"New" Elegance coral showing signs of ECS?

TinCanHero · Dec 9, 2019

Hey guys, I swapped my old elegance coral for a different type close to two weeks ago now.
The elegance seemed fine in the LFS when I picked it, however it has never done well in my tank and has been declining over the last week.
At first, it would only open halfway, then the tentacles started to stay closed and showed a mucus on them. the day before yesterday it was all closed up and looking awful. however yesterday it opened up fully apart from the tentacles that remained closed with some mucus. This morning it was open but had a TON of mucus strings over the body, I didn't manage to get a photo, unfortunately, an hour after lights came on it had closed up again and has remained that way since.

AFAIK my old elegance was an Indo and my new one is Auzi.

Params are all fairly good, KH has been a problem recently (I upgraded my sump and had some issues with my DP).
tank vol around 450L with sump (93 USG 30x30x24 cube)
temp 25
sal 1.025
kh 8.6
cal 440ish - don't test that often, WC deals with it without dosing.
Nitrates 5-10 usually
p04 0 or just detectable
WC 100L every 7-14 days. around 25%
Carbon, BIO, rhowa reactors + skimmer + 2 Filter socks.
AI Hydra 26HD - David sax profile.
Flow: I moved my new one a few inches down from where my old one was, I always thought it had to much flow there so I placed the new one slightly more sheltered. id say the flow is pretty low.
Any advice?

Some photos and plenty of info on my tank can be found in my build diary (link in sig or on my badge), I ramble and suck at literature so its a painful read at best.
Any questions or other info you want please just ask.

Thank you.

Kind regards & happy reefing,
TinCanHero.

bar|none · Dec 9, 2019

‘Fresh Water Dip as treatment of Pinched Mantle Disease and Elegance Coral Syndrome”

search for above in articles section of forum ^

TinCanHero · Dec 9, 2019

bar|none said:
‘Fresh Water Dip as treatment of Pinched Mantle Disease and Elegance Coral Syndrome”

search for above in articles section of forum ^

That was a great read. I will try this later on tonight when i get home from my Bday bash

Hopefully my elegance can pull through!

Kind regards, TinCanHero.

Billdogg · Dec 10, 2019

bar|none said:
‘Fresh Water Dip as treatment of Pinched Mantle Disease and Elegance Coral Syndrome”

search for above in articles section of forum ^

You beat me to it!

That has become my first line of defense for both my clams and my Elegance coral.

TinCanHero · Dec 10, 2019

Billdogg said:
You beat me to it!

That has become my first line of defense for both my clams and my Elegance coral.

I did the FWD today around 8-9 hours ago for 15m in RODI water.
since being re tanked it produced a major coating of mucus over its entire body and was closed up. after feeding this evening I decided to remove the mucus with a turkey baster. Still good colour on the body from what I could see.

Time will tell I guess. Plenty more pictures in my build diary if you want to take a look

Kind regards, TinCanHero.

MnFish1 · Dec 10, 2019

TinCanHero said:
Hey guys, I swapped my old elegance coral for a different type close to two weeks ago now.
The elegance seemed fine in the LFS when I picked it, however it has never done well in my tank and has been declining over the last week.
At first, it would only open halfway, then the tentacles started to stay closed and showed a mucus on them. the day before yesterday it was all closed up and looking awful. however yesterday it opened up fully apart from the tentacles that remained closed with some mucus. This morning it was open but had a TON of mucus strings over the body, I didn't manage to get a photo, unfortunately, an hour after lights came on it had closed up again and has remained that way since.

AFAIK my old elegance was an Indo and my new one is Auzi.

Params are all fairly good, KH has been a problem recently (I upgraded my sump and had some issues with my DP).
tank vol around 450L with sump (93 USG 30x30x24 cube)
temp 25
sal 1.025
kh 8.6
cal 440ish - don't test that often, WC deals with it without dosing.
Nitrates 5-10 usually
p04 0 or just detectable
WC 100L every 7-14 days. around 25%
Carbon, BIO, rhowa reactors + skimmer + 2 Filter socks.
AI Hydra 26HD - David sax profile.
Flow: I moved my new one a few inches down from where my old one was, I always thought it had to much flow there so I placed the new one slightly more sheltered. id say the flow is pretty low.
Any advice?

Some photos and plenty of info on my tank can be found in my build diary (link in sig or on my badge), I ramble and suck at literature so its a painful read at best.
Any questions or other info you want please just ask.

Thank you.

Kind regards & happy reefing,
TinCanHero.

Your params look good - but what are they compared to the store place you bought it?

rkpetersen · Dec 10, 2019

LPS corals may react very negatively to a phosphate of 0.

TinCanHero · Dec 11, 2019

MnFish1 said:
Your params look good - but what are they compared to the store place you bought it?

Hey! They are pretty good right now, I did have some KH problems a few weeks ago but it was back under control before I tanked the Ele. As for the store, well, all I can say is probably awful. It's not the best store, I doubt they test or dose tbh. It was more of an opportunistic buy. Usually, the store I go to has a handout of there params that day they give you ^^

rkpetersen said:
LPS corals may react very negatively to a phosphate of 0.

I'm going to be honest when I say I'm still fairly inexperienced in this hobby still, I'm only at the 11m mark for SW. many, many years FW exp thou.
I had a huge GHA problem not so long ago, I started to use rhowa to help bring everything back under control and since then I've stuck with it. I still have some GHA on the racks etc although it grows very, very slow now. I do feed fairly well thou, and all my other LPS (nems, flav, candycanes, fungia etc seem to be healthy and growing.

Anyway, we are around 29h after the FWD and the ele is still closed for the most part, but not tight. Tentacles are all closed bar a few but there is no mucus on the coral atoll. colour is still there. Things are looking good so far. Ill post some pics in my build diary as usual now.

Kind regards, TinCanHero.

artieg1 · Dec 11, 2019

Try moving it around, vary the light and flow. I no longer glue any coral down until I am sure it loves its location. I had an elegance that slowly shriveled over 3-4 months. I moved it to the other side of the tank, and its is happy as can be and opened up huge. No difference really, but the flow is probably a little stronger.

TinCanHero · Dec 11, 2019

artieg1 said:
Try moving it around, vary the light and flow. I no longer glue any coral down until I am sure it loves its location. I had an elegance that slowly shriveled over 3-4 months. I moved it to the other side of the tank, and its is happy as can be and opened up huge. No difference really, but the flow is probably a little stronger.

My old Indo Ele I swapped in for this one was in the same place as this one is in now. it's a little more flow than where it was before the dip, I thought this would help with the mucus.
The old Ele didn't like it too much there so I turned down the powerhead on that side a week or so before I swapped it and all my LPS in that area are looking much better since then.
As goes for light, I think I may be tempted to either move the Ele or shade it out some for the next week or so. I read in that article that the infection seems to be photosensitive and gets worse as the day goes on. it's hard for me to judge at the moment since I'm at work in the morning but from the other day when I wasn't it seems to be a correct observation.

Kind regards, TinCanHero

ScottB · Dec 11, 2019

I've not kept elegance so I will let others speak directly on that. Hopefully it responds well to the dip.

I hear you on the Rowa to fight GHA, but you must be careful to go slow/light with the stuff. If the algae is still growing then some nutrient is likely available. If you are getting close to resolving the GHA, I would recommend dialing down on the GFO reactor -- say 12 hours versus 24. Real zero is a dangerous place to be for several reasons.

Jason boles · Dec 15, 2019

@TinCanHero how goes it with the elegance??
I think mine is on the way out. Shriveled, mucus, and inflated disk. Moving it to shade tonight.

mom a little terrified of fwd.tried it with a clam after reading about it and clam died next day.

OrionN · Jan 24, 2020

How did the Elegance do, still with us?
They do require pretty low light and low current per my experience. Easy stung by other coral and pest too.
Good luck

Jason boles · Jan 24, 2020

No. It perished. I now have. A much larger tank. I may try one again one day!

letting the wallet breathe for a min rn. I also had my 60 cube so packed I had enough coral for a 180!! Lol

TinCanHero · Jan 31, 2020

ScottB said:
I've not kept elegance so I will let others speak directly on that. Hopefully it responds well to the dip.

I hear you on the Rowa to fight GHA, but you must be careful to go slow/light with the stuff. If the algae is still growing then some nutrient is likely available. If you are getting close to resolving the GHA, I would recommend dialing down on the GFO reactor -- say 12 hours versus 24. Real zero is a dangerous place to be for several reasons.

Hey! I just want to say thank you. I think you actually saved my tank! to cut a long story shot that I will document this week in my build diary - my tank was going downhill pretty fast and I couldn't work out why. I remembered your comment and just shut the GFO and carbon off with only bio's running. the tank has since stabilized again and things are bouncing back. I have however lost a good number of SPS and some LPS.

OrionN said:
How did the Elegance do, still with us?
They do require pretty low light and low current per my experience. Easy stung by other coral and pest too.
Good luck

to give you all an update, the elegance itself is somehow still alive! but I doubt it will pull through at this point. I will say however I think I will attribute its decline to the tank issues I was facing at the same time.

Its stayed pretty much closed since the dip, but looked in much better shape. the color was still there strong but has mostly gone since (i think this was the tank wide issue). slowly since it's retracted more down to where it is now (showing some bone around the edge and i think partly dead) however over the last week or so half of it looks to be in much better shape and could - but doubtfully - pull through.

if indeed that was ECS I had then the dip I would say would have worked if not for my tank issues - overall not a fair test and inconclusive I guess but I would give it another go if I were in the same situation for sure.

- ill post some pics soon.

Kind regards, TinCanHero.

ScottB · Jan 31, 2020

TinCanHero said:
Hey! I just want to say thank you. I think you actually saved my tank! to cut a long story shot that I will document this week in my build diary - my tank was going downhill pretty fast and I couldn't work out why. I remembered your comment and just shut the GFO and carbon off with only bio's running. the tank has since stabilized again and things are bouncing back. I have however lost a good number of SPS and some LPS.

to give you all an update, the elegance itself is somehow still alive! but I doubt it will pull through at this point. I will say however I think I will attribute its decline to the tank issues I was facing at the same time.

Its stayed pretty much closed since the dip, but looked in much better shape. the color was still there strong but has mostly gone since (i think this was the tank wide issue). slowly since it's retracted more down to where it is now (showing some bone around the edge and i think partly dead) however over the last week or so half of it looks to be in much better shape and could - but doubtfully - pull through.

if indeed that was ECS I had then the dip I would say would have worked if not for my tank issues - overall not a fair test and inconclusive I guess but I would give it another go if I were in the same situation for sure.

- ill post some pics soon.

Kind regards, TinCanHero.