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Mike02

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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.
 

rBeOeBf

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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
 

Mike02

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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
 

2poor2reef

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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.
 

rBeOeBf

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I'm not sure if they NEED to be fed, I just know mine are happier that way. Mine have short tentacles around the edge and a little mouth that greedily grabs and eats whatever food touches them.
 

Mike02

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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?
 

rBeOeBf

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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.
 

SPC

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I have noticed a big improvement in health and growth since I began feeding my Button polyps brine shrimp (soaked in Selcon). I make sure each polyp gets food.
Steve
 

billzie

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Yes, Yes feed them. One of my colonies is close to a branching frogspawn and will ingest the frogspawn polyps if it gets to close. Bill.
 

billzie

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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.
 

Mike02

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i put DTs in my tank last night and this morning. When i came home today, i saw my button polyps looking about normal, but i have no idea if it had to do with the DTs.
 

Terry McGee

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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.
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Take care Terry
 

Terry McGee

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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.
icon_wink.gif
Take care Terry
 

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