elegance coral???s

john · 01-30-2006, 04:38 PM

i purchased a elegance coral at my lfs about 2 weeks ago.i cclimated it for 3 hours before i put it in and acclimated to my lights for about 3 days(mine were a lot brighter),anyways,it was doing great for about 2 weeks and the last 2 days it only opens about half way.all my tanks specs are right on.i did put some kent marine microvert and cromaplex into the tank right before this problem accured.is it possibly still feeding??the microvert was about a year old but my other corals love it.is the microvert possibly staled? i didnt see an expiration date on the bottle.any ideas or suggestions would be great!! thanks

reefjitsu · 01-30-2006, 05:28 PM

Elegance corals used to be one of the easiest corals to keep. Now for reasons that are still not understood, they cannot be kept alive (a few succeses have been reported). The really sad part is that there seems to be no way to save them once they start to die. I have been given several lately to see if I could keep them alive, I have tried everything I can think of and no luck yet. It is really frustrating watching them die.

oldsaint · 01-30-2006, 06:27 PM

I have had one in my 260 for about 1 1/2 yrs. I'm no expert but I'll tell you what's been working for me.
First, The disclaimer. I think these should be left in the sea until we can figure out what causing the premature deaths. Hopefully Borneman can find out what's going on during his studies. Incase you didn't know Eric Borneman is conducting a study to try and determine what's happening.

My water parameters are Amm,trite, phos = 0. The trates run about a 2 or less, Ca 420, Alk 3.73. Placement is on the substrate on it's side not vertical. Three times a week I feed mine very finely chopped silversides that were soaked in Selcon and garlic. If the pieces are to big it will spit them out. Just before feeding, I very slightly stir the sand around it. This seems to put it into a feed mode, or at least it seems that way. Thats all I do. I do notice from time to time it's closed up when I get home from work but it always opens up if I throw some food it's way.

Post a pic if you can.

superman · 01-31-2006, 12:39 AM

I have two healthy elgance corals, one is going on 19 months old, and the other is around 6 months old. I do nothing special with them, no magic quarantine practices or acclimation procedures, I simply watched them for months before I bought either of them, and then bought them at the 2 month mark.

Witfull · 01-31-2006, 04:08 AM

they prefer "dirty" water. they are a lagoonal reef creature. i think that has a bearing on the lack of success nowdays with our emproved filtration and all,,,the water is TOO clean for them.

john · 01-31-2006, 07:35 AM

i noticed last night when my mhs kicked off,it seemed to open up more under just the actinics.is my light to much?? i have it sitting on the sandbed in a 180 gal tank with 3-400 watt mhs(run 6 hrs daily).should i try to shade him a bit??run the mhs shorter?? thanks again

reefjitsu · 01-31-2006, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Witfull

they prefer "dirty" water. they are a lagoonal reef creature. i think that has a bearing on the lack of success nowdays with our emproved filtration and all,,,the water is TOO clean for them.

While I do agree that they are a lagoonal creature that likes high nutrient levels, I don't think this is the reason why they are not doing well nowadays. For one thing, I have kept them in nutrient poor conditions in the past without issue. This is why I think it is some sort of "disease". The few new elegance corals that people are keeping alive are just healthy ones. If you get a sick one, it does not seem to matter what kind of tank you put it in. I have tried them in traditional reef setups, and even grass bed type setups. I have really tried everything high/low light, high/low flow, high/low nutrients, on the sandbed/barebottom/up in the rocks, I even tried fragging parts off of some. It seems that if you get a sick one then it doesn't matter how you keep them, because there is no known way to save them.

cheeks69 · 01-31-2006, 05:01 PM

I agree with reefjitsu I believe it's some type of pathogen affecting Elegance Corals but those usually die quickly. If they are healthy in time in a low nutrient environment they will eventually waste away. I kept one alive for close to 2 years under low light very high nutrient environment and it did very well, as soon as I moved to a larger tank with a much more powerful skimmer and MH it wasted away.

My LFS has an enormous Elegance that's been in captivity for close to 7 years it's one of the most beautiful corals I have ever seen. The owner used to frequently keep Elegance corals but they started dieing so he decided to keep the new arrivals with some he had kept for years and they would all eventually die so his conclusion was that the problem is pathogenic.

Dragon Wrasse · 01-31-2006, 05:10 PM

Here is a good link...I found it when I was researching Frogspawn, before buying. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/elegance.htm
Hope this helps.

BoomerD · 01-31-2006, 07:37 PM

Eric Borneman is to be the guest "speaker" at this week's scheduled chat Thursday Feb. 2, from 8 to 10 p.m. EST on the Reef-Visions site. If you are available, stop by. He is supposed to discuss his 2 on-going projects, the elegance project, and his salt study. Please stop and register before joining. (not mandatory, just polite)
Further information can be found here:
http://www.reef-visions.com/forums/i...p?topic=3060.0

nigle · 02-16-2006, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Witfull

they prefer "dirty" water. they are a lagoonal reef creature. i think that has a bearing on the lack of success nowdays with our emproved filtration and all,,,the water is TOO clean for them.

Oi!

Plus also the concept that a 'lagoon' has sand and macro algae with 'not or no' rock to 'touch' the extended tenticals. There seems to be some 'chat' that having the corals within touching distance with rock, that some how it irritates them, so if they are in a tank where they are completely free to expand without touching rock they seem to e better.

I have also heard that it might be a lessing of resistance to 'land' mold; fungus and the in general bad 'capturing' handeling during collection that has weakened them.

Cheers!
nigle
!~!

nigle · 02-16-2006, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Witfull

they prefer "dirty" water. they are a lagoonal reef creature. i think that has a bearing on the lack of success nowdays with our emproved filtration and all,,,the water is TOO clean for them.

Oi!

Plus also the concept that a 'lagoon' has sand and macro algae with 'not or no' rock to 'touch' the extended tenticals. There seems to be some 'chat' that having the corals within touching distance with rock, that some how it irritates them, so if they are in a tank where they are completely free to expand without touching rock they seem to e better.

I have also heard that it might be a lessing of resistance to 'land' mold; fungus and the in general bad 'capturing' handeling during collection that has weakened them.

Cheers!
nigle
!~!

01-30-2006, 04:38 PM	#1 (permalink)
john Ricordea Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: ohio Posts: 188 View Gallery Karma Komment	elegance coral???s i purchased a elegance coral at my lfs about 2 weeks ago.i cclimated it for 3 hours before i put it in and acclimated to my lights for about 3 days(mine were a lot brighter),anyways,it was doing great for about 2 weeks and the last 2 days it only opens about half way.all my tanks specs are right on.i did put some kent marine microvert and cromaplex into the tank right before this problem accured.is it possibly still feeding??the microvert was about a year old but my other corals love it.is the microvert possibly staled? i didnt see an expiration date on the bottle.any ideas or suggestions would be great!! thanks

01-30-2006, 05:28 PM	#2 (permalink)
reefjitsu Plate Coral Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: The Magic City Posts: 748 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: elegance coral???s Elegance corals used to be one of the easiest corals to keep. Now for reasons that are still not understood, they cannot be kept alive (a few succeses have been reported). The really sad part is that there seems to be no way to save them once they start to die. I have been given several lately to see if I could keep them alive, I have tried everything I can think of and no luck yet. It is really frustrating watching them die. __________________ You can't give up hope just because it's hopeless. You got to keep on hoping and cover your ears and go "blah blah blah blah"- Futurama

01-30-2006, 06:27 PM	#3 (permalink)
oldsaint Ricordea Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Brandon, Fl Posts: 196 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: elegance coral???s I have had one in my 260 for about 1 1/2 yrs. I'm no expert but I'll tell you what's been working for me. First, The disclaimer. I think these should be left in the sea until we can figure out what causing the premature deaths. Hopefully Borneman can find out what's going on during his studies. Incase you didn't know Eric Borneman is conducting a study to try and determine what's happening. My water parameters are Amm,trite, phos = 0. The trates run about a 2 or less, Ca 420, Alk 3.73. Placement is on the substrate on it's side not vertical. Three times a week I feed mine very finely chopped silversides that were soaked in Selcon and garlic. If the pieces are to big it will spit them out. Just before feeding, I very slightly stir the sand around it. This seems to put it into a feed mode, or at least it seems that way. Thats all I do. I do notice from time to time it's closed up when I get home from work but it always opens up if I throw some food it's way. Post a pic if you can. __________________ 180 rebuilding, 260 Mixed Reef, 55 & 29 QT. Always looking for volunteers on water change day Wisdom and knowledge is your's to fish

01-31-2006, 12:39 AM	#4 (permalink)
superman Bryozoan Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 43 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: elegance coral???s I have two healthy elgance corals, one is going on 19 months old, and the other is around 6 months old. I do nothing special with them, no magic quarantine practices or acclimation procedures, I simply watched them for months before I bought either of them, and then bought them at the 2 month mark.

01-31-2006, 07:35 AM	#6 (permalink)
john Ricordea Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: ohio Posts: 188 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: elegance coral???s i noticed last night when my mhs kicked off,it seemed to open up more under just the actinics.is my light to much?? i have it sitting on the sandbed in a 180 gal tank with 3-400 watt mhs(run 6 hrs daily).should i try to shade him a bit??run the mhs shorter?? thanks again

01-31-2006, 05:01 PM	#8 (permalink)
cheeks69 Wannabe Guru Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Northeast Posts: 6,855 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: elegance coral???s I agree with reefjitsu I believe it's some type of pathogen affecting Elegance Corals but those usually die quickly. If they are healthy in time in a low nutrient environment they will eventually waste away. I kept one alive for close to 2 years under low light very high nutrient environment and it did very well, as soon as I moved to a larger tank with a much more powerful skimmer and MH it wasted away. My LFS has an enormous Elegance that's been in captivity for close to 7 years it's one of the most beautiful corals I have ever seen. The owner used to frequently keep Elegance corals but they started dieing so he decided to keep the new arrivals with some he had kept for years and they would all eventually die so his conclusion was that the problem is pathogenic. __________________ Robert My Cube “A spirit is manifest in the laws of the Universe—a spirit vastly superior to that of man, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble.” Albert Einstein

01-31-2006, 05:10 PM	#9 (permalink)
Dragon Wrasse Harlequin Tuskfish Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Southern California Posts: 991 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: elegance coral???s Here is a good link...I found it when I was researching Frogspawn, before buying. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/elegance.htm Hope this helps. __________________ *Member "Crabs Are Evil" Society* "A wise man learns more from a foolish question, then a fool learns from a wise answer" - Bruce Lee _____________________________ 75 gal SeaClear II Reef Tank (softy tank) - Coralife 125 Super Skimmer - Little Giant 2-MDQX-SC - Angstrom 2537 UV 15W - HOB Refugium - Eheim Pro 2228 - Red Sea Wave Maker w/Maxi-Jet 600 (X4) - 100 lbs Live Sand (DSB) - 100 lbs Live Rock - 260W PC lighting - 470nm lunar lights (X15) - AquaController II Custom 75 gal Starphire glass tank (SPS/LPS tank) - Custom 24 gal Refugium - Tuzne Wave box - JBJ Chiller - 390W PC lighting - 175W MH (X2) - Knop Cal. Reactor - AquaController 3 Pro - Aqua C Skimmer - Phosban Reactor - 18W Turbo-twist UV sterilizer - Sump - Sony Computer 5 gal Nano Hospital Tank - Eheim 2213 - Red Sea Prizm Skimmer - Live sand - Live Rock - Built in Refugium - 36W PC lighting

01-31-2006, 07:37 PM	#10 (permalink)
BoomerD Reef Shark Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Northern California Posts: 5,637 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: elegance coral???s Eric Borneman is to be the guest "speaker" at this week's scheduled chat Thursday Feb. 2, from 8 to 10 p.m. EST on the Reef-Visions site. If you are available, stop by. He is supposed to discuss his 2 on-going projects, the elegance project, and his salt study. Please stop and register before joining. (not mandatory, just polite) Further information can be found here: http://www.reef-visions.com/forums/i...p?topic=3060.0 __________________ Intelligence is not knowing all the answers, but knowing where and how to find them! www.google.com

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