Trouble acclimating Sarcophyton elegans

[RevJDA]

I had a beautiful, healthy, yellow Fiji leather coral several years ago. It acclimated quickly to my 75 gallon tank and I kept it for a couple of years. Then it became dislodged and was torn. I treated it but it died.

Recently I decided to get another Fiji leather. I purchases one online and it arrived looking rather sick. In a few days it was decomposing. The company replaced the coral, but the replacement arrived looking "dusky" sort of yellow-brown. I acclimated it slowly and in a couple of days it tuurned a dark brown/black and died.

I have another variety of Sarcophyton and two elegance corals, among others LPS varieties, and they are all thriving.

I've checked my water: Nitrates = 30; Nitrites = 0; pH = 8.4; Ca+ = 440; Alkalinity (KH) = 300 ppm or 3.5 meq/L; Salinity = 1.023.

 

[gh0st]

The Fiji Yellows can be delicate shippers. Perhaps try to find one locally that is already recovered from shipping and looking healthy.

Getting the Nitrates down wouldn't hurt either. I notice in your signature you have Hydors, what size? My Fiji likes alot of water flow...

 

[RevJDA]

I have four of the smaller Koralia pumps (400 gph) placed so that the water flow is directed along the sides of the tank top and bottom. Last week I added one nano size Koralia (240 gph) in the top center position of the tank pointing toward the front glass. I think the flow is adequate.

I have read that this coral is a delicate shipper and that they like pretty good water flow. But then I also read in Borneman's coral book that they are highly adaptable and that they don't like brisk flow. Sometimes it is just hard to know what to do.

 

[Lotus99]

I've had mine for a few months, and haven't been able to keep it "happy" for more than a month now. When I first got it, it was expanding well. Now it just stays mostly shrunken and doesn't extend its polyps at all. It's been very frustrating for me

I've been trying it out in different positions in the tank (higher flow, higher light, lower of either). My chemistry checks out, but it just won't open any more. I got mine locally, so no extra shipping stress.

I have a feeling mine just doesn't want to adapt to captivity.

 

[RevJDA]

As I said in my first post this subject, I had one of these for over a year. But I think what did it in was that I moved it to what I thought would be a "better" location in the tank. It didn't like the move at all. And then I read that they don't like to move very well even from one location in the tank to another.

It's hard for me to be patient. When I see what I think is a danger signal my first impulse is to find a better location. All too often that is the wrong thing to do, or so I've been told.

In my recent experience, however, this Sarcophyton and its replacement just kept looking worse and worse, and I never moved them from the original location.