Goniopora Opening and closing throughout the day.

Mamn · Nov 11, 2020

Hello Reefers,

I purchased a small Goni frag from my LFS about 2 weeks ago. I Originally placed it in a spot with very little flow and it seemed to partially extend but not fully extend. Ive been feeding it daily as my nitrates are always zero. It will fully extend but then something inevitable touches it and causes it to close. My clowns may be picking at it here and there. Photos Attached. Tank has been running for 2 years. Could the frag still just be adjusting?

My parameters:

Nitrates:0
Alkalinity: 8.5
Calcium: 460ppm
Magnesium: 1470
Salinity: 1.025

Flippers4pups · Nov 11, 2020

Fish, inverts touching it (including hermits) or stealing food from it will definitely cause it to retract.

JGT · Nov 11, 2020

Mamn said:
Hello Reefers,

I purchased a small Goni frag from my LFS about 2 weeks ago. I Originally placed it in a spot with very little flow and it seemed to partially extend but not fully extend. Ive been feeding it daily as my nitrates are always zero. It will fully extend but then something inevitable touches it and causes it to close. My clowns may be picking at it here and there. Photos Attached. Tank has been running for 2 years. Could the frag still just be adjusting?

My parameters:

Nitrates:0
Alkalinity: 8.5
Calcium: 460ppm
Magnesium: 1470
Salinity: 1.025

Completely normal behavior. No issue.

Mamn · Nov 11, 2020

Flippers4pups said:
Fish, inverts touching it (including hermits) or stealing food from it will definitely cause it to retract.

So it is more than likely healthy just still adjusting? Admittedly it was not fully open at the LFS but I trust my LFS as he had cut these frags himself and is one of his favorite corals. I guess the biggest issue is I dont really know exactly what this one should look like fully open.

Thanks for the reply!

RC Corals · Nov 12, 2020

I've had more trouble with small Goni frags than anything in my tanks. Small colonies always do fine, but those tiny 1" frags you see always seem to end up extending very little and eventually seem to get algae growing on them which irritates them further which leads to them coming out less which leads to more crud buildup, and on and on.

Larger colonies of Goni are great though IMHO. I don't like selling people those small frags because they'll probably end up having problems which leads to the thinking "Goniopora are hard to deal with"

Mamn · Nov 12, 2020

RC Corals said:
I've had more trouble with small Goni frags than anything in my tanks. Small colonies always do fine, but those tiny 1" frags you see always seem to end up extending very little and eventually seem to get algae growing on them which irritates them further which leads to them coming out less which leads to more crud buildup, and on and on.

Larger colonies of Goni are great though IMHO. I don't like selling people those small frags because they'll probably end up having problems which leads to the thinking "Goniopora are hard to deal with"

Yeah as of right now its the only coral that seems to have troubles. I think part of it is my fish and inverts, my clowns are going through the pairing behavior right now, so the coral is new but also the clowns are swimming past it at 90 miles an hours pretty consistently. I find it so beautiful though so hopefully soon itll open up all the way. Do you find target feeding or broadcast feeding better for Goni?

RC Corals · Nov 12, 2020

I've 'heard' you can treat them with Chemiclean and it helps to get them to come out, but I've not been able to find any details as to "how much" or "how often" or etc.

I've got two sad little 1" frags right now that have refused to come out and slowly accumulated crap on them to where they're doing even less than before. It's probably about "experiment" time with them.

Mamn · Nov 12, 2020

RC Corals said:
I've 'heard' you can treat them with Chemiclean and it helps to get them to come out, but I've not been able to find any details as to "how much" or "how often" or etc.

I've got two sad little 1" frags right now that have refused to come out and slowly accumulated crap on them to where they're doing even less than before. It's probably about "experiment" time with them.

Ill leave you to do the experiment and report back. I am too fond of this coral to attempt it. Mine however doesnt seem to be accumulating anything yet so may just be I need to be patient.