How many Elegance Corals have you tried?

[Greg Hiller]

I've killed three. Two from shops, one tiny baby from a hobbyist, but apparently they had not had the mother colony for long, and it died too.

These were once supposed to be easy, now no one can keep a newly imported one alive. Some have ones that are many years old and doing fine.

[nichols41]

I had one from 1986 until 1994 when I broke down my tanks and sold out due to buying a home and having a baby both at the same time. I kept one in my 75 about 1 1/2 years ago. It lasted about 4 months and then receded till it died.

[Armando]

two. and i'm done.

[gurumasta]

i had one about a year and was growing and healthy. sold it to another member when i broke down my tank and dont know the current update.

[JeremyR]

Have had the current animal for about 5 years, it was owned by a hobbyist a couple before that. It's in 3 parts now, it has partially decalcified on a couple of occasions, and the "babies" have refused to grow skeleton, but have been alive seperately for a good year now.

We choose not to sell this coral, it just doesn't live anymore.

[Andy O]

I had one that lasted for about 4 months. I noticed that it did best when the water wasn't as clean.

[nitrofish]

from what I have heard the older elagence corals came from shallow waters and survived well, but they where over collected and are basicly all gone (or close to it) now there are only the harder to keep deeper water elegence that have don't survive well .

[Firefish]

The trick is to convince your clown to host in it...
I had this one in TN

[skyedolphan]

I will agree that maybe a trick is to have the clowns host but I had minefor 4 yrs before the clowns and it did well have had the clowns in it for almost 2 yrs and it is bigger than ever and seems to grow faster

so yes have had 1 for almost 6 yrs ( willbe in NOvember) at this time I am trying to decide if I need to set up another species only tank for for the elegance and the squamosa as I am outta room in my main tank and my elegance is startingto have war with anything that is near it

[Greg Hiller]

Dawn,

Very cool, I look forward to seeing it. I doubt I'll ever have one unless somebody breaks down a tank and sells a really old one.

[Greg Hiller]

So far from the poll. 10 dead, 4 alive, 2 additional that might live. Not so good.

[agent6473]

Greg,
I have an interesting account of an elegance. I bought it a few months ago and it looked fairly healthy, but not as meaty as some of the "healthy ones I've seen. The skeleton is a large flat cone about 6" wide at the largest point, but the flesh never extends that much. I read to place the flat cone with the flesh facing towards the glass of the tank and let the bottom side of the flesh rest on the sand. It was not in this orientation in the shop. I did this and the animal seemed to do well for a month. Then one day it looked like it was dying. The flesh was totally closed and looked like it was receding into the skeleton. Some sand got in the skeleton on one side of the cone and that flesh died off. Then, mirarculously, the coral seemed to make somewhat of a recovery. The flesh on the other end came back and looked like it did before, but then faded into a dead spot of bare skeleton at the other end. I try to keep the sand out of that dead spot, but the tissue does not seem to regrow there, and I can't tell if it's receding more or staying the same. The coral has been in this condition for at least 2 months. I feed the coral mysis, cyclopeeze, etc in hopes that it'll recover, but it still doesn't look as meaty as the other elegance I've seen pictures of. Throughout the day it will look varying degrees of healthy. This is by far the most confusing coral behavior I've seen in my tank, and I have no idea what I should do for this coral besides leave it where it is and see where the reef gods take it. Do you have any suggestions? I paid a pretty penney for this coral and would like to see it recover, and it isn't as stunning as it should be with some exposed skeleton on one end.

Chris

[Andy O]

For those of you who have had success what level have you placed it in your tank as well as how is it situated (flat, on side, etc). Thanks.

[Greg Hiller]

>Do you have any suggestions? <

Ha...I'm not the one to ask. I'm the one that killed three! I even tried Julian's antibiotic treatment on one....still died.

[agent6473]

When yours died, Greg, describe the demise of the coral. Was it similar to mine, or was it the entire coral at the same time? How long did they last in your system?

[Greg Hiller]

The death of all of mine were the same as the standard syndrome of this coral. After a few days, maybe a week, they stop expanding as much. Expand less and less each day, then start to look like the tissue is pulling away from the skeleton near the edges. After about 3-6 weeks the thing is clearly toast. The last time I purchased a wild collected colony from a shop I put it into a tank that had not had a skimmer on it in quite some time (the theory is that our tanks are too clean these days, I've NO idea whether it's true or not). After it started to decline I tried an antibiotic treatment on it. I started the treatment pretty early, before it was very far gone. Looked good after treatment, but still declined and died. The treatment had once before worked for me for a Lobophyllia, which has continued to do well for many years (just fragged one of the heads because it had grown so much). Anyhow, treatment was a 24 hour bath in...I think it was Neomycin that I used. 100% change, then another bath for 24 hours then back in the tank. The bath was in a bucket in my sump with an airstone for water movement (no light). FWIW!

[zemuron114]

nitro fish is right that the new ones are coming from deeper waters.
Elegance are like goni's or alveoporas in that they like dirty water with nitrates and crap. Thats why goni's do well if they are directly fed 1-3 times a week. Also, since the collectors are going deeper the boat time when they are just sitting in bins is much much longer, which i think is a big part of it. They are cramming hundreds of these into small bins to get volume and dont care about what happens to them. I wont buy a new one, only if someone is breaking down and have had it past a year.

I really think the only reason why they dont live long anymore is the poor collection practices that the collectors use. I bet you could collect one yourself and it would thrive. Its to bad, cuz they are one of my favorite corals :(

[ReeferMedic]

i had one about a year and was growing and healthy. sold it to another member when i broke down my tank and dont know the current update.



It's still doing great Derek. Here it is a couple of weeks ago.

[ReeferMedic]

For those of you who have had success what level have you placed it in your tank as well as how is it situated (flat, on side, etc). Thanks.


Mine was on the bottom off to the side of a 250 14k de mh in Derek's tank if, I remember correctly. I have it placed the same under a 250 10k mh de and it's doing very well. I do have a decent amout of nutrients in the water though. I'm definately pushing the boundries a bit with all the fish I have in my system. So, I guess at the present moment, I'm 1 for 1.

[starrfish]

Just killed my first one a couple of weeks ago:( ....never again.

[agent6473]

I should start a picture progression of my coral. Unfortunately, I don't have any of when I first got it. I'll get some current pics and then follow it through. It amazes me that mine is still alive after looking dead... This coral is so confusing.

[Greg Hiller]

I thought I'd move this thread over to this forum and give it a bump since the topic of elegance corals has come up again. I'd still love to know how to find a healthy one and keep it alive (for years).

[naturebatslast]

from what I have heard the older elagence corals came from shallow waters and survived well, but they where over collected and are basicly all gone (or close to it) now there are only the harder to keep deeper water elegence that have don't survive well .

I've heard similiar to this. I've also heard, larger older speciems fair better.

[reefinghabit]

greg you personally saw my elegance coral in sea world. its been in there at least 4 months now. doing very well. i feed it chopped up clam once in a while.

[dz6t]

It's still doing great Derek. Here it is a couple of weeks ago.

Is this one still alive?

[ReeferMedic]

Is this one still alive?

Unfortunately, just a small quarter size piece of flesh is all that remains. I put it in my fuge/frag tank as a last ditch effort to try and save it.

[JeremyR]

Unfortunately, just a small quarter size piece of flesh is all that remains. I put it in my fuge/frag tank as a last ditch effort to try and save it.

True slow flow fuges seem to be very good for certain LPS woes.. we've had a few LPS that had slid off their skeletons recuperate in HOB fuges and eventually regrow skeleton. I'm not sure that a frag tank would provide the same kind of conditions... I think what makes them able to get better is a combo of the slow flow (they don't blow around) and the nutrient and microlife.. but it's just a guess. Anyways, I"ve seen it work for frogspawn, open brain, & elegance that was peeling off the skeleton.

[Greg Hiller]

Don,

>Unfortunately, just a small quarter size piece of flesh is all that remains. I put it in my fuge/frag tank as a last ditch effort to try and save it.<

The fragment I took from this also did not make it. I don't think this Elegance was well established yet.

[ReeferMedic]

The fragment I took from this also did not make it. I don't think this Elegance was well established yet.


I believe Derek had it for about 9 mos. I thought that was long enough, but I guess not. Probably wasn't well enough establiched yet, but it was very healthy looking when I got it from him. Maybe his system was a better environment for it. Unfortunately, we'll never know. The quarter size piece is still holding on though.;)

[ReeferMedic]

True slow flow fuges seem to be very good for certain LPS woes.. we've had a few LPS that had slid off their skeletons recuperate in HOB fuges and eventually regrow skeleton. I'm not sure that a frag tank would provide the same kind of conditions... I think what makes them able to get better is a combo of the slow flow (they don't blow around) and the nutrient and microlife.. but it's just a guess. Anyways, I"ve seen it work for frogspawn, open brain, & elegance that was peeling off the skeleton.

This tank is more like a fuge with zoa frags in it, not alot of flow. I'll post in this thread if it rebounds.

[ReeferMedic]

Well, after the elegance has been in my fuge type zoa frag tank for about a week or so, it seems to be regrowing some tissue over the dead area. The quarter size is just a hair bigger now. Right now, it's sitting about 12-14" under a 250 hamilton off to the side a bit, on a pile of rubble that is loaded with pods, deep sand bed, and lowish flow. Hopefully it's on the rebound, only time will tell.

This was on Dawn's advise. We were speaking at one of the last meetings, and she said to try and put in in a fuge if I had one. So, if it rebounds, kudos goes to her.

[reefinghabit]

i dont know if you read the article i copy and pasted, but i think you are on the right track. it talked about placing them in refugium type environments. some are collected in muddy merky lagoon type areas, or higher nutrient areas with lower turbulance. good luck with it.

[gurumasta]

Don,

>Unfortunately, just a small quarter size piece of flesh is all that remains. I put it in my fuge/frag tank as a last ditch effort to try and save it.<

The fragment I took from this also did not make it. I don't think this Elegance was well established yet.

at the time you fragged the coral it wasnt all that well established, maybe a few months. it healed well however and grew tissue over the fragged area. that coral did well in my tank in my tank for roughly 10-11 months.

the key thing that made my decision on the purchase was that it was at the lfs for a good 6 months prior to me taking it home and was healthy looking the whole time.

i'm aware of that coral staying healthy well over one year's time in home aquariums. i hope she pulls together for you don. keep us updated.

[Greg Hiller]

> it healed well however and grew tissue over the fragged area<

One thing to note, and one of the only reasons I felt comfortable cutting this frag off of Derek's coral...the fragment that I cut off was completely separated from the rest of the coral by dead skeleton. I cut Only though dead skeleton when I removed my piece.

Now, were it my own healthy Elegance I might not have been afraid to cut though live tissue, but I was not about to take any chances with someone elses healthy Elegance, unless it was too big for their tank (Dawn, are you reading? hint, hint :D )

[skyedolphan]

LOL yup I have been following this thread pretty closely Greg

but see I now have the 240 up and running to allow more room for the elegance :)

but that being said I actually have been talking with people aNd thinking alittle more about trying to frag it in the future .

right now my main goal is to try to get it back 100 % and reestablished in the 240

once that happens maybe next year I will think about trying it with you
BUT>>>>

please send me any info you have on fragging foxes,bubbles,anchors and the likes I understand the jestof it but am not comfortable with cutting the skeleton and basically leaving it to hang and seperate on its own :(

on other notes I do not directly feed my elegance although I severely overfeed my tank and do a very dry skim and I do see the clowns bringing food to it

I also do not run a "clean " system , at anytime you can find my nitrates up around 5-10PPM

my elegance is also in the sand bed skeleton down mouths up moderate changing flow off to the side of the lights
although it has been under everything from PC to 1000MH

[Greg Hiller]

>please send me any info you have on fragging foxes,bubbles,anchors and the likes I understand the jestof it but am not comfortable with cutting the skeleton and basically leaving it to hang and seperate on its own<

Dawn, here's the article I wrote on the propagation of Flabello-meandroid (corals with a continuous skeleton) Euphyllia corals.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-03/gh/index.php

I also have propagated Fox in a similar fashion. As was mentioned in another thread, the Fox skeletons are so fragile you can just snap them in your hands.