The Elegance Coral Project
- Thread starter EricHugo
- Start date
I had an Aussie purple tip elegance coral that was showing early signs of the disease -- some tentacles not extending, little balls of mucus on polyps which looked bloated. Ability to catch food was considerably diminished probably reflecting decline in the number or effectiveness of nematocysts. I've had a few elegance corals in the past go steadily down hill from this point, which seems to be the norm these days.
This time upon first noticing the symptoms I gave the coral a bath for a few hours in water to which I added Kanamycin (an aminoglycoside) and Nitrofurazone. It was also a bit cooler than the tank water, about 75 degrees.
The coral looked remarkly better the next day, with resolution of the mucus balls, re-expansion of the tentacles, and less bloating of the polyps. It also ate a few small pieces of silverside. Anyway I am encouraged by the result so figured I would post.
I'll be giving nightly baths during the week and will follow-up on the outcome.
PS -- The kanamycin/nitrofurazone combo was previously sold as "Spectrogram" which I believe is no longer available. I used Kanamycin from Seachem, and Furan-2. I may try to get ahold of some chloramphenicol also, it is a wonderful antibiotic unfortunately potentially toxic to humans...
This time upon first noticing the symptoms I gave the coral a bath for a few hours in water to which I added Kanamycin (an aminoglycoside) and Nitrofurazone. It was also a bit cooler than the tank water, about 75 degrees.
The coral looked remarkly better the next day, with resolution of the mucus balls, re-expansion of the tentacles, and less bloating of the polyps. It also ate a few small pieces of silverside. Anyway I am encouraged by the result so figured I would post.
I'll be giving nightly baths during the week and will follow-up on the outcome.
PS -- The kanamycin/nitrofurazone combo was previously sold as "Spectrogram" which I believe is no longer available. I used Kanamycin from Seachem, and Furan-2. I may try to get ahold of some chloramphenicol also, it is a wonderful antibiotic unfortunately potentially toxic to humans...
PelagicMagic
New member
can you post pics and share your tank conditions?
PelagicMagic
New member
I have been reading articles online about this topic. What I have noticed is that most articles contradict each other on the parameters of lighting, flow, water quality, etc. One thing that most of these articles have in common is that they do not suggest feeding the coral meaty foods on a weekly if not daily basis. One would think that an animal with several mouths such as this coral was designed to eat frequently. As elegance coral might have photosynthetic abilities, it probably can not rely solely on photosynthesis as its food source. My plan is to feed my elegance coral every other day if not daily. In the wild the coral would eat any chance it could find food floating by. Keeping the coral healthy will prevent it from disease and demise. I purchased a large elegance coral colony last week. It appears to be in good health for now. I will update my progress.
Macimage
Active member
I thought I would add my elegance coral information.
Approximately one year ago I purchased a gorgeous Aussie Elegance. It did wonderfully well in my 225 gallon reef tank under 250 W MH for 6 months, growing and expanding. Never fed it, just let it eat left over fish food and poop.
I decided to run some phosphate remover from bulk reef supply. Just a small amount as per instructions.
The elegance closed up and the tenticles were just hanging out limply from the skeleton. After a few days, I was really concerned it was on the way out so I transferred it to my 29 gallon qt tank with live rock, live sand and pc lights.
It was SO happy and completely expanded in the 29 g that had never been treated with the phosphate remover.. After a few months, I put it back into the reef tank. Same result. Closed up and looked like it was on it's last legs.
Transferred back to pc lit tank, happy again. Did this transfer a few more times and every time I put it back into the reef where I had run the phosphate remover, it went south. I tried leaving it in, but I was afraid I would lose it.
After a few tries moving it back and forth, I finally moved it permanently into my 180 gallon reef with t5 lighting which had never been treated with the phosphate remover.. It's happy and growing and fully expanded.
It just hated the phosphate remover and it nearly killed it. I think sometimes there are parameters in our reef tanks that we don't know about that affect certain corals.
Anyway, I thought I'd post this to add to the general knowledge base for the incredible corals.
Joyce
Approximately one year ago I purchased a gorgeous Aussie Elegance. It did wonderfully well in my 225 gallon reef tank under 250 W MH for 6 months, growing and expanding. Never fed it, just let it eat left over fish food and poop.
I decided to run some phosphate remover from bulk reef supply. Just a small amount as per instructions.
The elegance closed up and the tenticles were just hanging out limply from the skeleton. After a few days, I was really concerned it was on the way out so I transferred it to my 29 gallon qt tank with live rock, live sand and pc lights.
It was SO happy and completely expanded in the 29 g that had never been treated with the phosphate remover.. After a few months, I put it back into the reef tank. Same result. Closed up and looked like it was on it's last legs.
Transferred back to pc lit tank, happy again. Did this transfer a few more times and every time I put it back into the reef where I had run the phosphate remover, it went south. I tried leaving it in, but I was afraid I would lose it.
After a few tries moving it back and forth, I finally moved it permanently into my 180 gallon reef with t5 lighting which had never been treated with the phosphate remover.. It's happy and growing and fully expanded.
It just hated the phosphate remover and it nearly killed it. I think sometimes there are parameters in our reef tanks that we don't know about that affect certain corals.
Anyway, I thought I'd post this to add to the general knowledge base for the incredible corals.
Joyce
Macimage
Active member
Hi Salty Joe,
The elegance sits about midway in the 225 and 180. The 225 has 3 250 w MH, whereas, I initially set the 180 up as a FOWLR and it only has 3 80 watt t5s. The 29 gallon had a NO output bulb that came in the Eclipse 3 hood and it was 3/4 of the way up in that tank.
I found it fascinating that it did just as well with any lighting situation. I guess that is why they used to be considered really easy. It was fully expanded and waving it's tentacles for weeks in each different lighting situation.
Yes, the elegance reacted immediately the first time I used the phosphate remover in the 225 and immediately every time I tried putting it back it. It just retracted completely except for some limp hanging tentacles that were not 100% retracted. It was horrible.
I haven't checked the P levels except for the one time when I got my new Hanna meter to try out.
The elegance sits about midway in the 225 and 180. The 225 has 3 250 w MH, whereas, I initially set the 180 up as a FOWLR and it only has 3 80 watt t5s. The 29 gallon had a NO output bulb that came in the Eclipse 3 hood and it was 3/4 of the way up in that tank.
I found it fascinating that it did just as well with any lighting situation. I guess that is why they used to be considered really easy. It was fully expanded and waving it's tentacles for weeks in each different lighting situation.
Yes, the elegance reacted immediately the first time I used the phosphate remover in the 225 and immediately every time I tried putting it back it. It just retracted completely except for some limp hanging tentacles that were not 100% retracted. It was horrible.
I haven't checked the P levels except for the one time when I got my new Hanna meter to try out.
PelagicMagic
New member
I wonder how many people that have had bad luck with the coal have used a phosphate removing media.
Here is a recent shot of my coral
Here is a recent shot of my coral
salty joe
Active member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14215012#post14215012 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by PelagicMagic
I wonder how many people that have had bad luck with the coal have used a phosphate removing media.
Here is a recent shot of my coral
What kind of coal?
Nice elegance.
PelagicMagic
New member
by coral I mean elegance. Thanks for the comment.
DidYouSayReefer
New member
I have had my elegance for about 6 months now. It has been doing great, growing well. It keeps getting closer to my zoas, which is how I can tell. I have it in the sand of my 29 under a 250watt 14K with one 24 watt blue plus T5. I recently started running Phosban, more than recommended, and have seen no changes out of the ordinary since. I started running it about 5 months ago. What type of phosphate remover was being used when the ill effects were shown on the elegance? Did any of the media escape into the tank? Maybe your phosphate became too low? It is hard to tell but we should narrow it down.
PelagicMagic
New member
are you feeding your elegance often? Mine is starting to "anticipate" the feeding.
PelagicMagic
New member
I have since lost the coral due to similar events posted by others.
Sarcothelia
In Memoriam
My LFS for the most part propagate Cataphyllia J. from their display tank, but have told me that they have had some success in some cases treating them with chloramphenicol directly injected into the oral disc.
I haven't a clue if it is just chance they survived, but it may be worth a shot if you have nothing else to try.
-My apologies for not noting the date of the last post.
I haven't a clue if it is just chance they survived, but it may be worth a shot if you have nothing else to try.
-My apologies for not noting the date of the last post.
Similar threads
