Elegance Coral Troubleshooting?

[RedPhotog]

My elegance coral has been in my tank for about 4 weeks now. All seemed normal until I added some zoas and a monti cap. I put the monti up high on my rocks with the zoas down below on the sandbed about 6 inches from the elegance coral. I had to move the elegance coral to place the zoa rock, so after 3 weeks the elegance was moved to a different spot about 3 inches away. 

 

Things looked normal for about 3 days until I came home one day and noticed my EC was closed up as if the lights were off. It looked as closed as it does when the lights are off. I waited a couple of days to see if changes would occur, unfortunately nothing changed. 

 

So I dipped the EC is Seachem reef dip iodine solution, and removed which looked like a small white fleshy substance in between the V of the skeleton after inspection. I also did a 30% water change 5 days after my weekly 10% WC. 

 

The EC original position in the tank was in the sandbed center light. I don’t have a very powerful light for my 10g system. 48w full spectral light. Whites are at 7%, while running a blue spectrum. It was always open and flowing in its original position. Nothing changed until about 3-4 days after the EC was moved when I put the zoa rock in. My real question is this...

 

My LFS sold me this elegance coral with the skeleton glued to a small flat round piece of live rock. I buried the rock in the sand so that the skeleton sits in the sandbed based on what I’ve read about elegance placements. During the dip, I removed the rock from the skeleton hoping the animal will be happier with its bare skeleton in the sand, it can grow or breathe or do whatever it wants without the rock weight it down. I’ve always seen somewhat of a cone shaped skeleton under elegance coral. The skeleton under mine didn’t seem too cone shaped, and how could it? The rock is glued to it. 

 

Was removing the rock a bad idea? Should an elegance coral skeleton be free in a sand bed or on a reef where ever one is found in the wild? I haven’t been home yet to see any changes, I’m hoping for improvements. I now have the elegance coral in the corner of my tank in low flow and low light hoping it will be open when I come home today. 

 

And dont ask params, I don’t test for DKH, Mag or Phospate. I’m still very new to reefing. First month with corals. Getting the foundation kit this weekend. My api levels are...

 

ammonia and nitrite zero, PH 8, nitrate 10-15. 

 

Thanks in advance to whoever wants to chime in, I’m learning a lot from these forums. Removing a skeleton glued from a rock like that is what I’m curious about. 

[Euphylin me]

i would ramp the whites up to 15 percent  but do this after you give it time to adjust to the spot. maybe dim the lights for a little while and find a way to make sure it is stable in the sand. if it will open up, try to feed it a little bit of mysis....as with most corals, dips stress them a but so it could be stressed from the dip. imho i would leave it be for a couple days. the elegance coral i have sits on a 2 inch pvc pipe in the sand bed with the skeleton free...but it is a big ec

[RedPhotog]

34 minutes ago, Euphylin me said:

i would ramp the whites up to 15 percent and find a way to make sure it is stable in the sand. if it will open up, try to feed it a little bit of mysis....as with most corals, dips stress them a but so it could be stressed from the dip. imho i would leave it be for a couple days. the elegance coral i have sits on a 2 inch pvc pipe in the sand bed with the skeleton free...but it is a big ec

Does the skeleton sit inside the pvc pipe, or is it on the curved edges under the sand? What does the pvc pipe do for the elegance coral? Shield the skeleton? I’ve seen them inside some LFS tanks. With the flesh opening around the pvc opening. 

[Euphylin me]

the skeleton is inside the pvc pretty much in the sand...the pvc i use just as stability. and fyi i know some people like to think that these corals prefer pristine water conditions.....that is not the case. they like a little nutrients in the water. and i wish i was there to take a picture but the pvc is the 1 1/2 pvc diameter and it is about 1 to 1 1/2 inches out of the sand with the elegance centered on it. do you know if yours is an indonesian or an australian elegance?

[A Little Blue]

Killed my by moving her around. 

[Euphylin me]

Just now, A Little Blue said:

Killed my by moving her around. 

yeah, that can happen. that's why i suggested leaving it in its spot for now...the pvc may help

[A Little Blue]

4 minutes ago, Euphylin me said:

yeah, that can happen. that's why i suggested leaving it in its spot for now...the pvc may help

It was doing great but I had to move it from that spot since new wave pump was going to blast it directly. It never recovered. I had no patience to save it so I fed it to my crabs tank. 

 

[RedPhotog]

4 hours ago, Euphylin me said:

the skeleton is inside the pvc pretty much in the sand...the pvc i use just as stability. and fyi i know some people like to think that these corals prefer pristine water conditions.....that is not the case. they like a little nutrients in the water. and i wish i was there to take a picture but the pvc is the 1 1/2 pvc diameter and it is about 1 to 1 1/2 inches out of the sand with the elegance centered on it. do you know if yours is an indonesian or an australian elegance?

I don’t know exactly because I didn’t ask, but it resembles more of an Aussie elegance. Green, purple tips. I only know from seeing videos. 

 

Looks to be out more today, not by too much but enough that I can tell. It accepted a little bit of mysis too. 

 

Im gonna take your advice and let it chill for a few days. Increased the whites a little bit. Hopefully it will stretch out soon. I’m seeing no discoloration or mucus or anything like that. Just a little closed up. 

[Euphylin me]

14 hours ago, RedPhotog said:

I don’t know exactly because I didn’t ask, but it resembles more of an Aussie elegance. Green, purple tips. I only know from seeing videos. 

 

Looks to be out more today, not by too much but enough that I can tell. It accepted a little bit of mysis too. 

 

Im gonna take your advice and let it chill for a few days. Increased the whites a little bit. Hopefully it will stretch out soon. I’m seeing no discoloration or mucus or anything like that. Just a little closed up. 

if its not putting out any mucus or anything, those are good signs, especially since it accepted some food...i hope everything works out!

[StinkyBunny]

Unfortunately Indonesian Elegance corals die between 3-9 weeks after introduced into an aquarium and we don't know why. I've tried everything I could think of to see if I could figure them out to no avail. If you're looking at Elegance corals ask where it came from, there are only 3 places they're available from with any regularity, Indonesia, Fiji and Australia, the Fiji and Australia Elegance are the only 2 that will thrive in captivity.

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 hour ago, StinkyBunny said:

Unfortunately Indonesian Elegance corals die between 3-9 weeks after introduced into an aquarium and we don't know why. I've tried everything I could think of to see if I could figure them out to no avail. If you're looking at Elegance corals ask where it came from, there are only 3 places they're available from with any regularity, Indonesia, Fiji and Australia, the Fiji and Australia Elegance are the only 2 that will thrive in captivity.

Actually, I had an Indo elegance several years back that lasted for six months. I know several people who have had theirs for slightly over a year. It's true - they're very difficult to keep in captivity, but not impossible. I found mine liking low light/low flow with higher nutrients in the system. The higher nitrates/phosphates and less WCs actually kept the coral alive. Aussie-variety is still the best - mine lasted for 1.5 years before my tank crashed. 

[RayWhisperer]

Back in the old days, you couldn’t kill elegance with a hammer. Nobody had a lot of light, and nobody had low nutrient systems. And, though I’m not positive, I believe they all came out of indo. I’m not suggesting this is the magic trick, as the elegance “disease” is pretty well documented. I’m just saying if you get a healthy one, it’s something to keep in mind. 

 

As an example, my first elegance lived for many years. I honestly don’t remember how long. It lasted as long as the tank did. I had a trickle filter, did a water change about once every six months (when I’d clean the trickle filter, or the sandbed. Well, crushed coral bed.) I used dechlorinated tap for topoff and water change water. The tank had a return pump (prob no more than 500 gph) and one power head (prob no more than 300 gph.) I couldn’t afford nice lights. I had 1 x 36” VHO actinic, 1 x 36” NO actinic and 3 x 24” NO full spectrum daylight bulbs. That was on a 40 breeder. 

 

As for the skeleton shape, I seem to remember reading an article about that. IIRC, the cone shaped base were a shallow water coral that grew in sand or mud. The block base were deeper water corals that grew on rock. And color won’t determine anything, as far as collection locale. My first was bright green with really purple tips. Like I said, I’m pretty sure they were all indo collected back then.

[RedPhotog]

Thanks for the all the responses. I reversed the flow in my system, switching my HOB and powerhead flow from each side. The EC was originally on the opposite side of my koralia, so it was getting a lot of turbulent flow connecting with the HOB return. Now that it’s on the same side as my koralia, the water isn’t as turbulent and the elegance coral has opened up more than I’ve seen it in my tank. So I’m guessing flow was the issue. Now the tentacles are longer and the flesh is open overlaying the skeleton onto the sandbed. Looks really really happy now. Thanks for all the responses.