Plz help identify white stuff on elegance coral

[grapejelly]

I have an indo elegance coral.. I dipped it when I first got it and I just dipped it again tonight hoping it would help...I have had it for a few weeks now. at first it seemed fine in my display but then just slowly started to close up.. all my other coral in the tank are fine...

my vital signs are right on...Nitrate near 0 PH is 8.27 everthing else is on as well....

Please help me identify what this is and what I can do to save it... It has looked very un happy and as you can see in the pic there are white little puss things....

any info would be great ,,,thanks everyone....

 

[saltwaterB]

Indo Elegance Coral have a terrible track record in captivity. Most do exactly what yours is and never really open again. Not 100% sure on the white stuff??? Thay commonly suffer from a patogen called "brown Jelly" But that looks like brown jelly not anything white.

If you want a healthy and bulletproof Elegance, get yourself and Aussie one. those are solid.

 

[nichols]

Not too much you can do for that Elegance. Once it's receded from the skeleton like that the don't come back.

 

[grapejelly]

That brown is its flesh ...the only stuff that i see htat is strangs is those white little puss things....amost looks like popcorn in the pic...

 

[JayM]

that looks like a RBTA in the lower left...did it sting the coral?

 

[grapejelly]

Please help Identify

sorry about all the typos....

That brown was common to see when I first got it...When he would closeup at night I would see the brown flesh...Then he would be wide awake in the morning...and he looked amazing for a while.. then it just declined and I started to see those white puss things..... I have another indo elegance in the tank and he is thriving..... see in this pic I circled in red the puss things...

 

[grapejelly]

No it did not.... I only had it there for a second so I could take a good pic...there is nothing near this coral normaly....thanks

 

[frank180reef]

it doesnt look totally gone though

any updates?

 

[Jocko]

I'm not totally up to date on this, but I remember a year or two ago it sounded like pretty much 0% of incoming elegance were surviving long term in captivity. Are people having long term success now?

 

[Greg Hiller]

The white patches may be mesenterial filiments. Hard to tell without a more close up and in focus photo. If you look at them closely and they look more like little wound up strings instead of tiny balls of cotten, then they are problably mesenterial filiments. If they are, they are not causing an problem. I would not count the coral out yet, but if this is it's normal appearance, it's not looking good!

When you say 'dipped it', what exactly did you do? What did you use, how long, etc? Also, what type of tank is it in, what type of lighting, flow? Any fish that might be bothering it?

I agree with what's been said here regarding survival of Elegance. Very low of late (even over the past 12 years). I have heard the Australian ones are better, but that might mean that they just survive a bit longer. I think of longevity in terms of years, not months or weeks. FWIW, if you get a healthy one, they can be fragged when they grow large (I know as I've done it successfully).

 

[saltwaterB]

Greg,
I have had some Aussie ones for a few years now. I can confidently say that they do SO much better than the Indo ones. I have lost only one Aussie Elegance over the last 2-3 years of bringing them in (at least 40-50 specimen) While I could barely get an Indo one to survive longer than 6 weeks.
I currently have 4 aussie Elegance at home in my tanks now. After reading your posts I am trying to get up the gal to frag one or two of them.

 

[Greg Hiller]

B-

Go for it, slice and dice! No biggy. Just make sure it's in good flow afterward so no infections can start.

 

[Joel A]

do these have a potent sting like a lot of other LPS corals? Not meaning to humans, but rather to other sessile inverts. Do people successfully keep these in SPS tanks, or do they spread and sting to much?

 

[Greg Hiller]

They don't really 'spread' other than expanding a lot when really healthy. They do have a potent sting, but don't really send out any sweeper tentacles that can go any distance. In the 'old days' when they were easy to get in good condition (and keep healthy) some experienced people used to say you could kill Aiptasia merely by picking up your elegance and brushing it against the Aiptasia (not sure I believe it). I've heard tell of them capturing snails?

 

[Joel A]

yeah, looks like it would be an LPS with a potent sting..

But if there aren't any long sweeper tentacles to speak of, then it's probably not to much to worry about =).