Elegence Coral randomly closed yesterday

[DrewM8]

Hello everyone

 

[DrewM8]

Hello everyone yesterday my elegence coral randomly did not open fully. At first I thought maybe a snail hit it or something but it remained 90% closed all day ans today is the same thing so far. I have multiple other zoas , frogspawns , hammers , mushroom and an sps and they seem to all be fine. Water chemistry is good ... unsure what is going on.... is this normal for them to maybe to close for a day? Lol take a day or 2 off? Tank is 3 and a half months old and I re did the aquascape about a week ago....

 

[MixedFruitBasket]

When you say water chemistry is good, what is good? Different coral need different conditions. Where as some will thrive in low nitrates others will wither and die. Do you know what types of frogspawn you have? Species? Or where they were collected?

 

[DrewM8]

Im not sure where they are from, my friend who keeps fish and corals and is a local dealer. Im thinking maybe since reaquascaping maybe the flow changed in the tank (obviously) and that could be effecting it? I know the elrgence is the better of the two locations they come from. I canr remember if indo or aussei , I just remember him telling me the elgence has a triangular foot thing that one of the 2 only have.
Sorry im still new to reefing....

 

[Williamson’s Reef]

Changing your aqua scape may have also changed the amount of flow it is receiving. Or even light. To much flow will close them up along with water quality.

 

[MixedFruitBasket]

Im not sure where they are from, my friend who keeps fish and corals and is a local dealer. Im thinking maybe since reaquascaping maybe the flow changed in the tank (obviously) and that could be effecting it? I know the elrgence is the better of the two locations they come from. I canr remember if indo or aussei , I just remember him telling me the elgence has a triangular foot thing that one of the 2 only have.
Sorry im still new to reefing....

Elegance coral's natural habitat is turbid water. I.e. cloudy with particulates. I'm not completely sure there is much difference due to the base being flat or triangular. I think that might be influenced by environment as it begins to grow rather than being a different species (but I don't know for sure).

Turbid water would suggest they'd get significantly less light than corals found only in clear water.

 

[DrewM8]

So I am on the way to work now. I did remotely dial my Nero 5 from 40% max pulsing to 30% should I move it to a lighted area when I get home? Now that I think of it it didn't get full direct light before it had an arch blocking the physical light now it gets a full shot of it. Will it be okay until I get home this evening or should I leave work to do so now?

 

[homer1475]

They tend to like subdued lighting. Both of mine prefer to be under arches where they are not fully blasted with light.

As far as the base goes, your coral dealer is dead wrong. Conical or flat base is just where they were collected from(sandbed or rockwork). Conical shaped bases are collected from the sandbed, flat shaped ones are collected from the rock faces. It has nothing to do with what region they were collected in(aussie or indo). Both regions have the same species.

It's like branching or wall hammers. Same coral, just different growth patterns.

 

[DrewM8]

So does that mean mine that has a conical needs to be on the litersl sand or is okay at sand level on rocks?

 

[homer1475]

If it has a conical base, it should be pushed into the sandbed so the polyp lays out on the sandbed. It's how they grow in the wild.

Both of mine are conical shaped bases, and in this FTS you can see mine are under overhangs and thriving. Obviously one is way larger then the other, but you get the idea.

 

[najer]

A pic would help when you get home please, I also would say flow and light.

 

[DrewM8]

How urgent is this to move ? Can it wait until tonight?

 

[homer1475]

It's fine for a few hours. It certainly won't dies in that time frame. Unless it's getting blasted with light, or high flow then you might get some polyp bailout, but I doubt that will happen in a few hours.

 

[DrewM8]

I will get home and put the base back in the sand and find a place there is no direct light... I sure hope I didn't kill it, such a pretty coral!!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello everyone yesterday my elegence coral randomly did not open fully. At first I thought maybe a snail hit it or something but it remained 90% closed all day ans today is the same thing so far. I have multiple other zoas , frogspawns , hammers , mushroom and an sps and they seem to all be fine. Water chemistry is good ... unsure what is going on.... is this normal for them to maybe to close for a day? Lol take a day or 2 off? Tank is 3 and a half months old and I re did the aquascape about a week ago....

They typically close under low light.
Also if sand gets on it they may close also.
What will also cause this:
High salinity
Too much flow
Low or high PH
Alk above 9
Ca above 500

Perhaps recheck these
My elegance is the size of a soccer ball and always like this:

 

[Bleakborn]

I just got an elegance over a week ago and it has a weird habit not opening fully unless I feed it... It is under an over hang with low flow and indirect light and its skeleton is pushed into the sand bed.

 

[DrewM8]

Interesting, thanks Bleak, I just moved him so I am going to see if it will improve over the next day or so. Ill post some pics in one minute.

 

[DrewM8]

Before and after, does this look like better placement?

 

[DrewM8]

Update from earlier... the corals has been moved to underneath a ledge and is still closed. Will update tomorrow....

 

[DrewM8]

Just wanted to post this update everyone, I am happy to say that the elegance in its new location is starting to open up and seems as the light was the biggest issue it was having! Can not thank everyone enough !