Need help with catalaphyllia

[chris new reefer]

Hello Elegance coral “experts”

I need some help with my catalaphyllia.

it’s in the tank since 6 months.
it was doing great in the first 2 months but since then it is always almost completely closed and moving back into the skeleton. the inner skeleton is exposed on on side.

water parameters are:

9.0 alk
450Ca
1350 Mg
5-10 NO3
0.05 - 0.08 PO4
34.5 salinity

All parameters have no swings. All are almost 100% stable. I did read a lot about elegance disease but I doubt it has it because what I understand
it would kill the coral way quicker than 4 months.

Every! other coral, including gonioporas,
Euphyllias, montiporas and acroporas are doing great.

It’s in the sand bed in 50- 80 PAR in low flow (towards medium)

I dipped it in reef primer and ReVive a few times without any improvement.

It honestly looks like a goner but it looks like this since all those 4 months.

So what would you guys do to try to save it?

I want to tag @Lasse to maybe get some advice or maybe point me in a good direction. He helped me with a different major problem a few months back and saved my tank.

Thank you so much everyone for help and advice. I highly appreciate every response.

kindly
Chris

 

[chris new reefer]

Here a pic.
again. It looks like that since 4 months

 

[zuri]

you need to do some digging for older threads on it but people have been treating these with some success

 

[chris new reefer]

you need to do some digging for older threads on it but people have been treating these with some success

Thank you very much!

i read a lot in different forums but 99% is about the elegance disease and I really don’t think this is the case because what I understand is that it rather kills fast.

 

[zuri]

IMO it is but there is a way to cure it not 100 percent but if you look for it there is a few thread where people have treated them. they hold on quite abit before passing btw at least if yours was healthy looking to begin with. I haven't had one in 7 years an it held on few months same thing slowly getting smaller

 

[Naso180!]

Had the same thing happened to two different elegance in the last two years. Years ago I had 2 over 8 years old. IDK if it's a different location they harvest from now, but I just won't try another one again. Beautiful corals and just about the only one I can't keep alive. I also treated with revive and iodine with both. Unfortunately no success. Good luck. Following along.

 

[Lasse]

Do you have an aitapsia eating file fish or dwarf angels in your aquarium? Do you feed it in a regular basis? a couple of years ago people here in Sweden treat starving LPS with dextrose bath - five to ten minutes a day (saltwater plus dextrose) with success. I have not test this - just mention it. Just check old post in the Swedish forum - one tablespoon dextrose to 1 L salt water for 10 - 30 min a day for some weeks seems to have work (at least sometimes)

Sincerely Lasse

 

[chris new reefer]

Do you have an aitapsia eating file fish or dwarf angels in your aquarium? Do you feed it in a regular basis? a couple of years ago people here in Sweden treat starving LPS with dextrose bath - five to ten minutes a day (saltwater plus dextrose) with success. I have not test this - just mention it. Just check old post in the Swedish forum - one tablespoon dextrose to 1 L salt water for 10 - 30 min a day for some weeks seems to have work (at least sometimes)

Sincerely Lasse

Hello Lasse,
thank you very much for your help.
I understand from your reply that you think it is starving?

I don’t have those fishes in the tank.

I feed all the corals ever other day. Sometimes a bit more but to be honest not so often. When I turn down all the flow including the return all my fish keep freaking out swimming around very scared and hectic. And since the last problem with ich and velvet (you helped me) I am a bit sensitive when it comes to stressing them.

I will try the dextrose “treatment”.

may also putting some kind of cup over it to be able to feed it with mises without turning down the flow.

again. Thank you!

chris

 

[chris new reefer]

Had the same thing happened to two different elegance in the last two years. Years ago I had 2 over 8 years old. IDK if it's a different location they harvest from now, but I just won't try another one again. Beautiful corals and just about the only one I can't keep alive. I also treated with revive and iodine with both. Unfortunately no success. Good luck. Following along.

Thank you very much for your reply,

maybe one of those corals to avoid buying.
that way more survive in the wild

 

[chris new reefer]

IMO it is but there is a way to cure it not 100 percent but if you look for it there is a few thread where people have treated them. they hold on quite abit before passing btw at least if yours was healthy looking to begin with. I haven't had one in 7 years an it held on few months same thing slowly getting smaller

Maybe it needs a more “dirty” tank.
because it looked really healthy in the first 2 to 3 months. But in that time my tank had way higher nutrients.
and today with all those nutrient export technics it struggles.

“just guessing”

 

[Naso180!]

Definitely could be a dirty vs clean"nutrient poor" issue. But I agree with you that if ppl aren't successful with catalaphyllia or any particular species they are better left in the wild.

 

[Shirak]

Maybe it needs a more “dirty” tank.
because it looked really healthy in the first 2 to 3 months. But in that time my tank had way higher nutrients.
and today with all those nutrient export technics it struggles.

“just guessing”

Mine always seem to appreciate feeding a couple times a week with some frozen mysis or lps pellets.

 

[chris new reefer]

Mine always seem to appreciate feeding a couple times a week with some frozen mysis or lps pellets.

I will try to feed it a few times a week from now on, because it still excepts food.

maybe elegance corals really need more food than most of the people believe or want to believe.
I mean it’s a complete different story if you just throw some food in the tank for the fish every day or if you turn down the system, wait until the flow is completely settled, spot feed the coral, wait until it has eating and finally turning everything back on again.
doing that procedure a few times a week might be the critical point.
It would be nice to here if people had success with catalaphyllias without (or very little) feeding them.

I know most, if not all of the corals benefit from feeding but a lot of them doing just fine without. Maybe not the elegance

 

[Just a Wrasse.]

you need to do some digging for older threads on it but people have been treating these with some success

Agreed.

 

[Just a Wrasse.]

Mine always seem to appreciate feeding a couple times a week with some frozen mysis or lps pellets.

Yes, feeding is very important.

 

[Lasse]

I would feed it the same way that anemones normally are feed. A whole shrimp now and then on a regular basis. Head, whole body and so on. I prefer to use frozen or fresh. Start with a small or a part of the shrimp. Use a clear container and place it over the coral for a shorter time when you feed it. Many times when a LPS lose "flesh" is (IMO) caused of that the energy that it consume is higher than the food/photosynthesis give them. They need to take energy from the body - eat themselves in order to survive.

The theory behind the dextrosol bath is that dextrosol is a small energy bomb that let the coral take energy direct from water or by eating bacteria that grow better in the slime of the coral (with help of the carbon source dextrosol is).

I would try to feed it first and if it still losing "flesh" - I would test the dextrosol bath as last try.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[homer1475]

I have 2, one is rather large and my lighting maroon hosts in it(FWIW the elegance is not happy about it!), the other is small and my pincushion urchin regularly takes it for rides around the tank(soo annoying!).

I have never directly fed them anything, they just catch whatever floats around the tank when I feed the tank(I never feed my fish, I feed the entire tank at feeding time). One I've had for 5 years, and the other I've had for 2 years now. Both are aussie variants as when I was researching them many years ago, the indo variety is what had the most issues.

Not a hard coral to keep at all, and the reason many years ago it was labeled as a beginner LPS. Due to ECS and the struggles with ECS and indo varieties, is the reason they fell out of the "easy" catagory. Get a healthy one, and they are a relatively easy coral to care for.

 

[chris new reefer]

I have 2, one is rather large and my lighting maroon hosts in it(FWIW the elegance is not happy about it!), the other is small and my pincushion urchin regularly takes it for rides around the tank(soo annoying!).

I have never directly fed them anything, they just catch whatever floats around the tank when I feed the tank(I never feed my fish, I feed the entire tank at feeding time). One I've had for 5 years, and the other I've had for 2 years now. Both are aussie variants as when I was researching them many years ago, the indo variety is what had the most issues.

Not a hard coral to keep at all, and the reason many years ago it was labeled as a beginner LPS. Due to ECS and the struggles with ECS and indo varieties, is the reason they fell out of the "easy" catagory. Get a healthy one, and they are a relatively easy coral to care for.

Thank you very much for your response.
highly appreciated!
Did you ever see them actively eat something/ putting food in their mouth?

I have the feeling, that even with the lowest flow, the food is just passing by.
I never saw him eat anything like that. Only when I spot feed him.

I had some clowns living in him and in that time the coral was doing great. I guess they fed him, like an anemone.
after they decided to move to the goniopora, the elegance was going downhill (very slowly)

I am pretty sure I have an aussie one.
The store I bought it is very reliable with decades of experience.

 

[homer1475]

I have never directly fed them, so I cannot comment on thier feeding behavior in regards to direct feedings. My larger one loves snails! It's a snail graveyard by the large one. I have seen a snail get to close, and the elegance is just soo sticky....I think my hermit crabs go there to find new shells. lol

If it can reach it, and it's edible, the elegance will devour it if it's healthy.

 

[homer1475]

If it's healthy, their tentacles are super sticky. If food floats by, and it can catch it, it will stuff it in one of it's mouths. This I have seen nearly every day.

Heck I have even seen it poop out a snail shell. lol