All doing great except goniopora

DanH86 · Jan 9, 2020

My corals have never looked so good - my torch is huge, hammer extending and zoas are spreading quick but a goniopora I put in 2 weeks ago hasn’t extended at all for the last 2 days and now looks like a flat green plate. It was huge within hours of arriving in the tank but now 2 weeks later doesn’t look good. Do they need any special care?

Goni is sat near (but not on) the sand bed in terms of tank height. It is also in an area of low-medium flow.

I feed Reef Roids every 3 days
2 x reef90 leds
reefer 250 tank
rodi 0tds water
Red Sea coral pro salt
10% weekly water changes
0.5 nitrate
0.05 phosphate
8 alk
1350 mag
375 Calc
1.024 salinity

Daniel92481 · Jan 9, 2020

Try to put it in medium/high light with medium/high flow.

DanH86 · Jan 9, 2020

thanks, will give it a few days and see if it helps

SuncrestReef · Jan 9, 2020

I have mine about 8 inches to the side of my powerhead so it's not getting direct flow, but still good movement:

DanH86 · Jan 9, 2020

Oh yeh mine doesn’t get as much movement as that when it was extending..will give it a go in another spot.

living_tribunal · Jan 9, 2020

DanH86 said:
My corals have never looked so good - my torch is huge, hammer extending and zoas are spreading quick but a goniopora I put in 2 weeks ago hasn’t extended at all for the last 2 days and now looks like a flat green plate. It was huge within hours of arriving in the tank but now 2 weeks later doesn’t look good. Do they need any special care?

Goni is sat near (but not on) the sand bed in terms of tank height. It is also in an area of low-medium flow.

I feed Reef Roids every 3 days
2 x reef90 leds
reefer 250 tank
rodi 0tds water
Red Sea coral pro salt
10% weekly water changes
0.5 nitrate
0.05 phosphate
8 alk
1350 mag
375 Calc
1.024 salinity

They might depending on if you have an Indonesian or Austrian.

Indo gonis are a lot more difficult to care for. They appreciate low flow and low par. @Magellan probably has more insight than I do.

Aussie gonis are pretty easy and tolerate a wide range of conditions. Mine have been in low and higher flow and low to mid par and haven’t skipped a heartbeat.

Do you know the geography of your goni?

Maybe post a pic for us to check out.

Magellan · Jan 9, 2020

A pic would be helpful!

DanH86 · Jan 10, 2020

2 weeks ago:

And how it has been for 3 days now:

DanH86 · Jan 10, 2020

I haven’t done an icp test...am visiting lfs today so will see about picking up some trace elements.

ps. I see you’re Basingstoke - never thought I’d see someone local on here!

DanH86 · Jan 10, 2020

I’m just outside Basingstoke. I use reefkeeper Bracknell as my LFS as I’ve found everywhere close is rubbish, what’s your chosen LFS?

I've moved the Goni to a higher light medium flow area, see what happens.

DanH86 · Jan 10, 2020

Yes that’s the one I go to, good to hear it’s recommended.

DanH86 · Jan 10, 2020

Well the Goni has gone from bad to worse - multiple areas now showing skeleton. I went to my lfs today and bought Red Sea trace elements formulas but I think something more serious is going on. Today’s parameters all test ok - mag had dropped to 1290 but everything else is as per my original post.

Magellan · Jan 10, 2020

DanH86 said:
Well the Goni has gone from bad to worse - multiple areas now showing skeleton. I went to my lfs today and bought Red Sea trace elements formulas but I think something more serious is going on. Today’s parameters all test ok - mag had dropped to 1290 but everything else is as per my original post.

(can you take a pic under whites only?) you may have an Indonesian Goni, a Goniopora Stokesi. Looks like a very large colony! They come from murky, nutrient dense waters and don’t like much light or flow. It is also one of the singular most difficult corals to keep, extremely finicky and very sensitive to any sort of change in its environment. Your salinity looks to be a bit low (try to stay as close to 1.025 as possible - NSW level). Other than that, feed the thing! It’s a voracious eater, I feed my tank 2-3x a day, every day. I broadcast a small amount of Phyto Feast, then later Oyster Feast, and sometimes reef roids as well. Pick a spot you like for it (close to the bottom in lower light) and leave it there and don’t move it.

also, Manganese is important, I dose Fuel, as well as Reef Fusion 2 part which both contain manganese and some other trace elements that it needs. Good luck!

also: they are notorious for randomly dying, even in tanks that they were previously thriving in...so don’t feel bad if it doesn’t make it.

mine has been in my tank for about 9 months now, it’s had its ups and downs but thrives on consistency.