Diodogorgia: actual growth, shapes and skeleton photos?

[dendro982RC]

Who has red or yellow finger gorgonian (or may be even orangeish kind), has yours a new growth? How fast (photos before and after) and your opinion, what makes this growth possible in your tank, but not in others?
Link to the tank setup and maintenance, please, too.

Another thing: do you have photos of its skeleton - during fragging, may be, or intentionally made cross sections? I am interested in difference between vertical shaped and wide shaped kinds. Thought, that the wide one is Siphonogorgia mutabilis, but seems like it hasn't skeleton at all.
Again, pictures will be highly interesting, including all different colors and shapes, that you have.

[KeithM]

You already know about this thread, but i'm going to post it again for reference: http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/showthread.php?t=224227

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/UR034.jpg

I have the yellow Diodogorgia, its still alive but not doing as well as I had hoped. It has gone through a rough time in my tank and when through a period where it did not get enough food.

They can capture and consume relatively large particles which IMO, makes them a little easier than other small polyped seafans.

[dendro982RC]

I'm actually looking for other keepers experiences with non-photosynthetic gorgonians growth, reproduction, varieties and their specifics. And maybe somebody else has fragging or cutting photos of diodogorgia, it's different from all others regarding skeleton (or may be only mine is :rolleyes: ).

[tontikki]

this is mine, the first picture taken 13th Sept when i brought it from lfs:

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q4/diog.jpg

the coral stayed closed like this for over two weeks, no matter what food i was adding. during this time it also shed the layer of its skin.

then in about two weeks slowly small polyps started appearing. first it was only one polyp and it was very small, then it become bigger, then in couple of days second small polyp appeared, became bigger, and this way very slowly the coral eventually opened all polyps. this is the picture how it looks now almost month since (11th Oct)

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q4/reddiog-sm.jpg

and close up:

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q4/reddiog-cr.jpg

now that the coral is back to its health it stays open almost all the time, and if its closed it reacts to the food very quickly 5-10 min and all polyps are out again. the flow is medium (i noticed it doesn't like too strong flow as polyps don't come out fully then). food is frozen: rotifers, red plankton, cyclopeeze, shaved krill, mussel, mysis. dry: crushed flake, coral frenzy, golden pearls (50micron and up)

haven't noticed growth yet but its too early of course. otherwise providing regular feeding the coral appears to be nice and easy to take care of.

:)

[dendro982RC]

Keep us posted, if there will be some growth. It likely starts with encrusting at the base.

Progress of mine:
Aug05_07:
http://thumb1.webshots.net/t/57/557/1/82/74/2276182740081040121vAqzRd_th.jpg (http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2276182740081040121vAqzRd) http://thumb1.webshots.net/t/53/453/3/12/65/2471312650081040121WxIuju_th.jpg (http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2471312650081040121WxIuju) http://thumb1.webshots.net/t/68/168/3/44/68/2539344680081040121PmqXbC_th.jpg (http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2539344680081040121PmqXbC)
Sep20_07:
http://thumb1.webshots.net/t/24/665/9/99/30/2013999300081040121aqtFHv_th.jpg (http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2013999300081040121aqtFHv)
Oct19_07:
http://thumb1.webshots.net/t/69/169/3/99/42/2888399420081040121PRBmZp_th.jpg (http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2888399420081040121PRBmZp)
Jun15_08:
http://thumb1.webshots.net/t/68/168/9/87/73/2824987730081040121speNoA_th.jpg (http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2824987730081040121speNoA)
More - here (http://www.defineyourreef.frihost.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=27&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=5).

Red finger gorgonians look better, but the growth is at the base, encrusting:
here (http://www.defineyourreef.frihost.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=27) and here (http://www.defineyourreef.frihost.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=14),
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g78/dendro982/Diodogorgia%20gorgonian/Apr01_08dfr3.jpg
3 months after fragging:
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g78/dendro982/Diodogorgia%20gorgonian/Jul08_08dfr8.jpg http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g78/dendro982/Diodogorgia%20gorgonian/Jul08_08dfr9.jpg

What is interesting: despite that red and yellow are considered to me the color morphs of the same species, and I have 4 different kinds of the red, all reds display the same pattern of growth and are more robust in general, but yellow, looking sickly, grows new branches.

It seems, that red diodogorgia reproduced once, in 19L tank with 8L sump:
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g78/dendro982/Diodogorgia%20gorgonian/Apr06_08diodo_babies.jpg http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g78/dendro982/Diodogorgia%20gorgonian/Apr06_085gbaby.jpg

The other gorgonia skeleton initially was without these polyps:
http://thumb1.webshots.net/t/57/657/2/34/54/2578234540081040121HVSHGt_th.jpg (http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2578234540081040121HVSHGt) http://thumb1.webshots.net/t/62/562/3/70/23/2728370230081040121SqQaQQ_th.jpg (http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2728370230081040121SqQaQQ)

At least I have no other explanation for this :)

[colt]

Hi Dendro

greetings on this site,

The Gorgie is not identified, but the color of the polyps are yellow

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v448/colt/DSC00039.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v448/colt/100_1634_edited.jpg

feeding this through the bioplakton of liquidlife, phytomax and zoomax of kent marine.

The following is Azooxanthellae

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v448/colt/100_1614.jpg

[dendro982RC]

Hello, Colt! How are you? :wave:
Sorry for disappearing from your forum - urgent matters: aiptasia infestation, disassembled big tank and set few small tanks.
Does automatic translation work for you, or Krustycat translates? :thumbsup:

Beautiful gorgonias you have, and I've never seen the last one.

Is the yellow one Menella? There is Menella thread with photos (http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/showthread.php?t=238423).

Good to see you here!

[zimreef]

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g78/dendro982/Diodogorgia%20gorgonian/Apr06_085gbaby.jpg

At least I have no other explanation for this :)

I had the same thing happen in my unskimmed 35g AM Chromis but didn't get any pics. It was a bud on he live rock with 2 polyps as in your pic below the "mother" colony. Unfortunately the tank was broken up soon afterwards and the live rock sold on. Pic of the healthy mother colony below.

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2006Q4/gorg.jpg

John

[dendro982RC]

Can you post any tips and observations of Diodogorgia keeping?
How long the mother colony lived? For some reeferes diodogorgia lives for an year, then gives up. I can't figure why - mine lives in basic, but fed, tank for 2+ yrs. Some are dosing iodine, I don't, do you?

Did you have the growth of branches, not an encrusting growth at the base?
Yellow morph for me grows branches much faster, than the red one.

Any info will be appreciated.

[colt]

Hello, Colt! How are you? :wave:

fine thanks


Sorry for disappearing from your forum - urgent matters: aiptasia infestation, disassembled big tank and set few small tanks.
Does automatic translation work for you, or Krustycat translates? :thumbsup:

reading this news lament, I wish that have already been settled.
I too have problems with aiptasias, but nothing that can not be remedied, will soon buy a product from tropic marin to kill them!
I use the translator online

Beautiful gorgonias you have, and I've never seen the last one.

Is the yellow one Menella? There is Menella thread with photos (http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/showthread.php?t=238423).

it is probably a Menella
After I put more images of different gorgonians.

Good to see you here!

Here we will!

[Gotakuf1]

Here's an excellent site on a dedicated diodogorgia tank: Florida non-photosynthetic reef (http://www.airinheresreef.com/Florida%20Non-photosynthetic.html).

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s255/airinhere/FTS.jpg

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s255/airinhere/IMG_0871.jpg

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s255/airinhere/IMG_0867.jpg

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s255/airinhere/IMG_1724.jpg

[Marcus Nitzsche]

Dear all,

first of all I want to introduce myself a little bit because it is my first post:
My name is Marcus, I'am from Kiel in Germany. I keep Azoo tanks since 2003.

About growth of Diodogorgia:
from my expirience the growth of Diodogorgia can be up to 4 cm per year. I can tell this because I keep one animal since May 2007 and I could take the measure from it. I'll check my pics if I can find two good ones where we can see the difference.

Marcus

[dendro982RC]

Greetings, Marcus!
Can you make a thread with description of your experience with azoo corals and other fine filter feeding invertebrates, please? System setup, filtration, feeding, what is absolutely necessary, what to avoid, any advices. What corals do you have or had in the past, what they need - in your experience. May be something about crinoids, filter feeding sea cucumbers, Spirobranchus and sponges.
We are learning, studying experience of the others :)

[Marcus Nitzsche]

Dear Dendro,

ok - I will try it on weekend.

The actual tank you can see in following tread:
http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/showthread.php?t=278200
second post.

It is from June of this year, Claude made this pics at my home. Until today I have some new animals. My oldest one is a "red sea finger" and a yellow "Menella sp." that are nearly 4 years old.

Some pics from my old tank you can see here:

http://matuta.com/include.php?path=forum/showthread.php&threadid=2314&PHPKITSID=3c8d06c6d67a40c0a99e60b84d8de8f4

Some branche of the blue Acalycigorgia are still alive after 2,5 years.

I feed 90% Fauna Marin products but I do not follow the general trend to produce a mash of food with amino and so on.

Ok - I'll write a summary on weekend because I'm still at work and my boss will kill me if keep writing here. This information were only for pryingly people ;) !

Best regards
Marcus

[colt]

I recently came two gorgonians,
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v448/colt/gorgonias/DSC01655.jpg

an already identified as Guaiagorgia
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v448/colt/gorgonias/DSC01661.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v448/colt/gorgonias/DSC01662.jpg

the second could be Paramuricea clavata or Leptogorgia Sarmento, L. virgulata, L. ruberrima?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v448/colt/gorgonias/DSC01656.jpg

your opinion?

[dendro982RC]

Marcus, we need you! :applause:
It's truly amazing: to keep Acalycigorgia alive for so long (and even grow) and have such growth for Diodogorgia, when they fail within year even for many dedicated azoo reefers! :worship:

Were you dosing iodine/iodide for Diodogorgia?

I could be mistaken, but didn't you posted information about your tank at Reef Central approximately one year ago? It seems to me that I recognized position of the Acalycigorgia in the tank, flow was complex reflection from the group of rocks. Unfortunately, I lost the link to the post, had computer problems.

I hope that you will post about flow too, when you will have time.

Out of topic:
Can I ask you about your opinion of quality of automatic translation from English to German (link (http://matuta.com/include.php?path=forum/showthread.php&threadid=2989&PHPKITSID=7f2188cf862956d0b86c6b69e1ff58dc), comprehensible with significant difficulty or not comprehensible at all?
You see, with automatic translation I can read posts in most languages, but translation from English to other languages seems works worse.
Thank you.

Colt:
You now have a nice collection! Envy you, in the best meaning. :)

My main online source for identification gorgonias is this (http://www.reeflex.net/kategorie/67.html) :)
Euplexaura (http://www.reeflex.net/tiere/779_Euplexaura_%20sp.%2001.htm) seems to be similar to Guaiagorgia, only with thicker and whiter branches.

Leptogorgias or not: I have to read much more, but here (http://www.dnr.sc.gov/marine/sertc/Leptogorgia.pdf)
Leptogorgia virgulata and L. hebes are shown and described as having translucent white polyps.
Could be that most Leptogorgias have such polyps, because in another identification page (http://www.dnr.sc.gov/marine/sertc/octocoral%20guide/Gorgoniidae_key1.htm) all described Leptogorgias have similar colored polyps. Same - here (http://www.bio.georgiasouthern.edu/gr-inverts/grlist.html?spp=Leptogorgiavirgulata&filaindex=4).

Paramuricea clavata: sorry, I have not much time this week to search more, but at first glance it seems that Paramuricea clavata, when it is not multi-colored, has always red or reddish polyps, never yellow. Reference source: Google image search :o

Colt, if translation will be bad, tell me and I rephrase it.

[dendro982RC]

Colt: the red-yellow gorgonia also may be Muricea californica, Muricea elongata.
Menella (http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/showthread.php?t=238423) seems thinner and more light yellow.

[colt]

:worship: :worship: :worship:
:thanks: :thanks: :thanks:

[colt]

please visit Here (http://www.e-coralia.net/panel/showthread.php?t=4824&page=3)

[ALCOY]

Greetings, Marcus!
Can you make a thread with description of your experience with azoo corals and other fine filter feeding invertebrates, please? System setup, filtration, feeding, what is absolutely necessary, what to avoid, any advices. What corals do you have or had in the past, what they need - in your experience. May be something about crinoids, filter feeding sea cucumbers, Spirobranchus and sponges.
We are learning, studying experience of the others :).


Ok - I'll write a summary on weekend because I'm still at work and my boss will kill me if keep writing here. This information were only for pryingly people ;) !

Best regards
Marcus



We are very interested in that summary...

[Gotakuf1]

Just wanted to share a shot from a few months ago of the two diodogorgia in my tank. Should have a new more recent shot for growth comparison soon:

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e388/Gotakuf1/Diodogorgia.jpg

[colt]

hello Gotakuf1

Thanks for sharing your photo is very beautiful and healthy

[KeithM]

Beautiful coral Gotakuf

What is your feeding regime with these corals?

[Gotakuf1]

hello Gotakuf1

Thanks for sharing your photo is very beautiful and healthy

Thanks Colt. I should have an updated photo soon as I'm waiting on my mate returning my lens. If you're ever up in the Souther California area, give us a visit at www.sdreefs.com. We'd love for you to hang out with our local club.

Beautiful coral Gotakuf

What is your feeding regime with these corals?

Thanks Keith. They are target fed 3-5 times daily by hand and I also have a peristaltic pump dosing food at a rate of 1 drop/10min. So in total, I use 5 cubes of frozen H20 Life Cyclops (http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~category~Frozen___Refrigerated_Frozen_ __Refrigerated~vendor~H2O_Life_Aquarium_Foods~Sear chStr~~action~view~idProduct~HL1453~idCategory~FIF DFZFSCF.html) diluted in 10 ml of water. I've tried many other types of food including San Francisco Bay Brand Cyclops (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+7927+8038+15558&pcatid=15558), Ocean Nutrition Cyclops (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+7927+8038+16847&pcatid=16847), Argent Cyclops-Eeze (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+7927+8038+12147&pcatid=12147) but the H20 Life Cyclops has been the most receptive by the diodogorgia.

[colt]

Hello Gotakuf1,

of course, that visit the club, thanks for the invitation.

with regard to feeding your diodogorgia, I also use products from H2O Life and others.

we can discuss with nitrogen as part of food?

[Gotakuf1]

Hey folks, here are some updated pics:


http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e388/Gotakuf1/diodogorgia011909-10.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e388/Gotakuf1/Azoo/diodogorgia011909-5.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e388/Gotakuf1/Azoo/diodogorgia011909-3.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e388/Gotakuf1/Azoo/diodogorgia011909-2.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e388/Gotakuf1/Azoo/diodogorgia011909-4.jpg

Growth after 1 month of documentation:

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e388/Gotakuf1/Azoo/diodogorgia1Month.jpg

And a bonus feeding video :)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e388/Gotakuf1/Azoo/diodogorgiaVid.jpg

Azooxanthellae Project: Diodogorgia Feeding Video (http://www.vimeo.com/2890318)