Got an Aussie Elegance, and got some Questions!

[Shawnts106]

Hey you guys, like many others I tried to keep Indo Elegance corals year ago... I started about 9 years from this year and went through 5 elegance in my first two years, which I am not proud to say.... but, I was uneducated then, and did not know about the elegance coral problem.


7 years later (eariler this week) I decided to try and Aussie Elegance coral. Since my first 5indo troubles I have done A LOT of research on the topic and have heard great things about the Aussie ones.. so... I decided Id give it ONE LAST SHOT...

I work at a LFS and we ordered 4 Sm/Med Aussies and 1 Indo... dont know why the Indo was put on the list, but it was... oh well...

the 4 that came in are doing WONDERFUL! Every customer has reported theirs to be doing excellent!... MINE INCLUDED! :)

But I do have some questions:

I have heard they have different care requirements than the INDOS...
I was wondering howso.. and what I needed to do ...
I have been involved in SPS for about 3 years now, but have recently fell back in love with LPS...
Acans, Micros, Duncans, Cycloseris, Fungias, Euphyllias... everything..
LOL, lately I have been on a Fungia/Cyclo/whatever "Short Tenticle Plate Coral" hunt...


I placed the Elegance at the bottom of the tank with the base burrowed a bit in to the sand bed, making sure not to allow overlaping tissue to be bothered.
It is blooming out VERY nicely, and has eatten twice.. I feed it later the same day I recieved it. Its eatting Mysis, Plankton, and other small shrimps.. and I fed it again tonight, and it had a stronger feeding reaction, and ate even more.

Other than giving it lower light, food and medium water current, have you guys found anything else to be helpfull in the acclimation of these corals?

I am a bit paranoid because of the 4 indos crashing on me all those years ago, and just want to give the Aussie the best chance... so far VERY GOOD...


Any tips are greatly appreciated :)!

[Shawnts106]

Oh my lighting consists of

(2) 250watt XM20K MH ran on standard Magnetic Ballast
(2) 54watt T5 Bulbs ran on an Icecap 660 to overdrive them

The T5's are (1) ATI Blue+ and (1) ATI 12K

thanks :)

[elegance coral]

Your Aussie can adapt to very bright lights if given time to do so. I wouldn't worry to much about the lighting. Just try to keep the flow down in its area.

Are they keeping the Indo Elegance with the Aussies at your LFS?

[Shawnts106]

yeah, thats what I was thinking.. Although, my tank is mainly geared to SPS so, there is a good amount of flow through the whole tank.. right now its in Med Flow.. I noticed its not bloomed out as big as the others that are in low flow...

I work that this store, and Of course, NO WAY did I allow a Indo and Aussie to be in the same system.. I was to paranoid ! lol

The Indo we got in is doing better, I moved it the lowest point in the tank under a HUGE Orange Montipora Cap, where it is pretty much shaded... its perking up a bit, and not producing as much mucus... not blowing up anymore either.

[leigh123]

any way you can turn me on to an aussie elegant i have had the same problems i live in hamilton In. zip 46742 any help on were i could order one would be great. the lower the water flow on my lps's the more they expand

[Shawnts106]

LPS normally do expand more when you get them in lower flow...

Check your PM's leigh123

[Shawnts106]

HELP?:confused:

[Saboral]

I would immediately separate the indo from the aussie elegances. A good study I found online suggested that the diesease affecting elegances was contagious and was clearly passed from specimen to specimen when sharing the same water. Signs of the inevitable demise of an elegance due to the diesease are strands or filaments extending from the point at which the skeleton and membrane meet as well as a swollen oral disk and flacid tenticles.

[jodirt]

how can you tell the differences between an indo and aussie elegance?

[Saboral]

Aussie tends to have to be more of a whitish color and should not be exhibiting signs of Elegance Disease. These signs are prevalent on Indo Elegance and the Aussie variety have been recognized for their lack of the disease in captivity, however the disease can spread between elegance corals regardless of original collection area.

[jodirt]

how would you know if your LFS or someone else whos selling an elegance is a true aussie since the disease wont show up until a week in your tank.
thanks

[Shawnts106]

Yeah, id like to know this too...
Mine is not getting any better, but rather worse

Ive got filaments showing up in pockets all over it, shrunken tenticles and blowing up...

The other 3 aussies are fine... all in separate systems, and doing great.... just this one is doing badly, and it came from the exact same place the others did!

[Saboral]

Unfortunately this Elegance is done for, there is no effective treatment for this condition yet. The reason being is that during its handling process from collection to you it probably came into contact with a system with an infected elegance in it. As far as telling the Indo and Aussie apart the only way I know is that Elegance Corals that are lighter in color, particularly white are Aussie and the darker varieties are Indo.

[Shawnts106]

What do you mean lighter in color?

Mine is NEON Green with pinkish tips...
small and the cone skeleton is dark and has a few organisms on it...

[Saboral]

That sounds Indo to me, I could be wrong I don't profess to be an expert, I just did a lot of reading on elegances recently trying to take care of my own.

[currentking]

I have had my indo elegance for over a week and it is doing great. There are times that parts of it are shrunk in and times when it is fully expanded over 14". I got mine that had it in his tank for over a year and it grew too big for him. Guess I got lucky.

[ReefingIt]

L.A is an excellent source for Aussie Elegances. Just got mine last week after miserably failing at the Indo species. So far so good, the thing ate two small pieces of raw shrimp yesterday and expanded beautifully. I've got mine down at the bottom of the tank with moderate alternating flow. I'd post some pictures but I keep getting over size limit errors. Finally just gave up. Anyone can point me to some short cuts as to how to post pictures, I'd appreciate it.

[elegance coral]

Is your coral still alive? Do you have it in the tank with the MH? Is it exposed to bright light? I have to agree that your coral sounds like an Indo. Most Aussies come from the reef or very close to it. Your coral did not come from this environment. Your coral was collected away from the reef most likely in one of two areas. The shallow inshore area like grass flats, or the deep sediment at the base of fore reefs. Because it is showing the same symptoms as the Elegance corals collected from the deep water environment, I believe it is safe to assume that this is where it was collected. Because almost all the Elegance collected in Indonesia come from this environment I'm almost certain this coral came from Indonesia.

[Shawnts106]

Mine is certainly an Aussie.. Dont be fooled by the Green and Pink tip.. I have a INDO in the same tank and the skeleton and color is VERY different


Its an aussie.. small, very oval, etc..
Its still hanging in there, still swelling a little, but the tenticles look slightly better today... but its still expelling mucus and filaments, just in smaller amounts...

The Indo on the other hand is doing good, blooming nicely, tenticles look good, no mucus, etc...


L.A is an excellent source for Aussie Elegances.

Are you talking about L.A. California, or Leader Aquatic?

[ViPeR_930]

LA = Live Aquaria I think.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=461&N=0