Elegance coral issue, needs figured out asap!

[eraserhead187]

Hi all,

Had this elegance coral for about 5 months, and it has done very well. Always open, happy, etc. A few weeks ago I noticed a fuzzy white area on the disk of one of the heads. The tentacles closed up around it somewhat. The spot seemed to grow very slowly, but didn't seem to be affecting the happiness of the coral too much. Today I noticed that one of the heads entirely doesn't look too great.

The issue is that I am going out of town for a week tomorrow, and the person feeding the fish wouldn't know what to do if this guy were to die completely and release toxins into the tank. I was thinking about cutting my losses and cutting the weird part off and leaving the good part in the tank. I haven't been able to find many pictures of elegance coral disease, but is this what it looks like?

Any recommendations?

Params
pH 8.2
Alk 9.9
NH3 0
NO2 0
NO3 40
PO4 . 057
Ca 490
Mg 1480
Salinity 1.024

Thanks!

 

[Syed123]

The white stuff is the coral's internal digestive structure. It shows up when the coral is injured or has some kind of immune response to a stressor. This can go two ways. Either the coral was nipped/irritated/injured on that head and it is trying to recuporate. Or it has the Elegance Coral syndrome. If it is the former it will recover, but if it is the latter then it will perish. Time will tell. I have never treated for the elegance coral disease but have dealt with it. It will spread to the other heads and the coral will die. Not sure if fragging off the affected head will help.

Also what kind of lights are you running?

 

[Syed123]

Woops, double post.

 

[eraserhead187]

The white stuff is the coral's internal digestive structure. It shows up when the coral is injured or has some kind of immune response to a stressor. This can go two ways. Either the coral was nipped/irritated/injured on that head and it is trying to recuporate. Or it has the Elegance Coral syndrome. If it is the former it will recover, but if it is the latter then it will perish. Time will tell. I have never treated for the elegance coral disease but have dealt with it. It will spread to the other heads and the coral will die. Not sure if fragging off the affected head will help.

Also what kind of lights are you running?

Thanks for your response. I'm not sure what would have injured it, but it is possible. How fast does this syndrome take to kill it off? I'm thinking I may frag it, and see what happens. Are elegance known for nuking a tank if they die? It's just a 32 gallon so I worry about that. Of course this happens right when I'm going out of state.

The lights are the StevesLED upgraded LED system with a Hurricanex controller. I probably have them at about 35 percent. However, for the sake of taking a picture that was somewhat comprehensible, I turned the actinic way down for the pic, then put them back up.

Thanks again!

 

[Syed123]

Thanks for your response. I'm not sure what would have injured it, but it is possible. How fast does this syndrome take to kill it off? I'm thinking I may frag it, and see what happens. Are elegance known for nuking a tank if they die? It's just a 32 gallon so I worry about that. Of course this happens right when I'm going out of state.

The lights are the StevesLED upgraded LED system with a Hurricanex controller. I probably have them at about 35 percent. However, for the sake of taking a picture that was somewhat comprehensible, I turned the actinic way down for the pic, then put them back up.

Thanks again!

For me it was a slow decline. It started with one head with the white filaments showing and the head shrunk, then the next head got it, then the next. It took about roughly 3 weeks or so. Also when they die they don't cause a crash in your tank. They shrink and wither slowly so there shouldn't be a nutrient spike.

Your lights should be okay for the elegance. I have heard one of the leading causes of death is light shock from improper acclimation to intense lighting.

Maybe try fragging it.

 

[eraserhead187]

For me it was a slow decline. It started with one head with the white filaments showing and the head shrunk, then the next head got it, then the next. It took about roughly 3 weeks or so. Also when they die they don't cause a crash in your tank. They shrink and wither slowly so there shouldn't be a nutrient spike.

Your lights should be okay for the elegance. I have heard one of the leading causes of death is light shock from improper acclimation to intense lighting.

Maybe try fragging it.

Thanks, that's what I'll do then. Best case, I have two elegance corals. Good to know about not causing a tank crash. I do have a fellow member of the local reef club on call in case of an emergency. My office staff don't know anything more than how to feed the fish.

As for the lighting, I put him in the bottom on the sand bed so he wouldn't scratch himself up on the rock, and have just kept him there. Didn't plan on ever moving him. Hope he pulls through, he's gorgeous when he opens up.

Much appreciate the help.