Oh no. Elegance closed up. Your thoughts, pls...

[Steve Richardson]

Wooops. :(

Came home yesterday and found my fairly new (3 weeks) Elegance closed up on one side. There is also a Hammer not too far away on that same side that is closed up too.

Today, the hammer looks fine. The elegance is still pretty well puckered on the one side, and isnt really expanding in general.

so the question is: is it likely these 2 have merely been stinging each other, and relocation should do it? Of course, I am going to move them anyway.

I was sort of under the impression that Catalaphyllia were potent stingers, so I'm a bit surprised that the Euphillia seems to be handling it better (if indeed mutual stinging caused it). Am I whong here?

tank: 2 yrs old, 75G, VHO's, running well... though my Nitrates tend to run around 3-5 ppm (NO3-N). Also having an ongoing 'fair amount' of diatoms, though nothing too problematic. I do weekly 15% water changes, and dose kalkwasser 24x7. Thats it.

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definitely a prize specimen for me... about 12" across, perhaps bigger when its happy.

thanks,

S

[wayne]

Steve, I am hesitant to respond. I had an elegance in a 75 that started do recede after a few weeks and it never stopped receding. If I were you, I would put the elegance on the bottom of the tank, on it's side, so it is as close to the "dirt" as it can be. From my understanding they like a lot of silt and most of our tanks are just too clean for them.

I hope I'm wrong.

wayne

[Steve Richardson]

Wayne -

I dont think its anything related to the 'common ailment of new elegance which shrivel up and die'. I actually bought this one from a friend who is breaking down his reef. He had it for a couple of years, I think.. and its always looked great.

Its been looking great here too for the last few weeks. The fact that the hammer and elegance were too close to each other, and were both closed up made me suspect stinging.

-Steve

[cjdevito]

I'd vote for contact problems, too. Elegance corals do have a potent sting, but only against some things. Other things (including some mushrooms I've run into) beat them, hands down.

One other thing to check is alkalinity. My elegance (purchased 2/98) tends to react by refusing to expand well if I let my alk drop.

[dave2000]

Greetings-I agree with the stinging concept-however-if not maybe the following may help.

Just read a very detailed article on Elegance corals. First-they are found in areas [according to the article] that does not abound in light. Therefore Elegance corals should not be placed up high to catch the most light possible. Second-They do NOT like a strong current. Very slow and meandering.
My nitrate levels are always a problem. When they are over 25 [I know-I know-that is high] it closes up. However I had mine close up when the nitrate level was low. I moved it to
a low area and slow current. Bango-it opened up. Also-I read and follow the practice that DKH levels should be between 8-10. Only above 10 for fish only salt tanks. Hope my information is accurate-however my elegance
did great when I made the changes including lowering the DKH.

[Technobuyer]

Steve,

I'm not sure that just because the elegance has a strong sting, it has the ability to easily handle being stung itself. Moving it is of course the best quick remedy. If it was me I'd just keep an eye on it.

I've had mine for about 2 years and he seems to go through phases of not expanding as well. Then he's fine again. Actually I was once dosing a new product similar to Bionic, and I noticed my elegance did not want to open up. When I stopped using the additive, it went back to opening as it had before.

Also, have you tried feeding it since you got it? While this is not a requirement, it's something I do from time to time(like every 3 mos or so). Some swear by it. Mine does get plenty of scraps out of the water column during feeding time. Plus he has a little clown goby that adopted him, and brings food back to him.

As for placement, we keep ours up in the rocks. No real reason for this other than we have always done it. We tried putting him on the substrate when we set up the new tank, but he didn't really care for it. Stayed closed up or only partially extended. Ours just likes being up in the rocks...

Good luck with him. That's awesome you were able to get one that had been in captivity for a while. We really love ours, even more so since they are so hard to find these days(good ones that is). HTH!

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TB
http://technobuyersreef.homestead.com/index.html

[Steve Richardson]

Thanks folks.

Yeah I know, its impossible to guess sometimes based on what little you know of my tank, but hey... I'm only a newbie.

I already moved the (possibly) offending hammer.... and there is a chance it could have contacted some mushrooms (man, I need a bigger tank).

I fed it a couple of times after I got it, but it was never directly fed where it came from, so I havn't bothered lately. At this point, I'm guessing it will bounce back since its been doing O.K., but its soooooo noticable if its closed, since it takes up the entire middle of the tank.

I'll try to put up a picture... and will check my alkalinity too, just for yucks.

-Steve

[reefgal]

Steve,

I've had mine for 15 months and it's about the same size as yours (HUGE!). I've never had anything sting mine, but mine will refuse to expand for 1-2 days after I change the carbon in the sump. (BTW, Mine sits on the rocks at the top of the reef directly under four 96 watt PCs and a 250 watt MH.)

Hopefully yours will be back to normal by the time you read this.

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Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty...start a reef.

Reefgal in the desert

http://msnhomepages.talkcity.com/DeckDr/desertreefer/reefcover.html

[Steve Richardson]

Here is a picture of it (Hard to tell how big it it, I think)
http://people.ne.mediaone.net/strichardson/images/elegance002a.jpg

-Steve

[dave2000]

Regarding your comment <<<Yeah I know, its impossible to guess sometimes based on what little you know of my tank, but hey... I'm only a newbie.

I think we are all newbies. Understanding the reef appears to me to be in the beginning stages of exploration in terms of chemical processes, bio-relationships and everything in between. grin I have been doing this for two years and consider myself a newbie also. So much to learn-but that is half the fun.
~dave

[Fishwife]

Hi Steve - Nice looking Elegance. Mine closes up for maybe a day or so from time to time. No real reason that I can see - doesn't seem to be linked to anything else. One time it did close for a few days when I increased circulation in the tank. Then it adjusted and opened up big as ever.

Mine is on the rocks, too. Seems to like it there just fine. Nothing stinging is around it since I cut back one of my huge fuzzy mushrooms. That did seem to be bothering it.

Good luck - it'll probably open in a day or two and then you be wondering what you were worrying about. :)

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Fishwife

Ouch, what's that burning sensation in my finger tips? Is it nematocysts? Is it electricity? NOOO! It's...PAPERCUTS!!!

[jimhobbs]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Steve Richardson:


I fed it a couple of times after I got it, but it was never directly fed where it came from, so I havn't bothered lately.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

This got me thinking about something horge posted concerning feeding of corals...Something to the effect that he'd seen corals decline after initially being fed; then the feeding stopped for some reason or another...I personally witnessed a bubble coral of mine decline after feedings were stopped, so I now started regular feedings and it has bounced back...It's almost like they get "hooked" on the feedings, and can't go back to surviving on light and catched' phyto's and zooe's...I've avoided any direct feedings of my other corals to keep them off the hard stuff! :D

Probably your's just got stung, and the move will correct the problem...I just remembered the above, and thought I kick it out for discussion! :)

Best regards...jim

[reefcrazed]

I have had my Elegance for 1 1/2 years and for some reason at least once a month it refuses to open for a few days and then the next day BAm it is as full as I have ever seen it. Is it possible that it goes through some growth spurts?

[Steve Richardson]

good thoughts folks...thanks. Didn't look like an 'its closing up for a couple days' kind of thing, since the left side was all sucked up, and the rest was just sort of unexpanded. Probably points again towards stinging, will find out soon, I expect.

Jim - I never heard of that... feeding/not feeding that is. I enjoy feeding it though, so it wouldnt bother me a bit if I had to keep doing so ( :D )... the thing just wraps up like a big anemone, you can almost hear it going "yuuuuuummmmmmm".

-S

[razorbackfan]

I watched my Elegance in my LFS for 3 weeks before I purchased it. It's been in my reef tank for 4 weeks, open and beautiful. Three days ago, it closed up and has not opened since. I have Xenia next to it, can Xenia sting it? Or is it just going through a phase? Nothing else in my tank has changed. It's about half way up on my rock.

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Jim - GO HOGS GO!

Visit My Reef Tank (http://themoneypit2000.homestead.com)

[Steve Richardson]

Well.

It (the Elegance) looked pretty good last night. Opened up nearly completely.

Turned around a few minutes later, and the left side was closed up again. Guess who was sitting there with a mean look on his (her) fishy little face?

"big Ben", the giant killer tomato clown from hell. http://people.ne.mediaone.net/strichardson/tomato.htm


I think I may have a situation here. Will see how things go tonight.

-S

[This message has been edited by Steve Richardson (edited 08-04-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Steve Richardson (edited 08-04-2000).]

[Fishwife]

AHA!!! Darn clowns will do it every time won't they? My maroon kind of swipes through the bottom edge of my elegance once in a while but she has 2 anemones to harass so she doesn't really get anything started. Is it in an area Big Ben frequents or does he claim the entire tank as his. If he hosts with a particular spot in the tank maybe you can move the coral away and he won't follow.

Hope you can work it out Steve, they are awesme corals.

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Fishwife

Ouch, what's that burning sensation in my finger tips? Is it nematocysts? Is it electricity? NOOO! It's...PAPERCUTS!!!

[Steve Richardson]

Yup... the elegance partially obscures Big Ben's entrance into the rockwork.

Not that much, but perhaps its worse than I think when I'm not home.. and its all sprawled out all over the place. :D

cripes, Its going to be a bear trying to find a better spot for it. Its perfect where it is. (for me, anyway. ;) ) I might have to do some real rearranging in there. Ugh.

-S

[JohnL]

Yep, me too. Unfortunately mine is not bouncing back :( Good luck, Steve.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jimhobbs:
I personally witnessed a bubble coral of mine decline after feedings were stopped &lt;snip&gt; I've avoided any direct feedings of my other corals to keep them off the hard stuff! :D<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>



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Peace - John

[razorbackfan]

Well, yesterday when I came home from work, my Elegance was open, and looked great. http://www.reefcentral.com/smilies/boldpurple.gif

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Jim - GO HOGS GO!

Visit My Reef Tank (http://themoneypit2000.homestead.com)