Healthy elegances?

[squidlips02]

Thats an anchor mate, well not a real one a ceramic one that looks real, what you can see their is the eye of the anchor and some of the chain,

[porky]

I would have to agree that I am seeing more healthy elegance from my guys. I don't know what to attirbute it to exactly. But in Eric's study I think he found that the brighter colored ones tans and greens (found in shallower areas) tend to do better than the darker colored ones purple and pink (found in deeper waters)
About 2 months ago, I found one that looked really good. Has been in my tank for about 2 months now.



On a side note about this monster! It's is a SNAIL EATING MACHINE!!! It's preference seems to be cerith. I was noticing an unusaual amount of empyt snail shells around this coral after about a week of having it. For a while I thought nothing about it and just threw them aside. It wasn't until I seen the coral in action that I knew what was going on. The tentacles are very sticky, so sticky in fact that if my hand gets too close it will try and latch on. Anywho what it was doing was pulling the snails out of the shell and then ingesting them whole. Very cool to watch. I am going to have to get some pics.

[nilo]

hi squidlips.

where did you get that anchor? i've always wanted to put one in my tank to make it like a ship wreck scene. thanks.

nilo

[Julio]

i have had one in my tank for over 3 years now with no ill effect and have never experienced anyof the bad symptons that are typically described, the only thing was when the black out hit i lost have of the coral but the other have is kicking and growing.

[yoh]

BINGO!! Porky, my elegance is nearly identicle to yours. Same colors, etc...

IDENTACLE (spelled...wrong mabe :-)

[squidlips02]

nilo I bought it at my LFS, you should'nt have much trouble finding one, in fact i have two but different types, you can just see the chain dangling behind the clown fish in my last pic.

My elegance is the same colour as porkys also, I hope to get some better shots when I transfer it into my 600lt tank next week, I might have to use my bigger camera and see how they turn out

[squidlips02]

Ok nilo here are the anchors






Sorry my photography is shocking maybe I should'nt use the flash? who knows.

[porky]

Just wanted to share a pic of the elegance taken just a few moments ago! I think I may have lucked out on this one

[poopsko24]

I've had probley a total of 5 elegance corals, I know I know, I wont buy another one unless its from someone whos had it for a while. I've had all kinds , purple tips, pink tips, ones that look like they were broken off of a reef, ones with the cone base. Even one like porkeys , that was my last one though, and it lasted the longest, a month at the lfs and a month and a half in my tank. Still leary about my favorite coral. I would trade anything of mine for a healthy one, ancan. lord. anyone?

[porky]

Hey poopsko, how "clean" is your tank. In clean I mean how often to you change water? Do you run carbon? Or oxone? The reason I ask is because I have read Eric's work and in addition to starting with a healthy specimen of the correct origin he thinks that some of our reef tanks might be too clean for elelgance corals. I don't know how much you have read on them but they come from lagoonal water that are fairly turbid water, ie. nutrient rich. And one of the theories is that we may be starving them of some of the nutrients the need especially DOC' (dissolved organic compounds). Usually we fight like heck to keep DOC's OUT! of the water but it is suspected that this may be one of the "foods" that elegance corals feeds on.
I am no expert on these corals by any means, I have done some reading and have waited for a healthy specimen for over a year now. I also think I may have lucked up with one that was properly collected and handeled in transit correctly.
A coulple of things I do. And again, by no means am I am expert the coral has only been in my tank for about 2 months now. But I dose DT's phyto regularly and my bug population shows it I will also stir the sand bed from time to time releasing a lot of "gunk" into the water colum and the elegane really seems to open up when I do this. I will also just kind of stir up the sump from time to time and let the tank kind of fill with detirus and just let the pumps stir the solution around for a while (usually less than 30 minutes) before I turn back on the main pump and the filtration. This routine can send a lot of bound of phosphates back into the water so I don't do it too often and is usually followed by a polyfilter or water change or both.
I try hard to stike a balance between feeding the tank, and fouling the water. It's tough sometimes.
Good Luck!

[poopsko24]

Porky, I am obsessed with elegance corals. I've probley read close to every thing there has ever written about them , here and elsewhere. They are my favorite coral, I started reefkeeping cause I loved them soo much. Being one of my first corals that I bought 3 or so years ago it was pretty dissapointing when it did not survive. I've scence then have done everything in my knowledge to research and understand how this coral lives. I have had LFS hold them for a month even. All my elegances have lasted aprox. 2 months, no longer than that. I don't run ozone, I do run some carbon, I believe it has worked for me. I've tried feeding the coral directly heavily, put on sand, put on rock, put under halides , under PC's . I've probley seen all the healthy tank kept elegances that are out there. I have seen ones that look like the ones from the olden days, versus the ones out today. Sometimes I think that they look like 2 different speices, but then I'll see one thats out there today and it looks like the old school ones. So I don't know. People years ago did'nt have to feed them anything special at all. Any tank conditions were acceptable for them. I know we keep our tanks alot cleaner these days, but not everyone does. I have only LPS in my tanks so they dont' require pristine water conditions, and I don't clean the heck out of my tanks. I have some algae blooms if I slack too long on a water change. Its probley if it has come in close contact with this new disease, or in the same holding tanks as an affeted one. I do believe this to be true. But why do they have this now and not 5 years ago is the real question. Let me kwow how youre is doing, and good luck , its a beauty.

[porky]

Well it sounds like you have done your homework.
I agree they are probably the most beautiful of all corals.
This coral has only been in my system for a relatively short time so I am by no means out of the woods. I will not consider "success" to be anything short of 5 years. Then maybe I can consider this endeavor a success.
Until then, I will keep my fingers crossed.
Good Luck to you.

[FishF00d]

So what I'm hearing is the Deep Green with purple tip elegance at the lfs probably won't make it. I wanted it but know the fate of them. It had to be the coolest elegance I've seen.

[davejnz]

Porky,the 2 i bought look just like the one's posted.Here's a link for you guys about where they're being collected.http://advancedaquarist.com/issues/mar2002/feature2.htm
I agree that many are collected from turbid areas,but unless your keeping a low-nutrient SPS tank,the typical DSB/berlin reef does have alot of nutrients(especially in SB).I don't think whats causing these corals decline has anything to do with nutrient level/diet/lighting.In the link there's healthy elegances right next to diseased ones,makes you wonder if its contagious.

[davejnz]

here's the link for the E.C.P.
http://www.reefobsession.com/ecp/images.htm

[squidlips02]

here is a shot without the flash, and another in the new tank