I know. Elegance corals are a real challenge. But I couldn't resist. I have a well established tank with excellent water quality, flow, and lighting. So, I brought home an elegance coral.
It was doing well--extending its tentacles, not just the polyp, good color, and it began eating. However, I saw the thread on raw shrimp from the grocery store too late. I fed it one 1/4 inch size piece of shrimp. It closed around it, and consumed it. I watched.
The next morning the part that got the piece of food was still retracted and I got worried. Then, an area of white began to show up on the retracted part of the coral.
The next day I had read the thread warning about phosphates and preservatives in grocery store shrimp. So, I borrowed some silversides from my son, and fed the elegance a 1/4 size piece of it. The coral took it in and consumed it. The next morning the site of the first feeding was still retracted but the area where I fed the silversides was open and looking good.
It's been nearly a week since I fed the store bought shrimp. The area that got that piece of food is gone. But the other side where I fed the silversides has good color and that's about all. It is retracted almost inside the skeleton. There are no signs of mucous or dead tissue. It just doesn't look well.
Is it possible for the elegance coral to isolate a diseased or damaged part of its polyp mass, seal it off, and then regenerate the rest of the coral? I don't want to leave this coral in the tank so long that it decomposes and poisons the water. Neither do I want to throw out a coral that may have a chance of survival.
I need some advice. I would post a picture, but my camera's battery is dead and it will be at least 24 hours before I can get a shot. There is no sign of rotting tissue. The mass of the coral just seems to be sitting retracted on one side of the skeleton.
By the way, it has not "bailed out."
It was doing well--extending its tentacles, not just the polyp, good color, and it began eating. However, I saw the thread on raw shrimp from the grocery store too late. I fed it one 1/4 inch size piece of shrimp. It closed around it, and consumed it. I watched.
The next morning the part that got the piece of food was still retracted and I got worried. Then, an area of white began to show up on the retracted part of the coral.
The next day I had read the thread warning about phosphates and preservatives in grocery store shrimp. So, I borrowed some silversides from my son, and fed the elegance a 1/4 size piece of it. The coral took it in and consumed it. The next morning the site of the first feeding was still retracted but the area where I fed the silversides was open and looking good.
It's been nearly a week since I fed the store bought shrimp. The area that got that piece of food is gone. But the other side where I fed the silversides has good color and that's about all. It is retracted almost inside the skeleton. There are no signs of mucous or dead tissue. It just doesn't look well.
Is it possible for the elegance coral to isolate a diseased or damaged part of its polyp mass, seal it off, and then regenerate the rest of the coral? I don't want to leave this coral in the tank so long that it decomposes and poisons the water. Neither do I want to throw out a coral that may have a chance of survival.
I need some advice. I would post a picture, but my camera's battery is dead and it will be at least 24 hours before I can get a shot. There is no sign of rotting tissue. The mass of the coral just seems to be sitting retracted on one side of the skeleton.
By the way, it has not "bailed out."
