how do i keep a goniopora alive?

[nickerber]

I found out recently I have a goniopora, a green one at that. The LFS guy told me it was elegance coral. Lesson learned....

Now I am the proud owner of this apparently doomed coral. Everything I've read on them is that they are nearly impossible to keep alive in a reef aquarium. I'm looking for any pointers.....

Currently I have a 55 gallon with a sump/fuge. For lights I have 2 54w actinics, 2 54w 10K, and moonlights with 1 blue/white LED stunner with 0.5w LEDs. Yesterday I programmed the lights to work on a dawn/dusk cycle that lasts 10 hours and a daylight cycle in the middle for 8 hours. I have 2 Koralia 550s at each end of the tank. Soon (later this week) I will have 1 Vortec 40w wavemaker pump installed. I only have a few other corals (candycane trumpet, 2 mushrooms) and some fish, including a yellow tang, pajama cardinals, striped damsel, 2 clownfish, a coral banded shrimp, and a copperband butterfly.

The status of the gonio: I've had it for a few months. At first it loved being in the tank on the sand floor. It would draw in all its tentacles every night and come out every day. This lasted about 2 weeks and ever since then it has been withdrawn and balled up. I even found it "inflated" one time (I don't know how else to describe it).

Parameters:
Salinity around 1.023
pH well above 8
consistently high nitrates

I've been dosing Instant Ocean Reef Supplement and Marine Snow daily. I put the gonio within inches of the top of the water and increased the temp to run 80.2-80.4. The tentacles seem to be peeking out again, which I think is a good sign. I would welcome any feedback or advice on this.

 

[albano]

I found out recently I have a goniopora, a green one at that. The LFS guy told me it was elegance coral. Lesson learned....
hope you didn't pay elegance prices

Everything I've read on them is that they are nearly impossible to keep alive in a reef aquarium.
Unfortunately that is correct

Currently I have a 55 gallon with ... a copperband butterfly.
new tank? new to saltwater? you bought a copperband?

The status of the gonio:ever since then it has been withdrawn and balled up.
doesn't sound good!

Parameters:
Salinity around 1.023...that's all?
pH well above 8...how much above?
consistently high nitrates why???

I put the gonio within inches of the top of the water and increased the temp to run 80.2-80.4.
I don't think it belongs up too high
increased from what?...what is your 'usual' temp?

 

[nickerber]

I found out recently I have a goniopora, a green one at that. The LFS guy told me it was elegance coral. Lesson learned....
hope you didn't pay elegance prices - I think I paid like $40 for it... the skeleton is about the size of a baseball.

Everything I've read on them is that they are nearly impossible to keep alive in a reef aquarium.
Unfortunately that is correct

Currently I have a 55 gallon with ... a copperband butterfly.
new tank? new to saltwater? you bought a copperband? tank is about 1 year old, which is my first sw tank ever and i'm still learning... the copperband was recommended by LFS for aptasia control and i was told it was reef compatible. this is a different LFS than i bought the gonio from.

The status of the gonio:ever since then it has been withdrawn and balled up.
doesn't sound good! - i agree, it seemed kind of angry. i also heard gonios are not exactly reef compatible and can be aggressive. one time he was "inflated", that was interesting, i should have snapped a pic.

Parameters:
Salinity around 1.023...that's all? - i know, i'm working on raising it. this is on a plastic hyrdrometer, so i didn't want to push it too high in case the hydrometer was giving me a low reading
pH well above 8...how much above? usually around 8.2-8.3, i only have the api test kit so this is my best guess, i'm working up to a pH probe.
consistently high nitrates why??? this could be for many reasons in my tank:
1) i think my water flow is on the slow side and detritus collects on the bottom
2) i had a canister filter for a while (i heard these can raise nitrates)
3) my skimmer (coralife cheapy) is touchy and sometimes isn't really skimming i think
4) i may have lighting issues - i have 216w of t5s on the tank

I put the gonio within inches of the top of the water and increased the temp to run 80.2-80.4.
I don't think it belongs up too high i heard they like to be on the bottom, which is where it was all balled up, his "flowers" started to come out yesterday after being up high for 1 day, i think this is a good sign
increased from what?...what is your 'usual' temp? the temp was running 77-78, i thought this was a little chill so I kicked it up to 80

 

[Stu Pickles]

I originally had mine up high and about half of it died off. I moved it to the bottom and it seems to be doing better, we will see. Mine is yellow.

 

[DansTundra]

check out this article

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/nftt/index.php

I've been feeding Cyclop-eeze in my tank once a week and my wild and captive grown goni's have been reacting to it(closing different polyps)


bellow is a fts thats shows the goni's I have on the left side towards the bottom.

50 gal fts 7-7-12 by voodoodan_net, on Flickr

 

[daisy002]

I recently bought a Green Goniopora, and after doing all the research, I wish I hadn't gotten it. Its doing great in the tank at the moment, but I don't want anything that isn't going to live for a long time. I have read that iron and magnesium supplements help keep it from slowly fading as fast. I look forward to hearing from anyone who has had one for a long time!

 

[daddy2kids]

I have a pink goni which is doing fine. It is ~12" below 156 Watts of T5HO (2x39W Actinic and 2x39W 10K).

I get what I think is a "feeding response" (swells up big-time) when I target feed it ZoPlan or Cyclopeeze liquid (feeding it thawed Cyclopeeze caused it to collapse, but it likes the liquid left in the petri dish after I thaw Cyclopeeze in a few Tbsp of tank water and extract the Cyclopeeze with a feeder; I then use the feeder to target feed the liquid to the goni).

Also, I think it likes my Tunze wavebox, as it is always open when the wavebox is running (sometimes I leave the wavebox on at night).

 

[trinidiver]

i've got a purple one and the last couple mths it has stopped opening to the fullest. The problem i think with mine is the depth of the tank. Its 30" deep and running 12 HOT5's. (8 X 12,000K Sun waves and 4 X 03 Super wave actinics) The strange thing is that it was living in my tank very good about 3-4 mths prior with no problems or anything. All my other corals are open on a daily basis.

 

[nickerber]

My goni did the same this... opened beautifully for the first coulpe months and then just closed up.

How does iron supplement affect the other tank inhabitants?

 

[180+55reef]

fwiw I have found they absolutely require a nutrient rich tank

no carbon dosing!

 

[TheGodParticle]

Most people can't and don't keep Goni. For the longest time and to this day it's mostly referred to as the "impossible coral." I have Red Goni, I got it from a guy locally that has had his colony in captivity for over 10 years. I have mine in the middle/bottom of my tank. I do not feed it, and it get's indirect water flow. It's been thriving since the day I've had it. They also seem to be very slow growers.

 

[trinidiver]

Thegodparticle, what sort of lights do they like.................

 

[nickerber]

So no carbon in the reactor?

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[daddy2kids]

Interesting, 180+55reef, I do indeed have a nutrient rich tank.

 

[daisy002]

Does anyone else know of issues with supplementing iron, and its impact on the rest of the tank? I don't think there is enough talk about these 'impossible' corals. I knew they were a bit harder to keep, but I didn't know they were this 'chellenging". I have been looking for a couple of days for info on them. I got mine to eat freeze-dried cyclopeeze, and it looks fat and happy. It is on the bottom of my tank on the shallow sand bed, indirect flow (kinda lagoony), and under 65w 10k and 65w blue actinic. I just don't want the lil guy to slowly die (though everything I have researched, says this is inevitable with a G. stokesi). Is this the same species that you have nickerber???


I could take this coral back to the LFS and let it die there, but I figure I can try my best.

 

[daisy002]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/archive/index.php?t-710098.html

This is a thread from the archives I found. I think I'll get some iron supplement this afternoon. Someone says their brain benefited from the supplement in the thread.

 

[nickerber]

Daisy, I have a "flower pot" goniopora, a green one. The fronds/tentacles are coming back out...yay! I think I'll move it to the corner where the flow is more lagoon like.

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[divewsharks]

So no carbon in the reactor?

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Carbon dosing is not the same as running carbon in reactor. Carbon dosing is adding a carbon source the tank. A common source is vodka.
Search vodka dosing if you want to know more.

 

[nickerber]

OK, I don't mess around with that. I took a pic of it tonight in the moonlights and attached it. I hope it uploads. I got new Giesemann (sp?) Lights.... 4 T5s. It looks happier today.

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[daisy002]

My Gonio

My Gonio

That looks like a Goniopora stokesi, looks like a bigger version of what I have.