Problem with Goniopora??

hutch1187

New member
Noticed this evening the bottom of my Goniopora is molting or something. Is this normal or is something wrong with it? Its not the best pic, but hope you can see the issue. Thanks.

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Is it brown and slimy/gooey looking? Hard to tell from the photo, but if so..it is'nt good at all~ brown jelly disease.:(
 
Last night it was kind clear slim, but looked this morning and it is more brown. I have looked through the forum and the only thing I see to do it to dip it in Iodine and gently remove the slim. Anything else to do?

I have also seen alot of different ways to place it in a tank. I have mine at the bottom sitting on a rock. It is getting some I would say moterate water movement around it. Is it supposed to get very little water movement? Thanks.
 
The problem is the type of goniopora that it is...Stokesi.:( I would do a Lugol's or Seachem's reef dip and hope for the best. Moderate flow. Do not touch the flesh of the coral.
 
This is typical. Gonipora is not easy to care for. I spent hundreds of dollars trying to keep one alive. Special foods, Lighting, and various other additives didnt seem to matter in the long run. At best I kept it from dying quickly. What I did learn is that it requires some Iron supplementation. Generally speaking this type of coral lives in coastal waters that tend to be dirtier or rich in nutrients. For the average reef tank this is not easy to duplicate since we strive for clean tanks. Its easier to keep a tank clean and healthy than to keep it rich in nutrients and not pollute the water. I believe this to be the reason for my Goniporas decline. I skim heavy and feed sparsly to keep high quality water which inevitably ends up starving the Gonipora even when target fed. Same can be said about Carnation Corals. They need almost constant nutrient flow to stay healthy. There is a few (very few) people who claim to keep these healthy for long periods. I wont buy another one until there is more information available on them for the average reefer.
 
They are difficult to care for, however I have a green stokesi in a bb tank heavily skimmed and everything. The trick for mine is, I keep the goni right under a colony of gsp and they are nortorious for collecting debris and crud. Every other day I just gently blast the gonio with the crud leaking out from the gsp mat, and I can even see the tentacles taking in the "food". Mine is even budding. I have tried target feeding with no success. Sometimes they live and most of the time they wont. FME, the green variety are the hardest to keep alive. They also DO NOT like alot of waterflow and medium lighting. They can bleach overnight!

They are detritus eating corals as well as other types. I am still counting on it for long term survival, but it isn't showing signs of recession or brown jelly.
 
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