Elegance Coral Problem

[maitai123]

Guys,

I have a new addition to my tank, which is an elegance coral. He is 5 days old and in a 300 gallon reef tank. The first 2 days he was simply fantastic. Over the past few days the tissue has withdrawn in the main skeleton, with only about 10% of its tenticles exposed.

My parameters are:

PH: 8.3
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite:0
Temp: 80F

Lighting: 3x 250watt MH 2xVHO daylights and 2xVHO Atinics.
Flow: very low (deliberately done, and I know they do not like a lot of flow)

There is nothing touching him, and he is in my sand bed, approx. 30 inches from my MH lights. My MH lights are 20,000K, fired by ice cap electronic ballasts.

In reading the posts today on the Elegants, I "think" I am right in assuming I may have exposed him to too much light all at once? I have just turned off my MH lights and will leave them off for a day or two to see if this helps. I have also just fed him phytoplankton in the hope that he may be encouraged to fully extend his tenticles once again.

Any advice on what else to do (or not do) would be appreciated.

Thank you

 

[Bcollins111900]

Elegane corals as of late have been very hit or miss, more so miss. From all the reading that I hade done, once the start to deteriate they are pretty much a gonner, sorry for the loss.

 

[elegance coral]

Phytoplankton isn't going to help. They should be fed in the same way you would feed a species of host anemone. Have you noticed any fish messing with him? Do you have any tangs or clowns?
You stated that your flow is very low. They need enough flow to move the tentacles. Not enough flow can be just as bad for them.
I don't believe its your lights. I haven't seen your tank and I don't know what size VHO's you have so I can't be sure. It's probably a good idea to test this like you are doing though. Let us know how he reacts after 48 hours.
If I had to guess based on what you have told us I would suspect not enough flow or most likely there is someone in the tank pestering him. Have you seen anything that looks like small white threads comming out of him?
Don't give up on him yet. They can recover from this if they are given a chance.

 

[maitai123]

Hi, sorry for taking so long to respond. I have a problem with my internet connection for a few days.

The coral is now located in the middle of my tank on the sand bed. The tank is 9 feet long, so my tunze pumps, are strong enough to prove the coral with flow sufficient to move the water past him, in a steady but not violent manner.

I see no white stringy stuff coming out of him. Yes, I have two blue tangs and 3 yellow tangs and a maroon clown. I have never seen the fish pick at him. I turned off my center MH light 2 days ago to see if the light was causing the problem, but I think you are right. There has been no change in him at all.

My water chemistry appears fine, so I guess I wil have to wait and see. What isr eally weird is the first 2 days he was perfect.

 

[elegance coral]

While he is withdrawn like this you will most likely notice a little slime or nasty looking stuff an him in the morning. If not your flow is probably to high. Take your hand and wave it over the coral every morning to flush away this slime. It will choke off the coral and lead to its death. It would be a good idea to start using an iodine supplement to keep down the chances of infection. Use caution with these supplements because they can lead to algae blooms. I would also keep a very close eye on the other inhabitants in the tank to make sure they don't bother the coral durring this time. Good luck and I would be very interested to see how this turns out.

 

[maitai123]

Elegence Coral

Elegence Coral

Today for the first time, he is looking a bit better. He is open 30 percent more.

I have been trying to feed him cut up shrimp (very fine)... but he would not accept any food, so I am just putting in a bit of liquid food for filter feeders as well as Coral Accell.

I also took a big chance this morning and changed the MH bulb that shines on him from a 20,000K to a 10,000K XM bulb I had. Perhaps just a coincidence, but so far things are looking up.

Thanks for all your advice, I'll definitely post another update.

 

[elegance coral]

Re: Elegence Coral

Re: Elegence Coral

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9985669#post9985669 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by maitai123
Today for the first time, he is looking a bit better. He is open 30 percent more.

I have been trying to feed him cut up shrimp (very fine)... but he would not accept any food, so I am just putting in a bit of liquid food for filter feeders as well as Coral Accell.

I also took a big chance this morning and changed the MH bulb that shines on him from a 20,000K to a 10,000K XM bulb I had. Perhaps just a coincidence, but so far things are looking up.

Thanks for all your advice, I'll definitely post another update.

The food items need to be big enough to cause a feeding response from the coral. Very fine particals will not do this. If you use 1/4" pieces to start with and wiggle them in the corals tentacles it will feed. That is if its healthy enough to do so. I think you took a real big chance by changing those lights. At the first sign of him puffing up and withdrawing his tentacles you should change those lights back. At this point the damage may have already been done but he can recover.