i have these brown button polyps which have elongated stalks and kinda big polyps. there are brown with a sort of an orange center. look really nice, but yesterday and today theyve been looking shrunken and frazzeled up and alot darker than normal. i use 72w PC over a 10 gallon tank. ive had these for 3 wks. anybody have this happen to them, let me know what you found out. thanks.
button polyps are looking shrunken and frazzled
- Thread starter Mike02
- Start date
Have you been feeding them at all? I have some brown button polyps that sound just like yours, except with a green center rather than orange. Mine like to be fed directly. I usually give them chopped bits of shrimp. They start to shrink up if i let them go too long without a feeding.
Bob
Bob
hmm, but i thought they didnt need to be fed. no i havent been feeding them anything. some of the stuff i read about button polyps is that they're photosythetic but they will grow faster if they are fed. do they need to be fed to stay alive? i just figured feeding would lead to pollution in my small tank. i have some DT's. would that help? thanks
That's interesting. I didn't think buttom polyps could be fed directly. I have zoanthid sp. and I assumed they took bacterioplankton and such out of the water column as their mouths are so small. My understanding is that buttons rely to a higher degree on photosynthesis of zooxanthella than most corals. 72w pc is plenty over a 10g IME, unless they are shaded. I keep mine under 36w pc in a 12g and they are at the bottom of the tank.
I think you should consider your water quality as a possible cause. You didn't post measurements but you might want to check them.
I think you should consider your water quality as a possible cause. You didn't post measurements but you might want to check them.
mine have what appear to be 2 rows of those tentacles around the edges. maybe i'll feed them once in awhile (if theyre alive by this weekend). but lets say i feed one polyp, do all the other polyps benefit? are they all tied in to eachother?
2poor2reef: i think yours are zooanthus, maybe these are palythoa?
2poor2reef: i think yours are zooanthus, maybe these are palythoa?
Mine also have 2 rows of tentacles. Sounds like we have 2 different color variations of the same type of polyps. Many of my polyps are interconnected a the base. I assume they can share nutrition this way, as i don't target feed every single polyp. I just give a squirt of tiny shrimp bits with the turkey baster, and the lucky polyps that get hit get the meal.
Might also want to check for a predatory snail. Sorry no pic, but, it has a dark brown shell and its oral feeding aparatus is pointed. I didn't know what these were when I picked up a colony back in April and a few were on it. I have seen them feeding on the polyps and once ID'd yanked them whenever seen. Unfortunately, I started finding small youngens. Bill.
I have both kinds you are talking about and we feed them 3 or 4 times a week along with the rest of the corals. You can tell when they get a piece of food they close up around it. You can also peel some of them off of the rock and glue them to a new rock.
Take care Terry
I have both kinds you are talking about and we feed them 3 or 4 times a week along with the rest of the corals. You can tell when they get a piece of food they close up around it. You can also peel some of them off of the rock and glue them to a new rock.
Take care Terry
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