a third one was added.
There are different devices for continuous feeding, most are using syringe or peristaltic pumps.

[small alien]

Thanks a lot, Dendro. This is great information. Unfortunately, I think I'm going to try to rehome the Gorg. I love the look of it. It's absolutely cool! But I don't love it that much. I've already got an ocellated dragonet and two sun coral colonies that I have to target feed religiously. I just don't think I have it in me to sustain this lovely animal. Hopefully, I can find it a home before it croaks. All the best, small the alien