Flowerpot Coral Issue?

G

Gladrial

New member
I have had three gonioporas since starting my tank: two green, one red.

One of them (green) has done amazing. It's huge, always fully extended during the day and has even been hosting a clownfish since April without any problem. (I think this is because my clowns are not overly aggressive and perfect happy spending most of their time swimming in the open water and just like visiting the gonos from time to time. They also like to sleep on top of them when they're all closed up for the night. I have other corals in my tank but my clowns are quite smitten with these guys.) This particular gono has even multipled! Baby gono!

The other (another green) started out great but a few months passed by and it started extending less and less. I took it back to the shop to see how it'd do there and have been told it's looking better. Again, this doesn't really have anything to do with the clowns. For whatever reason, they pretty much ignored that one, favoring the healthier one.

We theorize that the gono was harrassed by a bad hitchhiker on a new piece of live rock I received. I had no idea it was anything harmful and found it to be the culprit of many problems and both the hitchhiker and the gono were near one another. (I've since gotten rid of the little bugger.)

Anyway, I had one clown that liked to sleep on top of that one at night after it had closed up and it was quite miffed that I had taken it away. So I replaced it with something else (not another gono). But it didn't take to it. In my tank clownfish want gonos or nothing. lol It's sleeping on a rock now, the poor dear.

Recently I found a red gono that I just had to have and bought it with trepidation, because it wasn't cheap. It's doing fabulously! Absolutely swimmingly! ....Until today.

Feeling bad for my little clown, I moved it to where his former house used to be. He still hasn't taken to it so the exercise was pointless. BUT some the flower centers seem murky now and never have before. Most of them are still a bright purple but I'm worried this will spread. Oh, and the 'murky' stalks are still fully extended.

I can't seem to find anything on this particular issue and am not even sure it is an issue. If it is do you think it has something to do with this particular section of the tank, where the last gono started acting sickly? This gono was healthy in another section of the tank. Would moving it back help? Why would one section be toxic to it compared to another?

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!
 
Are these 'wild' or aquacultured Gonis ? Wild goni have a very poor track record of survival. Usually seem to be fine for awhile...then gone !
 
My Green Gono likes to be fed everyday and also likes to be in very low flow area. I was told the Green and the Red actually come from different parts of the reef, one is on the inside and one on the outside and therefore the Green can withstand fluctuations in Nitrates and Phosphates better as they are from more nutrient rich water. If the coral is starting to close up most of hte time - you will need to decide for the coral or Nemo. Sorry to tell you.
 
My goni started looking like crap when my softies started to finally recover from a crash that happened this last may.happened two weeks ago, goni started receeding and softies started growing back from nothing. My LFS says my water is too "dirty" for it.
 
I do not know about yours, but mine loves flow, and closes up and doesn't look healthy when he has no flow.
 
Mine love a lot of flow too but I'll admit there is a bit less where I moved it. This isn't a matter of it closing up. It still fully extends. The only issue is that the center of some (not most) of the 'flowers' seems murky. Most of them have a bright purple center (like the picture linked above), but a few don't anymore and almost seem to have a dull growth over top instead. I'm not sure if it's wild or aquacultured, to be honest. If I were to venture a guess, I'd say wild. But the people I go through treat them pretty thoroughly and watch them for awhile before putting them on the market. I know, I've asked about some in there shop they weren't willing to sell yet. And, like I said, the other is doing amazing. I can't imagine it suddenly crashing after five months of being so healthy, but I'm sure it has happened before. That was interesting information about the different reef placement of gonos. I hadn't heard that before.

I'm happy to say that fewer of the stalks have this murkiness today. I'm thinking maybe it just secreted something because I touched it. (Don't most corals do that?) And now that it's being left alone, it's settling down. Looks beautiful today. :)

I am going to keep a close eye on it though. The clown did find it today and was very happy. This gono, not being used to that, closed up quickly. But, like I said, my clowns like to swim around in the open most of the time and the gono started to reemerge with trepidation. I'll watch to see how it adjusts to the clowns occasional visits.
 
If it is larger than just a very small frag, it is a wild colony. If it's looking better, I'd leave it alone for a while.

The thing to keep in mind about any type of Goniopora is that they can seem to do great for a while and then go into a decline for no apparent reason even after being in the tank for a year or two with no obvious change in conditions. No one knows the secret to guarantee long-term success with these corals to my knowledge.
 
Well, things took a turn for the worse today. The murky growth have spread to the stalks. It's really weird looking. Most of the stalks still look fine, but it's definitely worse than it has been. I called my fish guy and he says my tank is too hot.

mpfeiffer1 said:
My Green Gono likes to be fed everyday and also likes to be in very low flow area. I was told the Green and the Red actually come from different parts of the reef.
Click to expand...

He also confirmed this. He said red gonos live in deeper water and thus like it cooler, which would explain why my green gono is still doing great while this one is not.
 
Mystery solved: I have a flatworm problem. Hurray. :( I blew them off the gono with a turkey baster but found it basically impossible to suck them up. Any advice?
 
My green goniopora was completely shut down for about a month and I added some Iron to the tank and the thing literally exploded out as if nothing had happened. The supplemental Iron is also helping the colors of some of my other SPS. I think it is two little fishies brand. Also watch closely the clown fish hosting might be harmful on the goni. Mine hosted the goni and it had reduced extension. Got a RBTA and trained the clown to host it. Goni extension increased.
 
Thanks for the reply. Excuse my ignorance, but what does PITA mean?

I'm going to try the six-line only because it seems fate has thrown one my way. The place I do most of my business in doesn't normally carry them, finding them typical in ill health when they arrive. However, they have one from a customer of theirs (I don't know if they are moving or getting out of the hobby or what) has given them their sixline which is very healthy and (since from the same people) is already adjusted to the water we use. It's no bigger than anything else in my tank and these animals are already ruling the place, so I'm hoping that will keep the aggression down. But if it doesn't work out, I'll return him and I'm sure they'll find him a good home.
 
I am so going to have to remember that iron trick! Thanks!

Before I realized that I had a worm problem, I freaked and moved the gono back to where I had it originally. I put a mushroom coral in it's place for the clown not expecting much. If I was a clown I wouldn't want a mushroom. There's no place to hide or anything. Much to my surprise, he loves it! He lays on it like a fluffy pillow. It's the cutest thing ever!
 
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