Elegance Coral Help

[wolfthefallen]

Got home yesterday to see some white spots on my elegance coral. Below is the biggest spot that is effecting the coral. It appears to be sticking to his tentacles and preventing him from fully opening.

I have had him in the tank for about 5 weeks now.
Tank stats:
40 gallon cube ( 6 Months Old )
PH 7.9 (morning value)
temp: 77
Kh: 8
Ca: 450
Ma: 1500
NO3: 5
PO: 0.00
Salinity: 1.25


What are the recommendations?

 

[Retro Reefer]

Welcome to the forum! doesn't look good for that elegance.. white stuff is probably bacteria, I would try to dip it in something like coral RX, revive or iodine. What’s your lighting?

 

[wolfthefallen]

Thank you for replying Retro Reefer:
I have both Coral RX and Seachem Reef Dip (Coral Disinfectant Iodine dip).. Which do you recommend?

Where he is currently sitting the par level at the max is between 50-55.. I have one Aquaillumination TwentySix-HD light unit for the tank. As I a running mainly LPS in the Tank the bottom of the Tank I have sitting around 50 par and the top of my rocks are sitting between 55~60 par.. So not pushing a whole lot of light. During the peak out of the lights it is currently set at:
UV: 22%
Violet: 30%
Royal: 30%
Blue: 30%
Green: 22%
Deep Red: 22%
Cool White: 22%

 

[shred5]

I use lugols iodine as a dip for lps bacterial infection.
Not sure on the Seachem because I have not used it.

 

[wolfthefallen]

I did an iodine dip last night for the Elegance. He is looking a little better this morning. Though there is still white stuff stuck to his tenticles, and he does not like it when I manually try to remove any of it. But I think I got enough that he will open up to get some light today..

I did notice on wierd thing by his skeleton base. It is clear and cylindrical with debris in it. Any clue what it is?

white stuff still in this guys tentacles, but looking a little better

 

[Retro Reefer]

Sorry I missed your reply yesterday.. iodine was probably the best choice and your coral does seem to look much better. wall elegance can be tough to keep, If you lose it and want to get another consider the cone variety they do much better.. elegance typically doesn’t need or like huge amounts of light but IMO 50 Par is probably not quite enough to keep it happy long term.

 

[wolfthefallen]

what would you recommend for par level? I've been slowly increasing my light level, a couple percent every 3-4 weeks since I've gotten my Hydria HD light. I know I have a couple light sensitive coral in the tank so I've been keeping an eye on them to make sure I don't fry them.

 

[Retro Reefer]

what would you recommend for par level? I've been slowly increasing my light level, a couple percent every 3-4 weeks since I've gotten my Hydria HD light. I know I have a couple light sensitive coral in the tank so I've been keeping an eye on them to make sure I don't fry them.

Just keep slowly pushing it up, maybe shoot for 70-80 par and see how it does.. dipping it again in a day or two probably wouldn’t hurt either.

 

[wolfthefallen]

I was planning on Dipping again tonight since I had to manually remove some of the white stuff this morning to get it to fully open. But I am happy that it appears I am on the right track. Thank you for all the support, I'll keep this thread updated as things progress

 

[vetteguy53081]

+1 on Lugols. Additionally, they like moderate light and good eater flow. Ifvyou aren’t, feed it 2x per week

 

[wolfthefallen]

I gave the elegance another Iodine bath last night. and the original spot of what stuff is pretty gone this morning. Though this morning he is looking really puffy and his tentacles are bunched up and sticking to together.

 

[wolfthefallen]

No Iodine bath last night. This morning he is swallown. The center part where he is closed is filled with the white stuff, and is sticking to the flesh of elegance still /sigh.. While the original spot has cleared up between the baths and manual removal, it has spread. It is rather a pain for manual remove on the rest of him as he closes up on me. I'll probably do a Coral RX bath tonight and see if it has any different affect on this stuff.

 

[wolfthefallen]

TLDR;
Iodine bath given.
Moved closer to light source, light source slightly increased.

I reached out to Than from Tidal Gardens where I picked my Elegance to see if he had any suggestions.

He said it is defiantly a bacterial infection of sometime. He said it did not look good that it was pretty far along, and to continue with iodine baths every other day or try an antibiotic. So keeping with the iodine baths since that is what I have on hand. He also said I could try UV light. Lucky for my I am running a Hydra TwentySix HD, it has UV built in. Since UV light does not penetrate water very well, I put my elegance into a hang on quarantine box I have to bring him up closer to the light source. My UV light part is currently set at 32% during it peek, as I have increased the out put of the light as whole.

lights now set at:
UV: 32%
Violet: 34%
Royal: 34%
Blue: 34%
Green: 26%
Deep Red: 26%
Cool White: 26%

This morning he opened up, tentacles have shriveled up and he is still puffy. The original spot of infection looks like it has cleared up, and the huge spot yesterday on his flesh that was preventing him from opening has shrink in size.

 

[wolfthefallen]

This morning update:
Infection defiantly seems to have picked up. I decided to change this up a little bit and gave him CoralRx bath, if he opens back up today I'll give him an Iodine bath. I also Lowered his quarantine as he was super puffy like he was getting to much light.

 

[Retro Reefer]

I commend your perseverance trying to save your elegance.. If it doesn’t make it you can’t blame yourself as you are certainly doing your best

 

[wolfthefallen]

Thank you Retro Reefer. All I can do is try, I gave it a home so all I can do is try to give it the best home possible, and give it all the care I can muster. Plus he looks awesome when he is not sick.

 

[wolfthefallen]

This morning update:
He does not look happy this morning, opening up very slowly. I removed him from the quarantine cube as the hanger part failed.

 

[ReefTeacher]

I am no expert, and have had mixed results with elegance corals myself. But I find short tentacles usually mean it is hungry. If it is suffering from an infection I would not use large food like Mysis, rather I have had success with small coral foods like reef roids or reef chili. Make a paste and squirt a tiny bit near a mouth on the healthy tissue. It may help him heal.

 

[wolfthefallen]

Sounds good I have some LPS Grow & Color pellets, I'll give it a try and see if I can get him to take some. Today is feeding day for the coral anyways

 

[MnFish1]

You might want to just stop and see what happens. Iodine coral rx etc etc etc changing light etc etc etc are all stressful. You can also try to frag off the dying/dead piece. Beyond that let happen what will happen. constantly changing it and dipping it is likely not helpful. Ie - bacterial infections are not 'cured' buy dipping...... If you want to treat with antibiotics - which ones? how long? - do it in a quarintine tank. The UV light from your lights above your tank will do nothing for an infection... IMHO. But good luck