Elegance coral help

[JCOLE]

EDIT - please scroll to bottom for recent issue.

I have had this elegance coral for about 8 months now. Some days it looks decent then most days kinda off. It has never looked as good as it did in the LFS. All other corals look good and healthy. Any suggestions?

 

[DSC reef]

Could be the contact with the other coral. Softies use allelopathy for defense and it could be irritating the elegance.

 

[Evan28395950]

I wonder if in the second picture, if it would have to with the other coral touching it

 

[JCOLE]

I wonder if in the second picture, if it would have to with the other coral touching it

Maybe. But it has looked like that for awhile even when the Xenia wasnt anywhere near it. Just curious. I was going to maybe move it around tomorrow to see if it prefers a different area.

 

[JCOLE]

I moved it to a different spot last night around midnight. This is what it looks like at 7pm today.......looks really bad

 

[JCOLE]

I wonder if I should dip it?

 

[JCOLE]

And now...:-(..hmm

 

[Alexreefer]

What kind of lights do you have. Water params, water flow? elegance corals are very hard to keep so you need an established aquarium

 

[Paleozoic_reefer]

What are your other parameters (sal, pH, nitrates, etc) ? I’ve noticed with lower pH and too clean water their tentacles get retracted. Also, are you feeding it? Mine is fed 2-3 times per week and pH ranges from 8-8.4 and started from a small $25 drag and is now the size of a small dinner plate...

 

[JCOLE]

What kind of lights do you have. Water params, water flow? elegance corals are very hard to keep so you need an established aquarium

2x54 T5s(1 540 wavelength superblue and 1 10k) and 1x250 watt metal halide

Water parameters look good. I need to test as it has been a week. Calcium and Mag are a little high. Tank is a little over a year old. However, it has looked this way for a while. It occasionally fills out but doesnt look that great other times.

 

[JCOLE]

What are your other parameters (sal, pH, nitrates, etc) ? I’ve noticed with lower pH and too clean water their tentacles get retracted. Also, are you feeding it? Mine is fed 2-3 times per week and pH ranges from 8-8.4 and started from a small $25 drag and is now the size of a small dinner plate...

Salinity is around 1.026, PH fluctuates from 8.0 in the morning to around 8.15-8.25 at night, I need to test nitrates.

However, I did just plumb everything into the garage to an exteral sump and Fuge. For the past year I have used 2 HOB filters and no skimmer. Surprisingly everything has done pretty good. I want to start SPS, etc so I need to do it right.

I recently put to Reactor in the sump for Carbon and Dr. TIMS nitrate/phosphate remover. I also have a bag of purigen in the sump. Also, I just included a Reef octopus 110 skimmer that has been working overtime. So I have wondered this myself....is my water to pure and starving the nutrients?

 

[Paleozoic_reefer]

Salinity is around 1.026, PH fluctuates from 8.0 in the morning to around 8.15-8.25 at night, I need to test nitrates.

However, I did just plumb everything into the garage to an exteral sump and Fuge. For the past year I have used 2 HOB filters and no skimmer. Surprisingly everything has done pretty good. I want to start SPS, etc so I need to do it right.

I recently put to Reactor in the sump for Carbon and Dr. TIMS nitrate/phosphate remover. I also have a bag of purigen in the sump. Also, I just included a Reef octopus 110 skimmer that has been working overtime. So I have wondered this myself....is my water to pure and starving the nutrients?

It does seem you have too many export mechanisms in your tank IMO. I would slowly start to remove the carbon reactor, purigen, feed a bit more and start dry skimming and see what that does. I’ve found the times I leave out of town and my tank isn’t that well maintained (dirty socks and over feeding by the kids) my elegant coral and chalice corals are in heaven!

 

[JCOLE]

It does seem you have too many export mechanisms in your tank IMO. I would slowly start to remove the carbon reactor, purigen, feed a bit more and start dry skimming and see what that does. I’ve found the times I leave out of town and my tank isn’t that well maintained (dirty socks and over feeding by the kids) my elegant coral and chalice corals are in heaven!

But my water is really clear though.... . Not to mention I just added Chaeto last night. I will do that tonight. I will remove the carbon, Dr Tim's, and Purigen. Just run Chaeto and Skimmer for now. Should I dump a gallon of food in the tank to be safe?

 

[JCOLE]

What are your other parameters (sal, pH, nitrates, etc) ? I’ve noticed with lower pH and too clean water their tentacles get retracted. Also, are you feeding it? Mine is fed 2-3 times per week and pH ranges from 8-8.4 and started from a small $25 drag and is now the size of a small dinner plate...

Also, what are you feeding it? I have fed it mysis shrimp in the past but have been feeding reef roids for the last month. I feed everything about 2 times a week. Also it does get the left over marine pellets I feed my fish every day. It is just getting frustrating because it looked beautiful in the store a year ago and just looks sad in my tank....honestly I am about to trade it in

 

[Paleozoic_reefer]

But my water is really clear though.... . Not to mention I just added Chaeto last night. I will do that tonight. I will remove the carbon, Dr Tim's, and Purigen. Just run Chaeto and Skimmer for now. Should I dump a gallon of food in the tank to be safe?

Sure! Just dump the gallon of food slowly!
Also, I would slowly remove export mechanisms, maybe one a week until you are just skimming and see if that makes the elegant happier. Also mine (which is Australian not Indonesian, which I hear are more hardy) doesn’t like direct light so it’s in the corner...just a bit more info!

 

[JCOLE]

Sure! Just dump the gallon of food slowly!
Also, I would slowly remove export mechanisms, maybe one a week until you are just skimming and see if that makes the elegant happier. Also mine (which is Australian not Indonesian, which I hear are more hardy) doesn’t like direct light so it’s in the corner...just a bit more info!

Sounds good. What would you remove first? Also, nice tank! What size is that?

 

[Paleozoic_reefer]

Thank @h2oh2o ! Its a Red Sea Reefer 350 75 gal. Personally I would remove the carbon first, then the purigen after a few days. Try to stick with it a bit longer before considering trading it in. If you find the problem and correct it then it'll open your tank more stocking possibilities in the future!

 

[VSVP bet]

I have had mine for 2 years and recently just won a battle with brown jelly disease in my elegance. I dont think I would dip it, it doesnt look infected. Maybe try and feed it, reef roids are too small for an elegance, it likes meaty foods, they have big appetites, i feed mine mysis or silver side chunks twice a week. What type of light do you have? Elegance (like other lps) seem to like lower light but the deeper blue spectrum.

Id guess something in your water or light is the issue, it has very little tentacle extension, but the body is extending large. This leads me to think it is trying to absorb as much light as possible, meaning it is potentially not getting enough energy (light/food) to sustain itself.

 

[JCOLE]

Opening this back up - upgraded to a 150 since this first post. Corals and Parameters are really good and consistent. My elegance has looked really good since the move almost a year ago(see my avatar). However, it has not looked good since yesterday. I just started feeding my CBB live black worms and Masstick. I dont think it is this. I put in 3 bags of carbon a couple days ago. Never did this before. I am running Vibrant and wanted to clean my water a little. I am thinking it could be this?

Also Cyano is really only isolated near this elegance. This all started with the Vibrant almost 3 weeks ago.

 

[DSC reef]

While vibrant can work in some tanks, others it has caused problems. I had an issue with LPS when using vibrant.