Help with Elegance Corals

[Bear Necessities]

Hello!

125G tank + 44G sump
SG: 1.026
Alk. 10.4
Calc: 440-450
Ph: 8.6
Temp: 80F
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:5ppm
Phosphates:0

I run a skimmer, I dont dose anythibg, I use fritz salt.

Okay so I have two elegance corals. I got them from two different stores. I dip with MeCoral Wash Off and Bayer. I haven't seen any issues with any other coral after a dip so I doubt that has anything to do with this as I have had both coral for some time now. The Indonesian (pink/green/purple) coral I got roughly 4 months after my tank finished it's cycle, had other LPS and noticed growth on some of them so figured it was good, I have had it for well over 6 months, it closed up after a few weeks then opened back up and now suddenly it's just gone down hill. The other elegance (blue/green/darker) I got roughly 2 months ago at this point and it seems to be bouncing back, I think maybe my lighting situation was in error so once I gave it a bit more shade I have been seeing it more. In both cases the LFS's I got these two frags from both have frags from the same original and they are still thriving today.

The first few weeks with both they were glorious, opened fully and just a stunning sight.
I am aware of ECS but I do not think I have it. I did notice I had Euphyllia Eating Flatworms recently but only saw them on my Octospawn and Toch which have seem to have fully recovered. I ended up doing a dip treatment on all of my softies and brushed them to remove any eggs and I think I have beaten them. I also recently have battled away a dino outbreak (blackout and growing algae in my sump). I do not think those are the issue either. The sudden withdraw occurred a day or so after I had fed it a small (maybe 1/4 inch) pice of a silver slider. I have been using some powder food and or frozen mysis, I decided I wanted to give it something more meaty as I read that an elegance may open more and or be more 'happy looking' if fed very well.

When I noticed this sudden closed up behavior I saw some of it's tentacles looked like, how do I put it...sausage links. I thought maybe a crab had it's way with it maybe and tried to get at the bit of the fish I gave the coral or maybe a fish. I haven't seen any of my fish or critters go after any of my coral before so I am doubtful. This is about a week after initially spotting the issue, I have moved it to a much lower light area and lower flow in order to help it recover. I am just not sure what else to do at this point. I want to reduce it's stress, but it looks as if the tentacles are dissolving or something it's really hard to tell - they could just be closed up.

Any advice or suggestions would be highly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Tank Stock:
I have a coral beauty who came from an established reef and was known to be friendly with coral and fish, dwaf lion, a maroon clown (I don't think she's the problem) sailfin tang, panther grouper, and a half dozen snails, one sand sifting starfish, 3 emerald crabs. Some other critters like feather dusters that i've noticed. Various LPS/SPS.

 

[Jason mack]

#reefsquad any ideas ...
you never mentioned what your no3 en po4 are at ...
Also you mention brushing them To get rid of eggs ... that Maybe Your problem .. or not ..

 

[Bear Necessities]

#reefsquad any ideas ...
you never mentioned what your no3 en po4 are at ...
Also you mention brushing them To get rid of eggs ... that Maybe Your problem .. or not ..

Updated and to be clear I brushed only the torch and octospawn I didn't see eggs on anything else.

 

[Jason mack]

I would try and get the po4 up a little .. but Im guessing Your already busy with that .. do you have dino’s still or was that a while back ... was the élégance corals in when you did the 3 day black-out ..?
Sorry for all my questions

 

[GoVols]

I'd check phos. and nitrates and dose Red Sea "Reef Energy" to keep up the nutrients and organics in the water column.

LRS-Reef Frenzy is a good reef food too.

 

[GoVols]

#reefsquad any ideas ...
you never mentioned what your no3 en po4 are at ...
Also you mention brushing them To get rid of eggs ... that Maybe Your problem .. or not ..

Mack,
When you look at the shots:

Does the sand and background look like dino's?

 

[Bear Necessities]

I would try and get the po4 up a little .. but Im guessing Your already busy with that .. do you have dino’s still or was that a while back ... was the élégance corals in when you did the 3 day black-out ..?
Sorry for all my questions

No worries! I appreciate the help thank you! I was thinking of killing the skimmer for a little to see if I can get it up, Dino's is still present but it's on its way out. And yes the coral were in the tank during the blackout but they were fine after that it seems, this blackout was a month ago give or take a few days.

 

[Bear Necessities]

Mack,
When you look at the shots:

Does the sand and background look like dino's?

Alagae and diatoms I'd say.

 

[Jason mack]

Mack,
When you look at the shots:

Does the sand and background look like dino's?

Yes , which is why i asked if he still had them

 

[Crabs McJones]

I'd check phos. and nitrates and dose Red Sea "Reef Energy" to keep up the nutrients and organics in the water column.

LRS-Reef Frenzy is a good reef food too.

Agreed. In my experience elegants are ones that need to be fed regularly.

 

[Jason mack]

Alagae and diatoms I'd say.

Ok this is a new tank then ? How long has iT been running

 

[GoVols]

Yes , which is why i asked if he still had them

Yeah,
You nailed it!!

 

[Bear Necessities]

Yes , which is why i asked if he still had them

To give you an idea of what is going on. The algae on the sand bed is a new development. Figured it was harmless and I could physically remove it. Also prob why my p04 is low. Dinos you can see on my power head still. As far as I can tell that's all that's left.

 

[Crabs McJones]

To give you an idea of what is going on. The algae on the sand bed is a new development. Figured it was harmless and I could physically remove it. Also prob why my p04 is low. Dinos you can see on my power head still. As far as I can tell that's all that's left.

Are you using ro/di water for your top offs and water change?

 

[Bear Necessities]

Are you using ro/di water for your top offs and water change?

Yes using RODI water - the tank has been running since the end of Dec 2017.

 

[PaulK]

I had an elegance that looked like that for a while. It was healthy for the first few weeks and then looked just like the one in your picture. I started feeding it every day with a good sized chunk of LRS food. After about two months of this it recovered completely.

 

[GoVols]

Yes using RODI water - the tank has been running since the end of Dec 2017.

The dino's and your elegance are related.

Dino's take hold when phos and nitrates are low and your good bacteria does not have enough juice to survive.

I'd feed for the elegance and to build up good bacteria's to out compete the dino's.

I'd bacteria boom the reef too.

 

[Jason mack]

Yes using RODI water - the tank has been running since the end of Dec 2017.

Stupid question i know .... but are you using a tds meter .. when did you last change the resin ?

 

[Jason mack]

This is still a farily new tank .. i think this is all part of the uglies of cycling .. Maybe delayed due too the dino’s so early from running iT too clean ...
And temp of 80 that for me is a little too high ..

 

[Crabs McJones]

This is still a farily new tank .. i think this is all part of the uglies of cycling .. Maybe delayed due too the dino’s so early from running iT too clean ...

Agreed, I never had luck with elegance in anything under 10 months old