New Elegance coral skeleton showing

UnnamedReef · Mar 7, 2026

Looking for some advice on this new Elegance. I've been wanting one for a while, and I went to FFM with that in mind. There were quite a few but I settled on a pink tip Elegance. Vendor had three in the tank but they were extremely busy so I picked the happiest looking one and went about my business.

The vendor recommended coral revive dip (which I have) and specifically cautioned against iodine (I usually dip new frags with Lugos in case of injuries sustained in transit). So I did the coral revive for 10 minutes and into the tank it went. It's sitting in low/moderate flow and about 90 PAR.

I didn't see that it had a bit of tissue recession on one corner. The rest of the tissue looks to be intact and sealing with the skeleton. These photos are 5 minutes after I finished dipping it so it's closed up and unhappy.

Reading that Elegance are susceptible to bacterial infections, and knowing they're difficult to keep I'm wondering if I should do any anti-bacterial dips to help it recover, or let it do its thing and see where it goes. Any advice from the experts?

UnnamedReef · Mar 8, 2026

Bump

It was open and happy all day today, leaning towards doing nothing and letting it play out but curious to hear other experience from Elegance owners

UnnamedReef · Mar 9, 2026

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 9, 2026

Is it correct that the skeleton edge in the first photo has coralline growing on it, or is that a trick of the lighting?

If there is coralline, the skeleton has been exposed for a long time and it is not a new issue. I’d be less concerned if that were the case.

UnnamedReef · Mar 9, 2026

Thank you for the reply. I will double check tonight that it's coralline.

The recession is definitely not new (there isn't a distinct line where I can see it started to recede) but I'm worried it's the beginning of detachment from the skeleton

UnnamedReef · Mar 9, 2026

That isn't coralline, but the recession still doesn't look new since the skeleton isn't bright white. Here's a better photo of it once it closed up tonight.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 9, 2026

I have an elegance, but would not claim to be any sort of expert on how to treat them when they have issues. Unfortunately, a lot of new elegances these days have issues.

I’ll have to leave treatment ideas to others. I know Dwest has had his elegance for decades, and that’s where I got mine (a baby), but I don’t know if he ever had to treat it.

@dwest

UnnamedReef · Mar 9, 2026

I appreciate that, thank you!

dwest · Mar 9, 2026

UnnamedReef said:
I appreciate that, thank you!

Elegance corals seem to be very difficult now. Randy is right in that I’ve had mine for decades (about 30 years). But unfortunately my “skill” is just luck that I got a healthy one a long time ago. I’ve never treated it for anything along the way.

Good luck with your coral and don’t take it personally if it doesn’t make it. I wish I could provide some help, but all I would do is supply as much stability as possible and cross my fingers.

If I were to buy a new elegance today, I’d take a hard long look at Biota.

JustJordan · Mar 9, 2026

I have two elegance corals, purchased a few years back. One shortly after arriving developed "Elegance Coral Syndrome" and has since recovered. I am no expert but, did succesfully bring one back.

I did an iodine dip, like lugol's for half the time and potency recommended. Repeating daily until it improved. I initially had it around 150 ish, par and relocated it to a darker spot with around 50 par, till it began to fully extend again. Things did look bleak for a few weeks.

If it starts to melt, try to remove those loose bits with a baster, to prevent the spread of bacteria.

UnnamedReef · Mar 9, 2026

Very good advice, thank you both. I think I will try a light iodine dip tomorrow, but I'm going to keep an eye on the area of exposed skeleton to see if it's improving or receding more.

@JustJordan was yours in better or worse shape than this when you got it? Adding a photo of it during the day.

I've got it in low flow and 90-100 PAR now. It extends well during the day and seems happy, only closing at night. I'll leave it where it is for now.

Will update this thread as well. Even if it doesn't work out, maybe this will help someone else

dwest · Mar 9, 2026

UnnamedReef said:
Very good advice, thank you both. I think I will try a light iodine dip tomorrow, but I'm going to keep an eye on the area of exposed skeleton to see if it's improving or receding more.

@JustJordan was yours in better or worse shape than this when you got it? Adding a photo of it during the day.

I've got it in low flow and 90-100 PAR now. It extends well during the day and seems happy, only closing at night. I'll leave it where it is for now.

Will update this thread as well. Even if it doesn't work out, maybe this will help someone else

Is this the most recent photo? It looks really good in this pic.

Marine Betta · Mar 9, 2026

UnnamedReef said:
Looking for some advice on this new Elegance. I've been wanting one for a while, and I went to FFM with that in mind. There were quite a few but I settled on a pink tip Elegance. Vendor had three in the tank but they were extremely busy so I picked the happiest looking one and went about my business.

The vendor recommended coral revive dip (which I have) and specifically cautioned against iodine (I usually dip new frags with Lugos in case of injuries sustained in transit). So I did the coral revive for 10 minutes and into the tank it went. It's sitting in low/moderate flow and about 90 PAR.

I didn't see that it had a bit of tissue recession on one corner. The rest of the tissue looks to be intact and sealing with the skeleton. These photos are 5 minutes after I finished dipping it so it's closed up and unhappy.

Reading that Elegance are susceptible to bacterial infections, and knowing they're difficult to keep I'm wondering if I should do any anti-bacterial dips to help it recover, or let it do its thing and see where it goes. Any advice from the experts?

Like JustJordan said, that looks like Elegance Coral Syndrome (ECS) to me. Which is more than likely bacterial if your parameters are all in check. I have never had to treat one, but my LFS dips theirs in Lugol’s when this happens. It works about 50% of the time if they catch it early enough. You could use another iodine based dip.

I have heard some people having success with FW dips and antibiotic dips, but I don’t have any experience with either and would stick with the iodine dip unless it’s a last resort.

As suggested, I would move it to a lower light and flow area and feed it after the dip. Do you know where the coral was sourced? Elegance corals tend to not handle being fragged well and often decline within the first 3 months afterwards, but Indo elegance corals tend to be more susceptible to ECS and not as hardy as those from Australia.

I’m sorry you’re dealing with this. It’s not your fault. In the unfortunate event that this one doesn’t make it, I would consider looking at a larger Australian one. They are more expensive, but I t will be less likely to have this issue. There are some really awesome ones too. The black/rasta elegance is my favorite.

UnnamedReef · Mar 9, 2026

Sounds like an antibacterial lugols dip is the way to go. Can't hurt, I'll do one tomorrow.

Yes this is the most recent photo from just before lights-out. It does look good but I know it can recede quietly while "looking" alright.

I should've had the vendor flip it over to see the tissue, that's on me. FFM was super busy though so I went for the one that looked the happiest. Some of the other vendors that had nearly identical pink tipped ones said they were Biotas. I did confirm this one was aquaculture not wild.

JustJordan · Mar 9, 2026

UnnamedReef said:
Very good advice, thank you both. I think I will try a light iodine dip tomorrow, but I'm going to keep an eye on the area of exposed skeleton to see if it's improving or receding more.

@JustJordan was yours in better or worse shape than this when you got it? Adding a photo of it during the day.

I've got it in low flow and 90-100 PAR now. It extends well during the day and seems happy, only closing at night. I'll leave it where it is for now.

Will update this thread as well. Even if it doesn't work out, maybe this will help someone else

It looks quite healthy in the day. There is some slight recession though when it is closed. I think one iodine dip, at half strength would be safe to minimize risk. Keep an eye out if it continues to recede.

UnnamedReef · Mar 9, 2026

Roger that, half strength iodine dip tomorrow it is.

Did you dip when fully open or when closed during the evening?

JustJordan · Mar 9, 2026

UnnamedReef said:
Roger that, half strength iodine dip tomorrow it is.

Did you dip when fully open or when closed during the evening?

I presume it was during the day. If, you are going to do it during the day. Just give it a few love taps on the side, for it to close up before moving it.

UnnamedReef · Mar 11, 2026

Update: Lugol's dipped it yesterday afternoon at low concentration for 5 minutes. The elegance certainly wasn't happy to be moved around and dipped but it's the most open it's been since I got it. Starting to reach across the sand bed so I'll take that as a good sign.

I'm going to do Lugol's dips every other day to help it along. I'll update as things progress

UnnamedReef · Mar 25, 2026

Update to this: The elegance didn't make it. I slacked off a bit on every-other-day iodine dips but still did them regularly. The flesh recession didn't really expand, but the tissue did start melting. It had a BJD-like fuzziness to it on 2/3 of the coral so I removed it and tried a last-ditch fragging of the good part moving it to a QT tank. No luck, that part melted away too.

Since it resembled BJD and seemed to be a bacterial infection I'm thinking it was ECS. Bummer, but a data point that iodine dips didn't reverse ECS for my case. Torches, hammers, frogspawn unaffected but I'm watching everything closely.