Grumpy elegance- also has hitchikers

[Pudge&Bubbl]

I received this elegance coral 2 weeks ago. It was a pretty happy beautiful thing......


My elegance has not been so happy lately. I keep noticing a slimy net of stuff wrapped around its tentacles, but no signs of vermetids. I remove the stringy slime, and the tentacles start to extend again. Not quite fully still. But the next morning or even again that day, it will be in the same shape. Slimy net, unhappy, retracted. Does not seem to be the feeding response, but I could be wrong. I've tried leaving the slime alone, to see if it absorbs it, but it doesnt go away.

I have noticed 2 fan worms encrusted on its base. And what looks like a "clam" type thing also on its base, but I wasnt sure until this morning when I saw it close completely. Should I try to remove them? If so, how?

Tested water just now to give up to the moment results:

Ph-7.8
Alk-9.7
Calcium- 425
Magnesium- high- 1700 (see note below)

Calcium was low yesterday, and I dosed too much accidentally (apparently not tho)-but it also contained magnesium, which bumped it from 1500 to 1700 today.

 

[shaggydoo]

I wouldn't worry about removing the hitchhikers. The mucus and retraction of tentacles makes me think possible ecs, but hopefully not. Bottom line the feather and clam shouldn't be what's causing issues.

 

[Pudge&Bubbl]

Today i noticed the mucous-string-net thing going into one of its mouths, so I'm hoping it is just related to feeding lately. One side opened almost fully, but not the other. I'm wondering if it might be related to flow as well. The QT/holding tank it is in was a 10 gallon, upgraded to a 20- but same pump on one end. Perhaps if I put the pump in the middle on the back, facing the front glass so it bounces all around.... I really hope it's not ECS.

 

[shaggydoo]

Today i noticed the mucous-string-net thing going into one of its mouths, so I'm hoping it is just related to feeding lately. One side opened almost fully, but not the other. I'm wondering if it might be related to flow as well. The QT/holding tank it is in was a 10 gallon, upgraded to a 20- but same pump on one end. Perhaps if I put the pump in the middle on the back, facing the front glass so it bounces all around.... I really hope it's not ECS.

Yes, pray for no ecs. Unfortunately I lost my first elegance to ecs and the first signs I saw was retracted tentacles then daily mucus. Mucus is not part of it's feeding I'm afraid. I'm 2 weeks into my second elegance after waiting almost 2 years for my lfs to get a healthy looking aquacultured one. Best of luck with yours as it's my all time favorite coral and they are reported to be very hardy if the live through the first few months.

 

[Pudge&Bubbl]

Yes, pray for no ecs. Unfortunately I lost my first elegance to ecs and the first signs I saw was retracted tentacles then daily mucus. Mucus is not part of it's feeding I'm afraid. I'm 2 weeks into my second elegance after waiting almost 2 years for my lfs to get a healthy looking aquacultured one. Best of luck with yours as it's my all time favorite coral and they are reported to be very hardy if the live through the first few months.

Thank you.... I'm hoping the slime might be coming from something else and just getting caught on the elegance. I will keep my eyes on it.

 

[Pudge&Bubbl]

The elegance as of right now... not horrible, but not great

 

[shaggydoo]

Looks better than the previous picture. Fingers crossed it's a temporary thing. Many lps just get weird polyp extension for a few days here and there.

 

[Pudge&Bubbl]

Are there fish or critters that are known to nip at the tentacles ? That's what it looks like this morning. Like something was eating its tentacles

 

[Pudge&Bubbl]

I put it in a bowl of sand and put it in more flow. Removed some stringy-ness. Not much this morning, actually. It's starting to extend again. Could the slimy stuff be an attempt to protect itself from predators? Maybe a flavor/deterrent?

 

[shaggydoo]

A healthy elegance should be able to fend off most anything as they have a fairly potent sting. The inflation and short tentacles is classic signs of ECS I'm afraid, so I'm leaning towards that. The extra flow and new placement appears to be helping, but I would research ECS treatments. I've ready threads in the past that claim to be able to cure this disease, but my personal experience has been that it is a death sentence like BJD... although it is a much longer death sentence than BJD.

 

[Pudge&Bubbl]

A healthy elegance should be able to fend off most anything as they have a fairly potent sting. The inflation and short tentacles is classic signs of ECS I'm afraid, so I'm leaning towards that. The extra flow and new placement appears to be helping, but I would research ECS treatments. I've ready threads in the past that claim to be able to cure this disease, but my personal experience has been that it is a death sentence like BJD... although it is a much longer death sentence than BJD.

I'm reading a lot right now on ECS ... there has been some possible luck with freshwater dips, at least in the first couple months after. No updates beyond those, so hoping they continued to get better.

The more I read, the more I wonder though - the inflated oral disc, as a sign, i havent noticed what they describe. Typically if it retracts the tentacles, it shrinks the oral disc area as well. When it starts to expand again, the tentacles start to come out also. The "opaque" slime they talk about, I have not seen either. Sometimes my frogspawn or hammers exude a slime if too much fine foods get on them- that is what this reminds me of.

I am a glutton for information, and it sucks when there are so many varying bits.

I'm going to keep an eye on it today. If it doesnt seem better at all, I will freshwater dip and hope for the best. I'm trying to figure out if i can quarantine it alone, i have a tank and heater for sure, but I'm not sure about flow for another tank. I will see what i can do.

 

[shaggydoo]

Your picture from earlier today before moving the coral to the sandy area definitely looks like an inflated oral disc, especially in comparison with the tentacle length. The rest of your pics don't appear to have any abnormal inflation. Normally an irritated elegance should shrink everything not just the tentacles leaving the disc abnormally enlarged, so its a good sign you haven't seen a lot of the abnormal inflation.

As you mention, the slime is something I see when other LPS (especially euphylias) get blasted with too many food particles. However, seeing the mucus/slime when you haven't recently just turkey basted a blast of food on the elegance indicates it is not reacting to too much food.

I wouldn't worry about quarantining the coral, either before or after a dip, unless you have other elegance's in your system you are trying to protect. If it is ECS, it won't impact any other corals in your tank. Find a place where it looks the happiest and try to keep it there as much as possible.

I agree with you 100% that there is so much information out there and lots of it conflicts. Just try your best to sort through what is out there, and rely mostly on your own personal observations. Always remember stability is the most important thing in a reef regardless of what you decide to do.

 

[Pudge&Bubbl]

Okay, so I agree - that picture shows an inflated oral disc (now that I understand that is what they mean). Sadly, that was the first time I have seen it swell like that. Even worse is that it has deflated and swollen back up at least 3 times since then. The tentacles look horrible. I'm worried for it. It is tied for my favorite coral I have, the elegance and the bubble are my favorites. I'm going to do more reading today.

 

[shaggydoo]

Okay, so I agree - that picture shows an inflated oral disc (now that I understand that is what they mean). Sadly, that was the first time I have seen it swell like that. Even worse is that it has deflated and swollen back up at least 3 times since then. The tentacles look horrible. I'm worried for it. It is tied for my favorite coral I have, the elegance and the bubble are my favorites. I'm going to do more reading today.

I'm so sorry to hear this. My favorite coral is also the elegance, and I was extremely depressed when my first one went through a decline similar to yours. I really wanted to be wrong in your case

 

[Pudge&Bubbl]

It looked worse this morning. So I decided to take action. 10 minute freshwater (rodi) dip, with iodine. I used a pipette to blow off debris and anything loose. Unfortunately, one corner of it was kind of disintegrating and I could see what I believe to be a mouth within the falling apart tissue. I'm hoping I'm not too late. I have no way to cut through skeleton, if it comes to fragging it to attempt a save. Send hope my way!

 

[dazoc]

Update???

 

[Pudge&Bubbl]

Update???

Thanks for asking - but no, it died. Within less than 2 days after that it was completely gone.

 

[dazoc]

Sorry to hear of your loss, just went through the same thing. Just curious if a fw dip gained anything. Thanks for the info.

 

[Pudge&Bubbl]

Sorry to hear of your loss, just went through the same thing. Just curious if a fw dip gained anything. Thanks for the info.

If i were to do it over, I would wait longer and watch. I think I was so afraid of losing it that I rushed into treatment. I've learned a lot since then. Still new, but learning.