New goni frag closed for four days

[Bereefme]

I posted this in the general forum and have received no replies so I’m trying this group (Sorry, if I’m doing this incorrectly.):


This is my first post on R2R. I’m new to reefing. I have a 40b with LPS and softies—almost 6 mos old. Everything looks amazing! I’ve never really had trouble with any new corals. I wanted to try goniopora, and I found a tiny but gorgeous neon pink frag at my LFS. After paying WAY too much for a frag at my experience level, I took it home and it was doing great for a few days, and then it started retracting and a few days later it was completely closed. It’s been closed for about four days now. I had started it off on the sand bed under moderate light and flow and have tried moving it to lower light and flow areas with no response. Any advice would be most welcome.
My parameters are:
Salinity:34.7
Alk: 8.4
NO3: 13.0 (dosing NeoNitro shooting for 10.0)
PO3: 0.18 (little higher than normal)
Ca: 490
Mg: 1600

tank details (I went for cheap so I can stay married): 40b, 29g sump, nicrew 100w lights x 2, sicce voayger 2 wavemakers with wave surfer controller, reef octopus skimmer, chaeto in fuge with 100w cheap grow light, RODI water with ATO. I dose 2 part as needed. 10% water changed weekly (yesterday most recent), UV sterilizer (controlling an ongoing dino issue), and a bag of carbon between the fuge and return.
Pics below:

 

[Bereefme]

*PO4

 

[Enkopaaisen]

I had the same problem with some very expensive gonis.
some of them will reopen after like 1-2 month, some of them will loose the tissues and die....
one of my amazeball closed for liek 2 months, than I moved it to a new setup tank, it opens up nicely again. so I guess it has something to do with the water. also I am not sure how neonitro works, but I tried to use redsea X, half of the instructed dosage, but it killed four of my HG torch in 3 dags....
I will try to let it rest (no move it) and do a bit more and offen water change.
another thing is algae, especially if the goni is closed for longer time, dont let the algae grow on gonis skeleton, they will take over the plug and kill the goni.

 

[Tazer5000]

Mine came out great the first day of so then not so much for a week or two. Been doing wonderful since.

 

[CoralB]

Need to bring phosphates and mag down . What are you using to test . Also inspect the frag for any abnormalities ie: bugs , worms, algae , etc

 

[Bereefme]

I had the same problem with some very expensive gonis.
some of them will reopen after like 1-2 month, some of them will loose the tissues and die....
one of my amazeball closed for liek 2 months, than I moved it to a new setup tank, it opens up nicely again. so I guess it has something to do with the water. also I am not sure how neonitro works, but I tried to use redsea X, half of the instructed dosage, but it killed four of my HG torch in 3 dags....
I will try to let it rest (no move it) and do a bit more and offen water change.
another thing is algae, especially if the goni is closed for longer time, dont let the algae grow on gonis skeleton, they will take over the plug and kill the goni.

Good tip on keeping algae off. I’ll make sure it’s clean.

 

[Bereefme]

Mine came out great the first day of so then not so much for a week or two. Been doing wonderful since.

Thanks for that. Hope mine does the same.

 

[Bereefme]

Need to bring phosphates and mag down . What are you using to test . Also inspect the frag for any abnormalities ie: bugs , worms, algae , etc

Hannah ULR for phosphate, Red Sea for Mg. I’ve been feeding more pellets lately, so I’m replacing with frozen food, and increasing fuge light timing. That will take care of phosphate, but how do I decrease Mg?

 

[CoralB]

Hannah ULR for phosphate, Red Sea for Mg. I’ve been feeding more pellets lately, so I’m replacing with frozen food, and increasing fuge light timing. That will take care of phosphate, but how do I decrease Mg?

Water changes

 

[bruno3047]

Feed it something it can eat. Either Goniopower or Reef Roids would do the trick. Just drop the food right on him gently, and soon it will all be gone. If it’s healthy.

 

[Bereefme]

Feed it something it can eat. Either Goniopower or Reef Roids would do the trick. Just drop the food right on him gently, and soon it will all be gone. If it’s healthy.

I’ve been feeding Reef Frenzy, but no response. Does it still absorb food with no polyp extension?

 

[vetteguy53081]

You are talking about a challenging and moody coral. I never like them on the sand as sand can irritate them if it gets on them. 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.

 

[Bereefme]

You are talking about a challenging and moody coral. I never like them on the sand as sand can irritate them if it gets on them. 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.

Great info! I forgot to mention that I’ve been infusing the reef frenzy with Brightwell CoralAmino. The goni’s current spot is low flow/low light, but it is on the sand bed. I’ll grab a little piece of rubble rock from the sump to elevate it a bit. Thanks for the great advice!

 

[bruno3047]

I’ve been feeding Reef Frenzy, but no response. Does it still absorb food with no polyp extension?

YES! I find that to be the best way to feed them. In fact, I prompt my 2 gonis to retract first, then I allow the goniopower power to fall gently on the retracted polyps. Like I said, within 15-30 minutes, it’s pretty much all gone. The food must be in powder form when dry or else you’re wasting your time. Obviously you either have to cover the coral so the powder isn’t swept away by the current or you have to shut off all your pumps. I have a unique way of feeding my gonis that I posted here a few weeks ago. I’ll see if I can find it and put the link here. Of course you can always do it the regular way of mixing the powder into a slurry with tank water and then just dropping it onto the retracted polyps.

 

[bruno3047]

I’ve been feeding Reef Frenzy, but no response. Does it still absorb food with no polyp extension?

Here’s a link to a thread I started, discussing Gonis. You might find it interesting. On page 2, I show some pictures of how I feed my two Gonis and how they react after the feeding. Any questions, just ask.

Goni frag growth

Two month frag growth of my red goni after I embedded the frag plug into a flat rock. First photo one month after purchase right before embed, second photo two months after embed. Any questions, just ask.

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Bereefme]

Here’s a link to a thread I started, discussing Gonis. You might find it interesting. On page 2, I show some pictures of how I feed my two Gonis and how they react after the feeding. Any questions, just ask.

Goni frag growth

Two month frag growth of my red goni after I embedded the frag plug into a flat rock. First photo one month after purchase right before embed, second photo two months after embed. Any questions, just ask.

www.reef2reef.com

I’m def going to try that bottle trick! Thank you!

 

[threebuoys]

You are talking about a challenging and moody coral. I never like them on the sand as sand can irritate them if it gets on them. 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.

Hey @vetteguy53081 I need to kibitz on this thread, sorry @Bereefme but I think this is relevant too.

This info is most helpful. I've had a similar problem recently. Simultaneously, I've had a big problem with dinos. So to treat the dinos, I've followed your advice in other threads. That battle is continuing with limited success. My understanding is that I should not feed phytoplankton or amino acids while fighting dinos. So, I fear that may be why my gonis are misbehaving. How can I have my cake and eat it too? Or, must I choose one problem or the other to solve?