My Elegance Coral Blowing Up

[burton14e7]

saw something a little different today, maybe cus I'm usually not home. But usually when I see my elegance coral it is opened up all wide and the tentacles are long. Today however it looks like the parts that open up have increased in thickness and the tentacles are smaller. Kinda like its fat and bloated with lil fingers. Is this normal? Is it stressed? Hungry? I don't know. It doesn't look like the bad elegance on the elegance project page. As this is my first coral I don't know how to read them well. If you look in my gallery you can see how it normally looks.

[burton14e7]

water- 78F, 1.026, am-0, nitrites-0, nitrates-10. RO/DI top off and 5 gallon RO/DI water changes every sunday. 2 perculas, 11 snails, 1 fighting conch, 1 acropora, 1 elegance. Tank has been up for 3.5 months.

Maybe its just happy, I have won the red slime battle within the last week.

[iCam]

Hey. Start reading this:

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=310425

[burton14e7]

I stated that it did not look like the bad elegance in the elegance project web page. It just looks like its blowing up.

[burton14e7]

I have also seen a diseased one in person at a fish store. They were selling it for like 150 because it was huge. But one of the sides of it was all shriveld.

The main body of mine is ginormous now. So it's not having problems extending. In fact I'm in the middle of a water change so my canopy/lights are off the tank. And now the tentacles have ballooned up and long again and the body is still huge. Could the lighitng be too much?

250W MH and two 55PC 03 actnics. I moved it from the rocks to the sand in the middle of the tank when I saw most people had theirs on the sand.

[burton14e7]

Well I'll let you guys know if its just in the early stage of dying. I sure hope not.

[EricHugo]

Hard to say, burton, without a photo what might be going on. It sounds a lot to me based on your description that it is exhibiting signs consistent with a diseased elegance coral.

[burton14e7]

day 2 of noticed behaviour and this being my first coral and having read the project thorougly, I hate to say it but yes; I believe both of you are correct. One of the sides looked like it couldn't hold itself up when I checked it out this morning still closed up, I had not seen it do that before neither. Should I just toss it to the curb or wait to see if it gets better?

[XxMutedYouthxX]

I'd go down to the LFS and see if they have anything that can help ya save him... those are really cool corals and I'd hate to see it die :(

Oh almost forgot to ask... Are you putting any trace elements in the tank? protien skimmer? the lighting should be fine... looks like you have a 10k bulb in there from looking at your pic which is what the hard corals preffer so I'm not 100% sure

[burton14e7]

Yeah I have a aqua C urchin, the remora but sump version. No trace elements, weekley water changes with new salt. I read that if you do your water changes militantly then you dont need trace elements. I put in some mark weiss stuff and the tentacles extended right up. Right now it looks healthy just with a bloated body. He is opened up way more than the picture in my gallery. He almost takes up the hole middle section between my rocks. If it lives and grows I will have to find a new home for him.

[burton14e7]

Should I toss the sucker? Will it release excess nutrients into the water or anything to that effect?

[burton14e7]

I moved him to a spot with less light and it does look happier. Think MH's are too much for them?

[Erick504]

My elegance does that occasionaly, but goes back to its normal self in a hour or so. How long have you had it? If you just got it, i'd be worried that it has the disease. If you had it longer than a month, i think your safe. Elegance corals with the disease usually dies within a couple of weeks.

[prop-frags]

I was going to update this forum on my elegance which I purchased back on July 3rd - see pic in my gallery if interested.
I originally placed the coral pretty high up in my tank where it was getting moderate-to-strong flow and lots of light. The coral began to exhibit many of the symptoms of disease described here (swollen oral disc, atrophy and whitening of the tentacles and surrounding tissue, etc.)
I moved the coral to near the bottom of the tank with much less flow and light. To my delight, after about a week the coral now has expanded to it's biggest size yet, no more swelling, tentacles are much longer. The right side that had atrophied and bleached is recovering slowly, but looking much better now.

[burton14e7]

He still looks sick earlier in the day but at night his tentacles look better and he isn't as inflated. But he does slime a lot. It's been a few weeks since the first symptons. I think he's been in the tank about a month and a half. I almost feel like tossing him but I don;t want to do it if he will make it.

[burton14e7]

I also added a phosban reactor the night that it looked normal. Just an FYI

[burton14e7]

K I posted a picture of him in my gallery. This is him 3 hours into the light. He looked normal yesterday at about 5-6 hours of light.

[gregr]

updates burton14e7 and mclva123?

[prop-frags]

Originally posted by gregr
updates burton14e7 and mclva123? Elegance still doing nicely near the bottom. I'll see if I can snap an updated picture this evening. I've been hand-feeding it, BTW. It's positioned kinda under my tubastrea and so the elegance enjoys the "gourmet treatment"...:D

[gregr]

that's great- perhaps you're onto something there with the frequent and targeted feedings.
greg

[prop-frags]

updated pic. Elegance after 7 weeks:

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/518/3704221-Aug-04_Elegance.jpg

[prop-frags]

I wanted to keep you guys posted on my Elegance. I am enjoying continued success with the coral. I have been keeping it roughly in the same location (on the bottom) and have altered slightly the angle at which the coral is stuck into the substrate or propped up by rocks, etc. to see what seems to do the best. The coral gets moderate flow and light. I am still hand-feeding it meaty foods 3-4 times per week. Here is an updated photo from this afternoon:
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/518/3704204-Dec-26_Elegance.jpg

[poopsko24]

very nice indeed, very good.

[cristhiam]

Hey prop-frags, do you still have the elegance? still on the floor?

[prop-frags]

Yes, and yes.
It definitely seems to do best when it's tentacles are in contact with the substrate and with the regular feedings. It really perks up when it gets a nice chunky supper.