elegance

[marine mike]

Dawn, so sorry to see what has happened to that beautiful elegance. That last shot you posted looks like that frag is coming back nicely though. Best of luck in your ongoing battle and I am thinking positively for you!

Mike

 

[Sherri]

HI -- It sounds like your water quality has definitely been up and down but, from what I read, elegance corals come from very silty conditions and tend to like that. There's a thread on reef central started by this guy Darrell who goes by the name elegancecoral and he talks about putting healthy corals in with corals with the infection and finding that the healthy corals do not deteriorate. There's another guy there who has researched the gonis -- I forget his name -- anyway -- I believe he said that the infection on goni's would not spread to elegance corals but my memory may be wrong. You could ask Darrell for his opinion. He believes that the problems with the indo elegance corals comes from too much light, the coral gets burned and the secondary infections set in. Part of his rational is based on the fact that the elegance pathogen which some believe to be the root cause of the problem cannot be found in wild populations -- it only occurs after capture.

I still wonder about the clowns ... I know many have said they are not the problem -- my naked clown bugs a Caribbean coral I have called Stephanocoenia -- a coral that is not a normal hosting coral. She ignores the hammer, torch, elegance and frogspawn which one would think would be a normal substitute for an anemone....The more likely cause is the 3-days of non-stop light ... if you buy Darrell's theory.

 

[starrfish]

Dawn, I am so sorry to hear about your baby - I know you love that coral and have been very proud of it (deservedly so). I really hope the frags make it.

I don't know if I ever told you, but I ended up buying Matt's elegance back in September. I took your excellent advice and put it in the sand, kind of shaded, in a low flow area. So far it's doing really well. I don't directly feed it, but I have a very dirty tank (lots of feeding) and I squirt fish goo towards the elegance every day. Your elegance really was an inspiration for me to try this one. I hope that one day I can be as proud of mine. Good luck with the frags.

 

[skyedolphan]

Thanks for the words
I am now down to 1 frag remaining alive
after 8 years this totally sucks

 

[starrfish]

I'm so sorry Dawn - that really sux.

 

[delta]

Thanks for the words
I am now down to 1 frag remaining alive
after 8 years this totally sucks

We will hope for the best for the one little guy

 

[Dave McReeferson]

We will hope for the best for the one little guy

Indeed.

 

[clamm]

that just plain stinks... i wish you luck...

 

[Sherri]

I am so sorry to hear that you only have one frag left. I am sorry if my curiosity about the cause felt heartless. AG had a pretty big Aussie Elegance the last time I was in there and I would be willing to donate $'s to help fund getting you a new one. It is big and needs a big tank -- if someone hasn't bought it.

 

[S Hunter]

thats a real bummer Dawn...

 

[ReeferMedic]

That $ucks Dawn. Hopefully the last frag will survive. Any idea on what caused it to suddenly decline?

 

[skyedolphan]

So far the last frag is doing well. my fingers are crossed daily and I am in the process of fighting with myself on moving it into the downstairs fuge/mix/left over tank. My only concern is although it is the same system I am afraid that any little change may trigger a regression thus the fight to leave it where it is.
My only thoughts on the sudden decline are a few.
1) I know in the wild we do not know how long they survive although because of the longevity of other corals we speculate a long life for
these as well.

2) As much as we try to match Mother Nature we can not. It just wont happen. I have had it 8 years and have seen its ups and downs during the last 3 . I went with the 240 to give it as much room as possible but it has never gotten back to it's glory of 3 years ago. Could this be because of tank changes form the 120 to the 240 I am sure it could. Could it also be that I had started taking "better" care of the tank IE. weekly water changes and watching parameters closer since the 240 went up. Could it be that I did an intensive interceptor treatment right before it seems to have bit the bullet? possibly. another factor is the lighting downstairs was stuck on for 4 days before I realized it and melted over 50 rics which I believe caused the brown jelly disease to attack my red candy canes and gonipora down there. which may in turn have sent a pathogen or signal to the elegance?
I am not sure if I will ever get another elegance. I consider myself very lucky to have kept this one for as long as I have. I believe part of it had to do with the fact that it was purchased back in the day when they were easily collected and came from shallower waters. I also believe a lot of its survival was because back then we/I did not know what I know now. For all the good that we think we are doing to keep those in our care happy and healthy. Pristine conditions are not for all animals. back when I got the elegance I had a 55 gallon closed tank ,crushed coral bottom, PC lighting, tap water, no additives, no fish goo, algae up the yin yang and a basic yellow colored tank.
a year later I went with the 75 same system then into the 120 which was also run closed , added 2x400MH learnt about feeding mixed fresh sea foods and such. Slowly the 120 added a small sump in the stand with a bullet skimmer then came the ro/di system, fuge, then 3 years ago the plumbing to the basement, larger skimmer, calcium reactor and down grade to the 2x250 maristar. Could all of this "upgrading" to maintain a better system for the inhabitants hurt the elegance? I believe it is possible due to the fact that it did wonders in a nasty tank for 4 years.
I have been watching something for 7 weeks which I may try which leads to my new post