Micro goniopora help

[Nicksal]

Hi all I am new to this hobby and I got a micro goniopora a months ago and it does not look to well now, all parameters are on point and the tank is 7 months old. The micro goniopora has shrinked up and is not looking too well. Any suggestions?

 

[T-J]

....all parameters are on point...

Please tell us what your on point parameters are. Also, what is your lighting situation? Size of tank?
In a month's time, that goni should have grown quite a bit. Was it ever extended? Any changes?

 

[Nicksal]

Ammonia 0
Ph 8
Nitrate 5
Nitrite 0
Calcuim 420
Phosphate is at .10 and is lowing

15 gallon nano tank and AI prime 16 is the light I am using on the tank.

Yeah, it was doing fine for the first three weeks and then started to shrink up and change colors.

Here is the pictures of it when I first got it. It was bright red and yellow

 

[Nicksal]

Everything else is doing great even the other goniopora I bought the same day just not the micro goniopora. Nothing has changed.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Welcome aboard! Sometimes frags just do not survive. We cannot always know why. Especially new cut frags. I am sorry you lost your goni, but it one of those things in this hobby. If all else is going well, give it a few months to add anything new, so you have more time to view and monitor parameters and other frags. See what is thriving and what is not.

This information can tell you what could be needed for specific families or genuses of corals.

 

[T-J]

Also, many people will say Gonis can be some of the more difficult corals to keep. Personally, I've yet to have any issues, except for one goni stinging another goni to death. Outside of that, keep your parameters what they are, and make sure they stay stable.

 

[Nicksal]

Also, many people will say Gonis can be some of the more difficult corals to keep. Personally, I've yet to have any issues, except for one goni stinging another goni to death. Outside of that, keep your parameters what they are, and make sure they stay stable.

Okay, will do thank you for your response.

 

[Critteraholic]

Mine did the same thing. My tank is young as well, only 9 months old. I started dusting it directly with reef roids every other day. I also turned flow off for 20 - 30 minutes so it could eat without the reef roids blowing off. It took like 10 days before I could actually see polyps sticking up. It's been about 2 weeks? maybe 3? and the polyps are small but up and it's starting to fill back in and you can see a touch of yellow in the centers. It's still not as red as it should be, but it is coming back. Hope it survives for you!

 

[DanConnor]

I have a bunch of gonis, and find that the micro gonis can be a bit tricky, especially when first acclimating. It's possible you did absolutely nothing wrong and it just went south. Let your tank age for a year and try again.

 

[vetteguy53081]

For starters, get yours off the gravel as it will quickly irritate them . For a long time Goniopora were considered an impossible coral to keep. There were even discussions online about it being unethical to keep importing them because of their poor survivability. Goniopora are a photosynthetic coral so they derive some of their nutritional requirements from light. This is done through a symbiotic relationship with dinoflagellates called zooxanthellae that live in the flesh of the coral. The dinoflagellates are actually the photosynthetic organism and the Goniopora colony derives nutrients off of the byproducts of the dinoflagellates’ photosynthetic process. Zooxanthellae is usually brown in color and the coral tightly regulates the population living in its flesh. Too little light will cause the coral to turn brown in color.
I would not recommend blasting Goniopora with a lot of light. I don’t think there are a lot of advantages to doing so. If you start to see the coral starting to turn lighter and bleach out, it is likely the result of high lighting intensity. When in doubt, favor lower lighting intensities until it is clear that the coral is demanding more.
One mistake I think some reef keepers make is providing them too much flow. If you have a powerhead blowing right at Goniopora from short range, it may kill off some of the tissue at that point of contact and cause a chain reaction to the rest of the colony.
Goniopora appreciate low to medium flow, but preferably with some randomness to it. That way you will get that gentle waving motion which helps keep the coral clean and brings food past the colony. If you see the tentacles violently thrashing about, that is probably too much flow and it would benefit from being relocated to a more calm section of the tank.
Lack of food is a big issue with these coral and there are two types of food to provide Goniopora. The first is liquid amino acids. In short, they are simple organic compounds that play a major role in building proteins as well as other biological functions at the cellular level. Corals regularly take in available amino acids from the water column so it is easy to provide them with adequate quantities by broadcast feeding an amino acid solution.
The second type of food I like are dry powdered plankton. There are several different types on the market.
The general consensus with these is to keep Phosphate levels around .05 ppm and Nitrate levels between 10-20 ppm. This is a safe zone that not too many people will dispute. If you need a recommendation there you go.

 

[Nicksal]

Thank you all for your help.

For starters, get yours off the gravel as it will quickly irritate them . For a long time Goniopora were considered an impossible coral to keep. There were even discussions online about it being unethical to keep importing them because of their poor survivability. Goniopora are a photosynthetic coral so they derive some of their nutritional requirements from light. This is done through a symbiotic relationship with dinoflagellates called zooxanthellae that live in the flesh of the coral. The dinoflagellates are actually the photosynthetic organism and the Goniopora colony derives nutrients off of the byproducts of the dinoflagellates’ photosynthetic process. Zooxanthellae is usually brown in color and the coral tightly regulates the population living in its flesh. Too little light will cause the coral to turn brown in color.
I would not recommend blasting Goniopora with a lot of light. I don’t think there are a lot of advantages to doing so. If you start to see the coral starting to turn lighter and bleach out, it is likely the result of high lighting intensity. When in doubt, favor lower lighting intensities until it is clear that the coral is demanding more.
One mistake I think some reef keepers make is providing them too much flow. If you have a powerhead blowing right at Goniopora from short range, it may kill off some of the tissue at that point of contact and cause a chain reaction to the rest of the colony.
Goniopora appreciate low to medium flow, but preferably with some randomness to it. That way you will get that gentle waving motion which helps keep the coral clean and brings food past the colony. If you see the tentacles violently thrashing about, that is probably too much flow and it would benefit from being relocated to a more calm section of the tank.
Lack of food is a big issue with these coral and there are two types of food to provide Goniopora. The first is liquid amino acids. In short, they are simple organic compounds that play a major role in building proteins as well as other biological functions at the cellular level. Corals regularly take in available amino acids from the water column so it is easy to provide them with adequate quantities by broadcast feeding an amino acid solution.
The second type of food I like are dry powdered plankton. There are several different types on the market.
The general consensus with these is to keep Phosphate levels around .05 ppm and Nitrate levels between 10-20 ppm. This is a safe zone that not too many people will dispute. If you need a recommendation there you go.

Thank you so much, I will take your advice.