My elegance (pics)

[cristhiam]

So far everything is going great with this one.
When I got it (April 07)
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~pinatas/elegance.jpg

May
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~pinatas/elegance5171.jpg

June it's getting pretty big
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~cbucheli/125/elegance.jpg

[lvreefer]

Very nice. Do you believe your success is partly due to your low wattage lighting?

[cristhiam]

It's possible it's on the lowest flow and low light part of the tank, sometimes is very sticky and some times is not (at feeding). I wouldn't call too low of a wattage just no MH :) My bulbs are 48" long so the light concentraion is in the middle, also the lights are 4 6500K 40W bulbs and 2 110W URI superactinics run with two IceCaps 660s Full view so you get an idea of where is placed (far right bottom)
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~cbucheli/125/tank.jpg

[elegance coral]

Sweet! Good job man. He'll probably get stickier as time goes on. Hopefully we'll start seeing more and more threads like this popping up.

[cristhiam]

Thanks. What I've noticed on this specimen is that when I feed it sometimes is very sticky and grabs the food tight and closes up, and other times (same food) it will just flows around it without grabbing it. It seems that it gets sticky every 2 to 2 1/2 weeks or so. I tried one before like 2+ years ago and did not make it, it fell apart within 2 weeks. I love this one.

[elegance coral]

If you wiggle/vibrate the food in it's tentacles a little bit it may cause him to sting the food more and hold on to it tighter. This is how I get my hard to feed Elegance corals to start eating.

[cristhiam]

Hey guys, what are you guys keeping your parameters at?
I adjusted mine from Alk 8.4 to 10 DKH, Cal from 400 to 420 and MG from 1100 to 1300 and now my elegance it's been shrunk for a couple of days any ideas PH at 8.2 - 8.3 nitrates at .5 not sure what's going on. Everything else is fine.

[sailfish2]

IMHO and i very far from an expert but mine does not like alk changes at all so i would say its alk change from8 to 10 not that 10 is bad just the change. Did you do it all ay once or over a few days. Mine lets me know if something’s up with my tank. Mine does not like if I add to much of anything but he is ok in a few mins accept for a large alk fluctuation i had.

good luck

[cristhiam]

That's what I thought alk, I did adjust all at one shot, only the eleance is showing stress, maybe I'll just try to keep it at 8 DKH and calc at 400.

[elegance coral]

I agree with sailfish2. Elegance corals do not like change. When we start changing things in the aquarium they will most likely be the first one to show their disapproval. If any change takes place in the tank the Elegance will let you know. Nitrates or phosphates start to climb and your Elegance will start to withdraw.
Do you know if your coral is an Aussie or Indo?

[cristhiam]

Thanks for the info, I'll do smaller changes and keep it in the lower side I think, the LFS was not able to tell me where this one was from. Nitrates are at .5 (salifert) phosphase not so sure but it's reading 0, but I don't have HA and I have cheato in the sump.

[Serioussnaps]

FWIW 8 DKH is much closer to NSW than is 10....you were fine where you were at! Good looking elegance. I am following the elegance keeping closely and I am getting very tempted...my tank is too high flow/high light for one so I am building a new tank.

[elegance coral]

If your LFS can't tell you where it came from it is most likely an Indo Pacific Elegance. The Aussie Elegance corals are about $140 also. Is the coral still withdrawing?

[cristhiam]

Hi, the coral started to look better yesterday, not fully extended but a lot better, I'll check tonight when I get home and post again. I only pay 30 :)

[cristhiam]

Got a picture today, the coral is doing great so far but I found this things on it today, it's the only coral that has them. I thought it was part of it but they move! flatworms? I'm getting ready to remove them.
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~pinatas/ele2.jpg
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~pinatas/ele1.jpg

[Tyler.L]

from bad to worse, good luck getting them off

[elegance coral]

Holly crap. At first I thought that was coraline growing on the glass. The good thing is that your elegance doesn't seem to care if they are there. I have never had flat worms so I hope someone can chime in here and lend a hand if you need it.

Good job with the Elegance. It's looking very good. Beautiful coral.

[kramgnik]

I have had them on several elegance corals. They do not seem to bother the animal until their population increases so much that they block light from the animal. I removed them with a syringe trying not to suck up the coral in the process.

Good luck,
Mark

[cristhiam]

I removed a few with the turkey baster but the coral shrinks, they do die intantly in fresh water :), I just keep removing them every time I get a change, is there anything that will eat them, I see them only on the elegance.

[Serioussnaps]

Six line wrasse, yellow coris wrasse, all kinds of wrasses

mandarins

[cristhiam]

Thank you, I just removed some more, like 30+ they were on my fox coral that it was right next to the elegance. I might try a wrase but not sure if my purple pousedo cromis will accept it.

[CableGuy]

I had a plate coral that was covered in the same flatworms, it was only the plate coral that was infected. There were no flatworms anywhere else in the tank. I dipped the coral in Flat Worm Exit and they all came off. It worked for me.

Colby

[cristhiam]

Hi, I'm getting the FWE today, I don't think I'll treat the whole system for now I don't see them in any other LPS's or LR, just going to dip the elegance and the fox, the fox seems to have the most, it's almost impossible to remove them, any concers about dipping these corals? I hate to do this to the elegance, 4 months and it's going strong. Thanks guys

[elegance coral]

Your Elegance is very healthy. As long as you fallow the directions you shouldn't have any problems. A healthy Elegance is much tougher than people give them credit for. Good luck.

[cristhiam]

Hi guys, I did the dip a week ago and a bunch of flat worms came off, both corals are doing great. Today I just found some more on some zoas and mushrooms these are in the main rock impossible to remove them, what would you guys do, treat with FWE the whole tank or get a wrasse.

My only concern is that when I dipped the corals I saw some mini brittle stars dead on the bottom of the container, not sure if they were dead or the FWE killed them. I kind of OD in the container 4 drops in 1 gallon of water, not sure if this did it.

[jman77]

I've seen them on my eleg, and it's doing fine. I wouldn't be too worried since your coral is still expanding. If you are really worried get a mandarin. People get too freaked out over flatworms when you should chill and observe to see if it's one of the few bad species of FW's

BTW, the FW came with the Elegance as i didn't have any in that tank before putting it in.

[cristhiam]

I think the FW came with mine too, I've seen a tank with FW gone bad, all over the place in a LFS, that's why I'm kind of concern about them.

[jman77]

You might have a FW "bloom" but they should diminish. in time

Why don't you get a Mandarin pair... that should help to control the FW's in the tank

[cristhiam]

I might try the mandarin or a wrasse, the only problem is all my fish have been together for almost 2 years and not sure how my purple pseudo cromis will take the new arrival, my LFS has a cori wrasse that it's beautiful but the shape of this fish is almost the same as the purple fish and might not be too good. I guess I can try and see

[cristhiam]

Update:
After my nitrates reaching 100ppm a few acros melt down and FWE the elegance seems to be doing fine. I've been having hard time getting my tank under control.

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~pinatas/elegance1.jpg

And is this some kind of reproduction? I see new tenticles coming out of this area.
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~pinatas/elegance2.jpg

[MetalReef9]

nice...

[cristhiam]

11 months!! so far still doing great.

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh94/cristhiam_2008/March%2008/horton009.jpg

[HookedOnReefing]

Great job on keeping the Elegance happy.

Which one is this? The Indo or Aussie variety?

[cristhiam]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12377946#post12377946 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by HookedOnReefing
Great job on keeping the Elegance happy.

Which one is this? The Indo or Aussie variety?

Thank you, I have not idea where that coral came from.