My Duncanopsammia axifuga "duncan" looks very sick-ASAP-3reef Forums

lorilynnt · 03-15-2008, 12:39 PM

I am new to this wonderful hobby (started before xmas) I bought a "duncan" about 6 weeks ago. Two heads bright green variety. he has been doing well but as of yesterday on one head i found that it lookd like it was pushing his guts out. totally closed. I found brown slimy flat things that look like very small blood suckers.(around 2mm in size) they were all over it. i was able to get a few off by blowing them off with a turkey baster, The other head however has enlarged bigger than ever. he is doing incredible. i am leaving on vacation monday morning and need to know what if anything i need to do. hoping i dont making anyone angry that i posted here, if i did sorry...i have little time to get this taken care of before i leave.

In a 3 gallon picatope tank. one clown some star polyops, xenia other small frags. tank has been doing well for two months now. alsoi am feeding them liquid DT's premium reef blend.
thanks

Lori

PS. can someone explain why my clown fish rolls around and plays with the duncans, sometimes i find him resting on it during the night and the duncan wraps around the fish? the fish loves it. just curious.

amcarrig · 03-15-2008, 01:05 PM

Hi there. Any chance you could take a picture or your ailing coral as well as the "brown flat things" (which I'm thinking are red planria, aka, red flatworms). Flatworms in and of themselves are harmless but if you have a bad outbreak, they can cover a coral and block the light from getting to it.

As for your clowns, they're treating your coral like an anemone. It's quite possible that your coral doesn't like this which might be another reason why it's not doing to well.

Also, I would stop feeding the DT's. Neither of your corals will really benefit from it and you're most likely polluting your water. If you want to feed the duncan, try feeding it small pieces of meaty foods about once a week (when you see it's feeding tenticles out).

baugherb · 03-15-2008, 08:36 PM

My 4 headed duncans closed up completely for about 3 days then they opened up bigger than ever... Be patient...