Candy Cane/Trumpet not opening

[oceandeep85]

Bought a few frags from The Fish Store last Saturday. One small frag of Sour Apple Birdsnest, one small frag of Orange digitata and a small frag of purple and green trumpet. Both the Birdsnest and Digitata are doing awesome. The trumpet/candy cane hasn't opened a bit in a whole week. Parameters are good.. nitrates are a little on the high side, but just did a 20% water change yesterday.

Anyone else ever run into this? It was a beautiful piece and would love to see it grow...

other corals and fish are doing swimmingly (he he)

Frogspawn fully open and growing three tiny new heads

Mushroom is huge

Duncan getting bigger and more colorful every day

Nem getting a little bigger every time I look...

Can't seem to figure out what's going on... I thought Candy Canes were easy..

 

[destineyfoster]

They can be weird. I have a blue trumpet that is huge and growing like a weed. I bought a red and white "candy cane" trumpet, it never opened and withered away. I still don't know why.

 

[camellia]

Mine only open at night. Do you ever feed Fuel or such type? Mine always open huge when I feed that (zone a week) a few hours after lights go out.

 

[oceandeep85]

Camellia;986823 wrote: Mine only open at night. Do you ever feed Fuel or such type? Mine always open huge when I feed that (zone a week) a few hours after lights go out.

no, I don't, Camellia. I tried relentlessly to feed my frogspawn IO pellets and/or table shrimp or brine shrimp and it just isn't into it.. I even crushed up the IO pellets into powder and nothing. My duncan will eat anything I give it.. It's a really active, healthy coral. So is my Frogspawn, but it just won't eat... I've even begun giving my baby anem an IO pellet or two here and there... and it seems to love it. It's been a week now and I just can't seem to get my candy cane to open. I'm hoping it's just taking its time.

 

[oceandeep85]

DestineyFoster;986813 wrote: They can be weird. I have a blue trumpet that is huge and growing like a weed. I bought a red and white "candy cane" trumpet, it never opened and withered away. I still don't know why.

weird. It was in a big frag tank at The Fish store under LEDs which the guy said were dialed back to 40%. I have them on the sand bed in a 10 gallon standard (12" high) under a dual strip T5 HO. One true actinic and one daylight. I'm wondering if maybe it's just too much light? It'd be a shame to lose them, they had gorgeous colors.

 

[destineyfoster]

I have LEDs. I bought my blue one from Holly and the red & white from Aquarium Outfitters in Athens.

 

[oceandeep85]

DestineyFoster;986870 wrote: I have LEDs. I bought my blue one from Holly and the red & white from Aquarium Outfitters in Athens.

what kind of LED's, man? I really want to get one of those dimmable full-spectrum jobs from China. I hear amazing reviews and I hear they are junk...

 

[destineyfoster]

I have evergrow 120s. Full spec Chinese "junk" lol I like them but I have too much light to keep Acans. But everything else is golden. I have chalices that are growing well those are my only sps

 

[jennm]

What are your parameters? "Nitrates a bit high" says nothing, really.

Is it possible that something near the Candy Cane is stinging it?

Pictures might be helpful.

Jenn

 

[oceandeep85]

JennM;986877 wrote: What are your parameters? "Nitrates a bit high" says nothing, really.

Is it possible that something near the Candy Cane is stinging it?

Pictures might be helpful.

Jenn

Nitrates <10ppm.

It's all alone on the sand bed. Anem and Euph. are on the other side of the tank.

 

[oceandeep85]

DestineyFoster;986874 wrote: I have evergrow 120s. Full spec Chinese "junk" lol I like them but I have too much light to keep Acans. But everything else is golden. I have chalices that are growing well those are my only sps

I see. I've been incredibly interested in them for quite a while. A lot of folks claim explosive growth and amazing coloration, some folks say to steer clear of them unless you're only using them as accent lighting.

 

[bulkrate]

I've had mixed results... when mine were happy they grew rapidly and colored nicely. They wouldn't open until after lights out, but would inflate during "daylight" hours. Then a series of alkalinity swings put the kibosh on that.

Pics would help.

 

[oceandeep85]

BulkRate;986890 wrote: I've had mixed results... when mine were happy they grew rapidly and colored nicely. They wouldn't open until after lights out, but would inflate during "daylight" hours. Then a series of alkalinity swings put the kibosh on that.

Pics would help.

This is the best I've got until I get home from school late tonight
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[bulkrate]

The head in the left/back looks fine and properly inflated - the one to the front/right is stressed (you can see skeleton poking through). But the tissue looks smooth on it & not "flaking away" so it could just be settling in stress.

I'd move it to somewhere with a little less flow & make sure your alkalinity's holding stable (somewhere between 8-ish to 10-ish).

 

[KrisDeitz]

You still have diatoms? Why? How long did you cycle

 

[oceandeep85]

PFCDeitz;986912 wrote: You still have diatoms? Why? How long did you cycle

..been making much more of an effort to keep the sand turned over than I ever did before and stirring up detritus on the sand bed. It's only in small areas of the tank where I've not really turned the sand-bed over since the end of cycling and first diatoms months ago. I suspect they'll be gone soon.

 

[KrisDeitz]

OceanDeep85;986919 wrote: ..been making much more of an effort to keep the sand turned over than I ever did before and stirring up detritus on the sand bed. It's only in small areas of the tank where I've not really turned the sand-bed over since the end of cycling and first diatoms months ago. I suspect they'll be gone soon.

Oh ok

Have you tried to just vacuum it out instead of stirring? May cause less issue that way

 

[oceandeep85]

PFCDeitz;986928 wrote: Oh ok

Have you tried to just vacuum it out instead of stirring? May cause less issue that way

I have a 75 gallon rated Eshopps skimmer along with a HOB filter, so I've had some success lately with just stirring everything up and letting the skimmer and HOB take everything out of the water column. It's just my fault for not exposing the sand bed and turning it over, so I have to let the dino do its thing until it runs out of food.

 

[jennm]

Nitrates about 10 is not a big deal. Shouldn't be allowed to climb higher but it won't harm anything.

I'd move it off the sandbed, they aren't bottom dwellers.

And yes, vacuum the substrate.

Jenn

 

[oceandeep85]

JennM;986931 wrote: Nitrates about 10 is not a big deal. Shouldn't be allowed to climb higher but it won't harm anything.

I'd move it off the sandbed, they aren't bottom dwellers.

And yes, vacuum the substrate.

Jenn

it's sugar sand and I can't STAND vacuuming it... :/ Among all the poor choices I've made in this hobby, that is the most poor. I hate the stuff. Doesn't even look good anymore. Wish I could find something I like that's between the grain size of sugar and crushed coral.

Hesitant to order anything online since you can't actually see it before it gets to your door.