Goniporia - Help to save it please

[Rachelh01]

I got this Goni at the beginning of July, it already had a damaged top/centre but the local LFS said the rest of it was fine and it would grow back.
For the first week or so it opened up and extended, then I noticed it closed more and discovered it had flat worms on so after a few coral RX dips these disappeared (and I haven't seen any since) but it never opened up again! i have tried different locations in the tank to see if it is positioning but that hasnt helped either.
I have now noticed that the "damaged" part that was originally on the top seems to be spreading all over it?? (may be hard to see on the pictures) ive tried to do some research and can see its not brown jelly type substance but cant see what else it could be so thought i would try here for some advice
parameters are:
Nitrate - 15
Ph 8.3
Phos 0.01
Salinity - 1.026
Alk - 8.3
Cal - 430
Mag - 1410

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Ludders]

I seem to have had a good response from angry goniopora's in the past by feeding goniopower. Also leave it to settle as well before moving it again.

 

[Albertan22]

You need to feed it. I use reef roids but there are other things you can use I think. If I don’t feed my goni at least once per week it starts closing up and firing off like that. I just do reef roids broadcast to the whole tank and it gets happy and extends.

 

[Rachelh01]

Thanks i will have a look at gonipower, will it feed if its not opening at all though? i use reef roids in the tank now.
i have been leaving it about a week to 10 days before moving it to see if it just sulking but nothing!
any idea what the damaged part is that seems to be covering it all slowly?

 

[Albertan22]

The damaged part is dead skeleton. You are seeing tissue recession/necrosis. I would try target feeding it if you are already broadcast feeding.

 

[Rachelh01]

thanks, I was wondering if it was dead skeleton, i do target feed it but im thinking that because its not coming out its not actually getting to eat anything (if that makes sense?)

 

[Ludders]

If you target feed it reefroids/goniopower it will still take the food onboard and start rsponding well hopefully and open back up/recover

 

[marineman]

Feeding is definitely a key part. But, in my experience, goni's have also proven to be finicky when it comes to parameter changes. Remember that bad but consistent parameters are often better than good but fluctuating params. Any chance anything could have spiked or dipped?

 

[BighohoReef]

I would recommend leaving it in a low flow / moderate light area for now. Goni’s are notoriously fickle corals and constant movement will have an impact glue it to a rock and let it rest. As for treatment I’d try spot feeding with brightwell aminos. I’m currently in a similar issue with a Goni that has a dead spot in the middle, once a day I kill the tank flow and spot feed amino acid to it. Now I’m getting full extension on the live spots and have had success with this method on other Goni’s. I’ll post some picks of our Goni’s once the tanks wake up.
Also are your parameters?

 

[BighohoReef]

Couple pics from this morning... still waking up but you can see the bald spot in the middle of the colony. It’s actually in the process of shrinking.

 

[RVA REEF]

I would stay away from these unless you are experienced, especially with one that was struggling before you got it

 

[Rachelh01]

Couple pics from this morning... still waking up but you can see the bald spot in the middle of the colony. It’s actually in the process of shrinking.

I would recommend leaving it in a low flow / moderate light area for now. Goni’s are notoriously fickle corals and constant movement will have an impact glue it to a rock and let it rest. As for treatment I’d try spot feeding with brightwell aminos. I’m currently in a similar issue with a Goni that has a dead spot in the middle, once a day I kill the tank flow and spot feed amino acid to it. Now I’m getting full extension on the live spots and have had success with this method on other Goni’s. I’ll post some picks of our Goni’s once the tanks wake up.
Also are your parameters?


Thanks, I will get some of this and try it, not had any spikes and all other corals are doing ok.
parameters are:
Nitrate - 15
Ph 8.3
Phos 0.01
Salinity - 1.026
Alk - 8.3
Cal - 430
Mag - 1410

 

[Rachelh01]

I would stay away from these unless you are experienced, especially with one that was struggling before you got it

I realise that now :-( unfortunately my LFS (who are normally good at advising what to steer clear of with my tank as i only started in Jan and have a nano) had a different guy on that day and his advise was that "it will be fine" ....... but as i have it now i want to try and do all i can to get it thriving (if that's possible!)

 

[RVA REEF]

they are awesome when they are thriving, I would try to find the ora red version first as its very hardy

 

[BighohoReef]

Your parameters look good maybe nitrates are a little high but we all have that from time to time. Just keep at it they are a rewarding coral once you “figure them out” once we were treating with the aminos everything changed for our Goni’s. We’ve been successful with our Goni’s once we found the perfect spot for them.
I wish ya all the best... I’ll keep my eye on this thread. Post an update wanna know where ya end up.

 

[Rachelh01]

Quick update and thanks to all..... after daily target dosing with the Brightwell Coral Amino and Reef roids it is looking much better than it has since i got it! hopefully on the road to being happy now!

Thanks again for all the advice - it is much appreciated

 

[Ludders]

Still looks in pretty bad shape, but seems to be responding and would almost certainly be dead by now had you not been doing what you're doing.
Keep it up and good luck.

 

[Thaxxx]

Quick update and thanks to all..... after daily target dosing with the Brightwell Coral Amino and Reef roids it is looking much better than it has since i got it! hopefully on the road to being happy now!

Thanks again for all the advice - it is much appreciated

Thanks for the update.
So many times someone needs answers to a problem and they never update so all of us never find out what did or didn't work

 

[RVA REEF]

looks like its coming back

 

[BighohoReef]

Happy it's working out!!! Keep us posted, still looks like it has a way to go but it looks better.