force feeding an elegance

[astroboy]

I bought an elegance three months ago that's been going downhill to the point where the polyps are basically non-existent. The mouths are still there. I'm not sure what's wrong since I have two other elegances that are doing fine although I recently discovered my water quality wasn't all that great which I think damaged the elegance. I've since corrected that but the polyps are still non-existent. 

 

For whatever reason it seems the elegance is starving.. I was thinking about using a toothpick to push small bits of food into the mouths. Has anyone ever tried this? Any recommendations on what elegances in that condition might like to eat?

[ReefdUp]

Please don't. The food will simply rot in the coral and speed the decay. 

 

We'd be happy to help on other strategies if you can post tank parameters and photos.

[astroboy]

Thanks very much!

 

Current parameters:

 

pH 8.11

Temp: 78

Alk : 7.38

PO4: .03

N03: 2.3

Mg: 1200

Ca: 430

Salinity 35 ppt

 

A week ago I measured the TDS from my RODI water and it was at 7 ppm. I think now it had been that way for three or four months although right before I put in new media (still waiting on an RO membrane) the parameters were about the same. I did have a fair amount of algae on the glass and some of the corals looked a little bit stressed so I think the water quality was not as good as I thought it was. Right now, the TDS from the RODI reads zero and after a 90% water change the corals that looked a bit droopy are perking up. 

 

This particular elegance is at the top of a 90 gallon with 300W Maxspect LED lights and I've wondered if that might too bright, however, the other elegances next to it look fine. The club PAR meter arrived yesterday so I'll do measurements with that. Current is fairly low, enough to move the polyps but not much more than that. 

 

I've had the coral that's doing badly about three months. The other two nearly that long

 

 

[ReefdUp]

Thanks... let's see if we can help another way.

 

- If you put food on it, does it open up and eat it or react at all within 30 minutes?

- Do you have clowns, shrimp, or anything that could possibly host in it, even if you haven't see them do it?

- Is there a powerhead, return line, or any sort of direct flow on it?

- Have you see it covered with a lot of mesenterial filaments (white stringy guts)?

 

To be honest, it looks a lot like Elegance Coral Syndrome. I had a case a couple years back, and I tried *everything* hoping I could crack the code with no luck. I hope that's not what you have, but I recommend you read up on it just in case.

[astroboy]

I'll turn off all the current in the tank and put brine shrimp on it. They disappear eventually but I haven't seen the coral actually ingest anything. It doesn't do anything with tiny bits of fish.....

 

I have a couple of clowns but they never go near the elegances. I don't have any shrimp or snails.

 

There's no direct flow.

 

I haven't seen any filaments.

 

I'll read upon ECS. I'm greatly tempted to toss it before it infects (if that's the word for it) the other two elegances. I had a couple of elegances about 10 years ago, never was able to keep them alive. Got a couple of Aussie elegances in 2010 (with the same clowns), in 2021 they went from great to dead in about three months. I hadn't added anything to the tank for years so I don't think infection could have been a problem. Looking back, the ballasts on my MH fixture failed soon after and I wonder if that didn't result in some sort of bad output from the bulbs. I've never heard anyone claim ballasts could do that but I suppose it's possible. I lost two other corals I'd had fo years at that time also. Couldn't get new ballasts of the same sort and the fixture was 20 years old and really showing its age so rather than experiment I decided to get LEDs.

 

 

Edited December 12, 2023 by astroboy
clarification