The Elegance Coral Project

[RustySnail]

I have an Elegance that is exhibiting the exact symptoms that were described in Eric's summary. Initially swolen appearance - web-like mucus; now it's receeding. Noticed that some of the 'mucus' would not pull off of the coral with my fingers or with tweezers. The last couple of days the coral has been expelling it's zoos and looking like it would soon die. I diped the coral in Lugols last night and it closed up tight to expose what I believe is a parasite along the outer edge of the coral skeleton. Looks like masses of parasitic worms that have bored into the flesh of the coral along the back edge of the mantle. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of parasites on this elegance; the strong lugols dip did not appear to kill them. It definitely looks like a parasite to the eye; I will take some of it in for a look under a microscope soon.

Eric, if you want this coral you are welcome to take it, please let me know how to go about sending (fixed or alive).

 

[Chrismo]

Are you sure those worms arent it's "guts"?

 

[Clown-N-Around]

I had my elegance for about 1 month. Got it first part of February. Even at the beginining, the body of it was somewhat puffy and uneven (like the pictures of the unhealthy ones, wish I had seen the thread pre-purchase). Within a couple weeks, the tentacles were very shrunk and the body was even more swollen, almost inside-out looking at times. By the beginning of March it was very mucusy (is that a word?) and started receding rapidly, it was gone within a week.

It sounds like from others in the thread that receding and extending tentacles may be normal behaviour and still have a normal lifespan. You may want to be somewhat concerned, though, if the body looks swollen and puffy.

Just my opinion
Chrisina

 

[RustySnail]

Are you sure those worms arent it's "guts"?

Definitely not the corals' "guts". The worms are boring into the flesh on the backside of the mantle; about halfway between the tentacles and the skeleton (making them difficult to see unless the coral is completely closed). The flesh has been tightly attached to the skeleton until just a couple of days ago (the coral is starting to lose the battle) and and it's not dying flesh or mucus of the coral. It definitely looks like it's under attack from a parasitic worm. Web-like mucus was covering it every night; but now I'm not sure if that was the worms or the coral trying to protect itself. It has looked a -little- better following a strong iodine dip; but I'm not sure if the worms were killed (or even affected) by the dip yet. The dip may have only killed the secondary bacterial infection starting at the base of the skeleton. I'm going to try and get a scraping under a microscope this week; If I can get a decent picture or two of the worms I will post them here.

 

[RustySnail]

Even at the beginining, the body of it was somewhat puffy and uneven (like the pictures of the unhealthy ones, wish I had seen the thread pre-purchase).

Yes; this is a telltale sign of disease. The coral I purchased looked 'perfect'; even had the rarely seen bubble-tips that is sometimes found in them. Tentacles looked great; body not at all 'swolen' looking and bright purple tips.

Within a couple weeks, the tentacles were very shrunk and the body was even more swollen, almost inside-out looking at times. By the beginning of March it was very mucusy (is that a word?) and started receding rapidly, it was gone within a week.

Yes; this is exactly what happens once the 'puffy' look is seen it declines more and more rapidly. You could tell that mine was battling a disease; at first I thought the 'mucus' was just that but when a coral forms white mucus it will nearly always wash off with a blast from a turkey baster because it is trying to discard whatever has irritated it. The mucus on my elegance could not even be easily pulled or scraped off, and looks like spiral pasta. If you pull it off it stretches out into strings, and it is fleshy, not like slime.

It sounds like from others in the thread that receding and extending tentacles may be normal behaviour and still have a normal lifespan. You may want to be somewhat concerned, though, if the body looks swollen and puffy.

I agree; but this coral is very close to death. It expelled most of it's zoos, has no tentacles extended and had brown jelly forming around the base (bacterial infection). It's closed down to the skeleton most always; but has opened a bit more after the iodine dip.

Thanks for sharing your experience Christina; sorry that you had an elegance loss also If it turns out to be a parasitic form, it could be as simple as sellers/wholsalers interrupting collection so that the parasite will die out of the stock tanks. I find it hard to believe that every elegance (or the vast majority) that are coming in already have the disease when collected from the ocean.

 

[EricHugo]

I had promised Cathy I would post to this thread today, but it is my anniversary today and I have made several posts already and have work to do. I will post the updates issues and progress tomorrow morning.

Eruc

 

[John Kelly]

AH HAH!!!

Here is what I was thinking to myself yesterday at work (seriously, and no offense meant), Eric is going to post to the Elegance Coral Project thread within the next couple of days because he will be bombarded by questions at IMAC about it if he doesn't
Is that about right?

btw, Happy Anniversary!

 

[crpeck]

Be nice, John!

I was feeling honored that he said he was keeping a promise to me until your post.



Great to see you back, Eric.

Happy Anniversary!

Cathy

 

[d34532]

Eric,

Just wanted to say Welcome Back.

 

[Knyght]

Mr. Borneman,
I just started reading your book "Aquarium Corals" that is a part of our club library. I haven`t yet gotten that far into it but what I have read is very good information. I wanted to thank you for the time that you had to have spent to provide us with such great information.

I have wanted an elegance coral for a long time but have been waiting to see the results of your study, and have passed up quite a few chances of buying one from several LFS in my area. I just can`t bring myself to the point of buying something that I don`t think will survive in a captive system.
I got started in Marine Aquarium systems with the hope that I can do my part, however small it may be, to help save what corals we can from extinction, through aquaculture.

With people such as you, who truly care about these fascinating creatures, perhaps we can do just that.

Looking forward to reading your findings, and may God bless you and your work.

:beachbum:

 

[poopsko24]

"I will post the updates issues and progress tomorrow morning.
" morning has come and gone...................................................

 

[crpeck]

Poopsko,

Knowing Eric, it will be thorough and detailed. Trying to write it up the day he was back was pretty ambitious.

He's been gone a long time and trying to catch up. Give him a break, please.

Thanks!
Cathy

 

[JohnL]

Since Eric is flying to Chichago for IMAC today, I think we will have to wait until next week for the update. Thanks in advance for your patience.

 

[sergio 2004]

maybe he has no idea of what is going up with the corals or he is just going after the money ,we will never know because he is so "busy" he should never ask for fundings if he was not to continue the research ,or to give and update to the people who trust him and give him money for "the research".

 

[sergio 2004]

...they will be waiting for a long long loooong time........

 

[Forestal]

i think the last comments are in very poor taste.
if you weren't aware, he finally was able to get a healthy elegance to use as a control subject.

anyone who has been involved in research knows, results are not immediate...the leg work takes time, and the analysis as well...patience

you should be careful making such serious unfounded statements.
its posts like that , keep the folks doing the hard research from posting or answering questions so readily

 

[DgenR8]

i think the last comments are in very poor taste.

I agree completely, and further snide remarks will accomplish nothing but getting this thread closed until such time as Eric is ready to reopen it.

 

[curtisc63]

I agree the comments are harsh; however, a total lack of ANY contact with or update to the funding source of this project is inexcusable. A simple status report would help occaisionally. I do not think anyone expects a definitive answer this quickly.

 

[Forestal]

feedback is good, i agree;

i am sure he will post when anything is seen/done.

 

[StoneRhino]

I can tell you all that since this thread has started I have not missed a day without checking to see if Eric has some helpful info for me. I love elegance corals so much. I had a healthy one for three years and it died within one week after adding a second elegance to the tank. I am looking forward to the answer to the mystery as to why they are so hard to keep now. Why the difference from the early years to the later.

I will check every day maybe even twice until Eric's next post. It is an addiction.