Elegance

[BCT182]

Alright I hope somebody can help me here. Let me give you a break down of whats going on.

Over the years I have tried a few elegance corals with little success. It seems the tenticles are long and full and slowly over the course of a few days, the tenticles deflate, the mouths protrude, and the coral dies. Everytime I have experieced this there has been tissue damage.

What I have today is two elegance corals. A CRASHFIREJOE elegance, and an aussie wild caught. Joe's elegance is closer to the waters surface. The wild caught aussie is in the sand. Both elegances started to show the symptoms above, but the Joe's elegance fully recovered.

The wild caught its stuck. It has completely deflated tenticles, protruding mouths and hasn't looked good in three or four weeks. I picked the coral up out of the sand and there is no tissue damage anywhere on the coral.

Is this a typical Doomed elegance? Or is there any tips you guys might have?

My water is fine..... Come on :lol:

The elegance is dead center of the sand, bottom of the tank, direct light and receiving lots of flow.

The only "change" has been removing the halides and replacing them with LED. The coral was sick prior to the change. I am running the LED's at 50% and no other corals have shown signs of stress or bleaching. Not even the SPS.



Last note, the only fish I have seen around the elegance is my red sea sailfin tang. I have seen him pick at the elegance before, I haven't been able to tell if he's picking at the slime the coral is giving off, or actually eating flesh. Either way the sailfin is coming out. I don't know that he started or is even contributing to the problem.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance......

I also have another frag tank connected to the system if removing the coral from the display could help. The only problem is I have not yet bought a light for it.

 

[trido]

I used to make sure mine was in an area that recieved alot of food from feeding the fish.

 

[jill]

ditto on what trido said and I put mine up on the rock and right under my LEDs. It gets lots of flow as it is almost right in front of my vortec m-10. I've had it for 6 months and its twice as big but I know things can turn bad really fast.

 

[TotalVapor]

I have mine at the bottom of the tank. Dead center with no direct light. In fact it is under a large rock. It gets slow to med flow but plenty of food going by when I feed.

You might want to try indirect light and less flow. I personally never had success with the aussie's. I do not know where this one came from except to say my local store.

 

[psb]

Tagging along.

 

[CRASHFIREJOE]

I have read the wild elegance corals come from deeper water and have a hard time adjusting to our bright light. I have found i get the best growth and health when mine are placed in moderate flow and light. I maroon clown was tough on an elegance it was hosting it acually tore off all of the tenticles. The clown was moved to another tank and the elegance recovered.

 

[CRASHFIREJOE]

I have also done some reading on elegance coral syndrome (ECS). Here is a link http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-01/eb/index.php basically from what I gathered allot of wild elegance corals are shipped diseased and end up dying a few weeks into captivity. If introduced into your system with other elegance corals the diese can also spread with the same ill effects. That is why I have refused to try any other elegance corals beside the colonies I have had in captivity for few years now. Is the wild colony surviving? I am sorry I wish I had some good advice for treatment, but I think this ailment even has allot of experts stumped

 

[BCT182]

Thanks for all the input everyone. Thank you Joe!

I pulled the nipping sailfin tang from the system. I moved the elegance back against a rock to cut down on light and flow. Within a week the mouths had deflated and the base returned to normal shape and level of fullness. The long tenticles have not yet returned. I looks like a healthy specimen otherwise.

Joes elegance is still doing excellent and has not had an off day since it's recovery.

 

[tamarindthai]

i had joe's elegance in the used to own restaurant tank in woodinville,,almost die,,i moved it to my home tank,,came back alive and growing fast...

i knew yours will recover fast ,just taking more time.

 

[CRASHFIREJOE]

Glad to here both elegance corals are doing good. The tenticles will return with time. It took mine a few months after my clown tore them off.

 

[dragoneggs]

My Aussie elegance coral was doing great for a couple weeks after bringing home from BR. The last couple weeks he doesn't open much, shedding flem, etc. I have him in the sand under moderate flow and LED lighting. I think he is going to die. I am not sure whether to give him more light (higher and on the rocks) and more flow. Was feeding him frozen mysis until he 'clammed' up. So.... I am tagging along too looking for advice.

 

[dragoneggs]

Maybe crazy question here, but Brett what salt are you using? I use IO and I know the mag levels are really low... I wonder if that could make a difference?

 

[BCT182]

I'm using IO reef crystals. I do not dose except that my top off H20 is kalk water.

I'd say go for much less flow and low light. That's what I did. Kinda force it to open up and reach for some light.

 

[CRASHFIREJOE]

I'm using IO reef crystals. I do not dose except that my top off H20 is kalk water.

I'd say go for much less flow and low light. That's what I did. Kinda force it to open up and reach for some light.

I second. Mine tend to do the best with this combination. Plus it is easier for it to hold onto any food it catches (especially if you feed it) with a lower flow

 

[dragoneggs]

Okay moving it now... i went the other way lots of light and flow. I will move to lower light and in a protected area.

 

[dragoneggs]

Brett, what is the latest with your elegance? I took your advice and moved it to low light and very low flow and stop feeding. Pure negligence... but it seems to be working! It is recovering and gaining back some its tentacles (or whatever the proper name is) and I think it is going to make it!