Elegance Coral not doing well

[rongy]

Hi, I got my first elegance a few weeks ago and it’s been opening well until last couple days. They still open but does not fully extend their tentacles. I noticed there are white flesh on them. What is it? Anything I can do to help it?
Here’s my water parameters:
Salinity: 1.027
Nitrate: 0.2
Phosphate: 0.03
Calcium: 420
Alkalinity: 8
Mag: 1350
PH: 8.1

 

[Mr. Wiggles]

AFAIK elegance corals are known to be finicky. My only suggestion would be to get those nitrates up. Maybe spot feed it. I had near zero nitrates and recently raised them to 2.5. Immediately my hammer coral puffed up!

 

[rongy]

AFAIK elegance corals are known to be finicky. My only suggestion would be to get those nitrates up. Maybe spot feed it. I had near zero nitrates and recently raised them to 2.5. Immediately my hammer coral puffed up!

I was trying to raise it. I feed it at least twice a week with frozen shrimp, mysis

 

[Mr. Wiggles]

I was trying to raise it. I feed it at least twice a week with frozen shrimp, mysis

What size tank and what’s the bio load? I had to resort to dosing nitrates while I wait for my school of anthias to get through quarantine.

 

[rongy]

What size tank and what’s the bio load? I had to resort to dosing nitrates while I wait for my school of anthias to get through quarantine.

70gal tank, have about 10 juvenile fishes. I would say small bio load. Nitrate used to be 0 last week, and it’s been trending upwards (with more feeding). Maybe I will pull some algae out of my refugium reduce the consumption.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi, I got my first elegance a few weeks ago and it’s been opening well until last couple days. They still open but does not fully extend their tentacles. I noticed there are white flesh on them. What is it? Anything I can do to help it?
Here’s my water parameters:
Salinity: 1.027
Nitrate: 0.2
Phosphate: 0.03
Calcium: 420
Alkalinity: 8
Mag: 1350
PH: 8.1

Its recession and salinity needs to come down a little (to 1.025). Your nitrate and mag are right where mine are. Elegance corals require a moderate amount of light to support photosynthesis which they require a PAR of about 80-120 which is moderate as well as water flow which should be moderate. Too little light or flow and they will not thrive. Too much flow and you risk tearing the polyps off the skeleton which may be happening here. Moderate flow assures nutrients are being delivered to the polyps with some sweeping movement.
As mentioned , this coral is photosynthetic, as they have inner photosynthetic algae called zooxanthellae that live inside its body tissue and provide nutrition by harvesting the energy into light.. They benefit from regular feedings. with foods such as krill, Mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, or small pieces of fish, and shrimp.
Elegance corals ARE prone to elegance coral syndrome (ECS). If your coral has this disease, you’ll see swelling around the oral disc and unopened polyps or a white mucus coating.

Here is mine:

 

[nothing_fancy]

Salinity should come down, yes to nitrates up, slowly, try Brightwell neonitro. Your best bet is to leave it alone in moderate flow and discontinue spot feeding. Spot feeding this coral is not necessary IMO, I have never spot fed the one in my tank and its a little over a year old. They will close up from time to time. No need to remove it from the water. So, adjust salinity and nitrates, do a water change, let it be.

 

[hansonbr]

Hi, I got my first elegance a few weeks ago and it’s been opening well until last couple days. They still open but does not fully extend their tentacles. I noticed there are white flesh on them. What is it? Anything I can do to help it?
Here’s my water parameters:
Salinity: 1.027
Nitrate: 0.2
Phosphate: 0.03
Calcium: 420
Alkalinity: 8
Mag: 1350
PH: 8.1

I’ve had issues with elegances as well….it’s best to target parameters towards the region the elegance is from (Indian, Australia, etc) even then it’s hit and miss