Yellow Gorgonian / Sea Fan

[KeepOnReefin]

Why doesnt the search ever work. I hesitate to post because im afraid that it has been posted in the past. But I cant search so here we go.

My yellow gorgonian has not opened in almost 2 weeks after it was attached to the substrate. I hear that sometimes a freshwater dip is good for algae on it. How long to dip for? It seems to be free of algae though. I try to feed it but the polyps dont come out to eat so the fish end up with a little extra. any ideas?

[Aquarist Guru]

Gorgonians love flow, put your hand near it and make sure you have some decent flow down there.

Then make sure its getting some decent lighting, what kind of lights do you have? Lastly whats your water parameters? How long have you had the sea Fan? What are you feeding it?

as for fresh water dips, thats only if your frag has issues, like parasites or visual signs of "damage". As for fresh water dip times its 10minutes no more. But its usually for fish only, and doing to your frag might not only get rid of the algae (that your not sure it has) it will also stress the hell out of the frag and make it more suseptible to parasites.

Theres a great many products you can dip new frags or frags needing some help in, most do it during a quaranteen process or in a seperate tank before adding it to their new tank.

This site has a ton of them listed, with their own discriptions, anything called "reef dip" is what your looking for, its basically a mix of nutrients and iodine, and anything that kills the common worms, red bugs, ect.

http://www.tropicalfishoutlet.com/DryGoodSubCategory.asp?DryGoodCategoryID=23

Each work in their various ways so its hard to say what works best, so I'd read the different types and then go for one that seems like the one you want.

I'd set up another tank and quaranteen it, using a dip theres intructions on how much product to keep per gallon for a month on the many products. Or if you just don't want to quaranteen the frags for whatever reason do a 10minute dip and follow the instructions. I've even known people to paint a bit of the dip on visable infections or "white out areas", and have them come back full and healthy.

[bertoni]

I'd try a variety of foods to see what might trigger a feeding response. Perhaps some Cylop-Eeze or Arcti-Pods, or some rotifers. The size of the tentacles is a rough guide to the size of food that's going to be accepted.

I agree that the water parameters might be interesting.

[KeepOnReefin]

Thanks for the reply. Here are my parameters..
PH - 8.2
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Ammonia: 0
Calcium: 440mg/l
SG: 1.022
Lighting: K2 Viper Metal Halide

I feed Crushed Aquadine, Frozen Baby Brine, and Phytoplankton.
It is in a area with good flow. Had it for one month. First 2 weeks it was great and happy.

[bertoni]

The SG is low. I target 1.026-1.027. This article might help with checking your SG device:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/rhf/index.php

I'd try some different foods.

[techreef]

i've had a purple sea fan and a tan gorgonian for about 4 months now, both w/ nice polyp extension. the tan's polyps are much larger than the purple fan's. i feed DT's phyto every other day, and sometimes spot feed the tan gorgo w/ cyclopeeze or mysis. the purple fan's polyps are so small that it can't handle anything that large. (maybe the cyclopeeze)

oh, and my SG is at 1.026, temp between 78 and 80.

[Aquarist Guru]

One of my club leaders was commenting on the issue with things like sea fans and clams is they are use to constantly filter feeding, and most reefers simply don't feed them several times a day or can handle feeding enough that they are happy for more than 6months to a year.

Does anyone here agree or disagree to that notion, has anyone successfully kept filter feeds for years with success and if so how?

[bertoni]

Some people report success with non-zooxanthellate gorgonians by doing a lot of target feeding. That's a lot of work, in my scale of laziness, so I don't buy them.

Clams seem to be easier, in my opinion, because they don't have very strict flow requirements and phytoplankton is easy to dose.