goniopora slowly dying

CommanderInReef · Jan 20, 2021

i've had this goni for about 3 months and it was doing great for the most part until i noticed it recently dying. i feed reef roids almost everyday and it seems to be a reluctant feeder(doesn't really grab much and sometimes even retracts) even tho i'm very delicate with feeding. it gets around 100-140 par most likely based on brs par rating on a ai prime 16 for 25 gal. please help i don't wanna lose this guy

MugenReef95 · Jan 20, 2021

we need some water parameters? feeding everyday reef roid might be too much...

shred5 · Jan 20, 2021

I have a bunch and they are all different.
Some like higher light and some like lower light. Some do well in higher current (not high it is a lps) while others detest it. You may move have to move it up or down to find what it likes. Shrinking usually indicates either to much light or two much flow.
It is a LPS so it so it polyps are fleshy and can not take to much of a beating. Except maybe Goniopora like stutchburyi can handle higher flows because of its shorter smaller polyps.

Also a coral will shrink its surface area to get less light if it is getting to much. A soral will expand to increase surface area to collect more light.

As far as food I believe gonis require it and some do better with it. I believe in feeding them for best results.
Problem with gonis is they all seem different in their eating habits. Some can grab food, some put out slime nets.
Determining what they eat is the hard part. I feed a wide spectrum of stuff to them. Reef roids is part of what I feed but it does not work on all of them, some can take larger particles while some really small. I believe some are bacteria feeders and some just might uptake like amino acids from the water.

I try to get a feeding response before feeding by adding a little amino acid and a small amount of food about 10 min before feeding.

I find them very touchy to alk changes or too high or low alk.

Remember there are probably more than 20 species and they are different and come from different areas of the ocean.

The biggest challenge in this hobby is we are trying to keep corals from all parts of the reef together in this little box and most would never be seen together. Some corals die because the condition in our tank will be ok for some corals and not others. Some corals are highly adaptable while others are not.

Darren in Tacoma · Jan 20, 2021

Goniopora can be tricky and it is difficult to find good information on them. Here is a link with a lot of info about feeding that you might find interesting.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/nftt/index.php

MugenReef95 · Jan 20, 2021

shred5 said:
I have a bunch and they are all different.
Some like higher light and some like lower light. Some do well in higher current (not high it is a lps) while others detest it. You may move have to move it up or down to find what it likes. Shrinking usually indicates either to much light or two much flow.
It is a LPS so it so it polyps are fleshy and can not take to much of a beating. Except maybe Goniopora like stutchburyi can handle higher flows because of its shorter smaller polyps.

Also a coral will shrink its surface area to get less light if it is getting to much. A soral will expand to increase surface area to collect more light.

As far as food I believe gonis require it and some do better with it. I believe in feeding them for best results.
Problem with gonis is they all seem different in their eating habits. Some can grab food, some put out slime nets.
Determining what they eat is the hard part. I feed a wide spectrum of stuff to them. Reef roids is part of what I feed but it does not work on all of them. I believe some are bacteria feeders and some just might uptake like amino acids from the water.

I try to get a feeding response before feeding by adding a little amino acid and a small amount of food about 10 min before feeding.

I find them very touchy to alk changes or too high or low.

i agree ive been dosing amino acids and ive noticed my goni's love it

CommanderInReef · Jan 20, 2021

shred5 said:
I have a bunch and they are all different.
Some like higher light and some like lower light. Some do well in higher current (not high it is a lps) while others detest it. You may move have to move it up or down to find what it likes. Shrinking usually indicates either to much light or two much flow.
It is a LPS so it so it polyps are fleshy and can not take to much of a beating. Except maybe Goniopora like stutchburyi can handle higher flows because of its shorter smaller polyps.

Also a coral will shrink its surface area to get less light if it is getting to much. A soral will expand to increase surface area to collect more light.

As far as food I believe gonis require it and some do better with it. I believe in feeding them for best results.
Problem with gonis is they all seem different in their eating habits. Some can grab food, some put out slime nets.
Determining what they eat is the hard part. I feed a wide spectrum of stuff to them. Reef roids is part of what I feed but it does not work on all of them, some can take larger particles while some really small. I believe some are bacteria feeders and some just might uptake like amino acids from the water.

I try to get a feeding response before feeding by adding a little amino acid and a small amount of food about 10 min before feeding.

I find them very touchy to alk changes or too high or low alk.

Remember there are probably more than 20 species and they are different and come from different areas of the ocean.

The biggest challenge in this hobby is we are trying to keep corals from all parts of the reef together in this little box and most would never be seen together. Some corals die because the condition in our tank will be ok for some corals and not others. Some corals are highly adaptable while others are not.

btw the goni is closed because the lights just turned on they extend fully like the ones in the other photo but i will definitely try the recommended info thank you so much. my question is, with the photo, does it seem they are happy with the light when they are fully extended or do they seem to be reaching too much? also I noticed it puts out feeder tentacles at night. these long hard looking spiny kinda tentacles, would that indicate that they like more smaller, foods that stick to the tentacles?