Elegance Coral

[Crazy fishes]

Today, I got the impulse that a new coral was required and so I went out to get one. My intention was to pick up a torch coral I had seen a few days back but when I got to the LFS the torch had withdrawn it's tentacles right in and this made me doubt the health of the specimen. In this moment of doubt I looked around the tank to see what else was for sale and noticed that a coral that looked just like an elegance coral was displaced slightly under the rack. I asked if it was an elegance and it was (what a surprise it looked like a elegance and was an elegance ) but it didn't have a price tag. The guy asked how much I would pay and in the end I bought it for £45. This is a good price since the coral is hard to come by and is therefore a minimum of £90 usually. Up to this point in my marine adventure I have only seen two elegance and both have been in the last 4 days. Now begins the hard bit trying to keep it happy so it grows to be a 'big' elegance . Anyone got any success with this coral??

Regards

 

[Colin_T]

Elegance corals are easy to keep. Good water quality and light do most of the work for you. You can feed them on small pieces of marine food each day or every few days, whenever you like really. They don't even have to be fed but grow faster if they are. Don't have excessive water movement around them but make sure they have some. Keep the calcium levels high around 450ppm so they can grow more skeleton. Keep the temperature around 24-28C.

 

[connorsbala]

Sounds easy enough..i may invest in one

 

[SkiFletch]

Ah the Elegance coral, the reason I got into the hobby in the first place. Having kept one for the last two years I can offer some insight.

Elegance corals are very easy to keep with four "do not do" exceptions. First, they HATE low alkalinity. In such a condition, growth is slowed or even stopped and the coral CAN "bail out" of it's skeleton. Mercifully if it remains mostly living, the animal is very adept at growing new skeleton when conditions are restored. Second, they LOATHE phosphate (as do most hard corals) and will have a similar reaction as to low alkalinity. Third, high temps are an easy killer for these guys. I lost half my colony to warming up the tank to 89 (whoops). And lastly, the most nefarious trouble with keeping these animals is what's known as Elegance Coral Syndrome (ECS). ECS is really only known for sure as a water transmitted pathogenic infection with no effective treatment ultimately leading to the coral's demise. Its symptoms are obvious; simultaneous inflated oral disk, retracted tentacles, and bleaching. This became a problem years ago as an infected coral clearly got into wholesaler's tanks and 2-8 years ago, just about all elegance corals purchased were doomed to ECS. Mercifully, the pitiful survival rate caused people to stop buying them and the wholesalers therefore to stop stocking them. When that happened, the pathogen in the wholesalers tanks perished without a host. Then recently in the last year or two elegance's have been coming back into the hobby, this time healthy.

As another note of care, don't be afraid to blast these guys with light, they can take it

 

[Crazy fishes]

Ah the Elegance coral, the reason I got into the hobby in the first place. Having kept one for the last two years I can offer some insight.

Elegance corals are very easy to keep with four "do not do" exceptions. First, they HATE low alkalinity. In such a condition, growth is slowed or even stopped and the coral CAN "bail out" of it's skeleton. Mercifully if it remains mostly living, the animal is very adept at growing new skeleton when conditions are restored. Second, they LOATHE phosphate (as do most hard corals) and will have a similar reaction as to low alkalinity. Third, high temps are an easy killer for these guys. I lost half my colony to warming up the tank to 89 (whoops). And lastly, the most nefarious trouble with keeping these animals is what's known as Elegance Coral Syndrome (ECS). ECS is really only known for sure as a water transmitted pathogenic infection with no effective treatment ultimately leading to the coral's demise. Its symptoms are obvious; simultaneous inflated oral disk, retracted tentacles, and bleaching. This became a problem years ago as an infected coral clearly got into wholesaler's tanks and 2-8 years ago, just about all elegance corals purchased were doomed to ECS. Mercifully, the pitiful survival rate caused people to stop buying them and the wholesalers therefore to stop stocking them. When that happened, the pathogen in the wholesalers tanks perished without a host. Then recently in the last year or two elegance's have been coming back into the hobby, this time healthy.

As another note of care, don't be afraid to blast these guys with light, they can take it

Most helpful reply Ski so thank you. I am in the middle of everting trouble since I have notice that algae is growing a LOT faster on the glass and is forming thick patches. I did some tests and nitrate was 2.5ppm previously down to 1ppm and phosphate was 0.05ppm previously <0.015ppm. These rises are most probably due to the addition of a firefish a week or so ago and the alternated feeding regimen. I am doing some pretty large water changes and cleaned all the filter material out which was thick with rot. Then I will fix the alkalinity to where it should be and the calcium is fine.

Have you every regenerated a purigen bag? I am EXTREMELY nervous about using it again since the amount of bleach used to regenerate (1:1 bleach:water).

Secondly have you the measurements for making the alkalinity solution from sodium bicarbonate? I have my tank working how I like it and I REALLY would hate for things to go belly up now .

Regards

 

[SkiFletch]

I don't have the measurements but Dr Randy Holmes-Farley Does...

As for the re-using Purigen, never tried it. If you are worried about the bleach for the purigen, once regenerated and rinsed a bunch of times you could always just soak it in some freshly made seawater for a little bit. Has good buffering capacity

 

[connorsbala]

Im the very same, been scared of re-generating stuff, so i just buy new stuff when i feel it needs changing

 

[Crazy fishes]

Ski, I think my elegance is upset with something; he is extruding his zooxanthellae. Interestingly enough it has two oral discs so I guess it is two polyps. I will leave him be for a few days and see what comes of the situation. Hold tight the future looks bumpy......

Regards

 

[Crazy fishes]

Today, Elegance has opened right out and has retained it's colour prefectly. No signs of bleaching yet..... and hopefully it will continue that way. I think he is adjusting the zooxanthellae type and quantity at the moment to the new lighting. Also I think having to do multiple water changes and and dose with 'alkalinity' hasn't helped with a smooth transition. It is surprising how much debris builds up under rocks and in the filter; I cleaned it all out a few days ago and the sludge that was left in the bucket after syphoning!! Thick, brown gloop!! I have also had a small re-jig with the rockwork (one piece of rock orientated differently) which has created more of a feeling of depth to the tank and nice continuity of some ledges. It flows from the back higher rocks to the front lower rocks and accomodates a little area for my plate coral which is now fully extending the tentacles on the flow side as well as the far side.
What I did notice yesterday was a Zoa polyp, which broke off the main colony and seeded elsewhere, has now become four polyps !!! This is brilliant and the beauty of marine systems; not only am I making minor adjustments but the system itself is also doing so. I can tell the flow pattern has changed dramatically since the re-jig because the frogspawn tentacles are swaying differently and the small area of clove polyps has also begun swaying a lot more vigorously...

Until next addition

Regards

 

[SkiFletch]

Zooxanthellae expulsion is in and of itself not a sign of trouble for the coral. As you say, new corals will adjust their amount and type of zooxanthellae to the artificial light we put over them.

 

[Crazy fishes]

Zooxanthellae expulsion is in and of itself not a sign of trouble for the coral. As you say, new corals will adjust their amount and type of zooxanthellae to the artificial light we put over them.

None the less it still makes us incredibly nervous !! The elegance is still looking good today but I think the hammer is too close now. I really don't want to move it because it is the centre piece in my tank, seems to like where it is and anymore aggrevation I fear may lead to its demise. I have a possible option of fragging the hammer but am wondering if I have enough skeleton available to do so. This is a tough one but I have a little time to make a decision.

Regards

 

[SkiFletch]

Don't underestimate the elegance, some pack certainly a big punch, even maybe stronger than hammers... Mine actually stung a hammer

 

[Crazy fishes]

Don't underestimate the elegance, some pack certainly a big punch, even maybe stronger than hammers... Mine actually stung a hammer

I'm certainly not.... I don't want either to get stung; I wish for them to play nicely (if only nature were that simple) .

Regards

 

[Crazy fishes]

The elegance has been doing exceedingly well up until now..... I'm quite sure why it is not expanding but it has remained partially shrivelled for the last two days. I checked the basic chemistry temp: 26C S.G: 1.026 pH: 8.2 dKh: 10 which are all normal and stable. Emmmm I have just moved him a few centimeters more clear of the hammer coral as I think they might be stinging each other. I will come back to tell you how that goes.

Regards