Elegance coral care assistance

[kettlecorn]

I got an elegance coral from a fellow reef. great guy
but im not too familiar with what's best for their survival. i know these are real hard to keep in the past few years and they are very temperamental. that being said, i received it yesterday and it was closed in the container. acclimated and turned the lights on today and still closed all day. I actually placed it on the sand because i read that low light might be better than intense light.

My tank water parameters: ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 5-10, pH 8.2, SG 1.026, temp- around 80-82

Lights: red sea max stock, 2 "T5" 55w bulbs

Not sure if i need to move it someplace else, feed it or what, any assistance appreciated.

Only been 1 day but even if it does open soon i want to know how to take care of it. Also, placed in low flow area, low and center. no powerhead at this point only 2 return pumps.

[Dont Ask Me]

Should have enough flow that it sways around lightly, not forced in one direction.
I find mine likes low to medium light and to be fed directly with phyto/zoo plankton every few days, if not atleast drop a few frozen treats or pellets its way.



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[RB Chagoi]

IMO, Elegance is one of those corals best left in the ocean. However, you have it! Now, let's deal with it. It will do best in low flow, low to moderate lighting. Imbed the cone base in your sandbed. (This is how it is typically found in nature) Water parameters must be pristine with CALC at or near 450.

It is not uncommon for the elegance to withdraw tentacles when stressed. Ensure the above criteria has been met and leave it alone for a couple of days. Mine did the same thing when transferred to my tank. It is doing well, now. Best of luck and have patience.

If in a couple to a few days you see no improvement, please hit us up again.

[zachfishman]

Some people have had great success with elegance coral. I was thinking about trying one myself in my new tank - but realized that if I was successful the thing would rapidly grow to take up all the space in my 29.

I hear heavy feeding is essential. Do some forum searches.

[GilRoman74]

Your nitrates seem high.

[kettlecorn]

My nitrates are 5 but i put 5-10 cause its near impossible to tell apart the yellow color in the API test kit. LFS said my nitrates were "low".

I moved it up in the middle and placed it in a shade partially inside of rock.. I guess maybe I should put it back in the sand. I didn't want to give it too much light cause I read it likes the shade. Also I had it placed on the side, i really had no idea what it was supposed to look like lol and didn't figure it out until later when i saw some of the fleshy part on the side. I'll prop it up and put the cone base into the sand.

[khalid]

I had mine for over a year and the only reason I lost it was because my tank crashed last year during my move and I lost everything. I really don't think the are hard to keep as long as you get a healthy one. I had mine under moderately high to high light and not in the direct path of powerhead where it would get beat up. I feed phyto, marine snow, and what ever fish food it caught. Good luck!

[kettlecorn]

Thanks for the tips. I placed it upright in the sand and if it doesnt open today I will place it higher up. I thought it was dead but it doesn't smell bad, the crabs and snails aren't over it and it retracted a little bit when I accidentally touched it. Here's a picture of it (i need a better camera)

[Postal]

Originally Posted by kettlecorn

Thanks for the tips. I placed it upright in the sand and if it doesnt open today I will place it higher up. I thought it was dead but it doesn't smell bad, the crabs and snails aren't over it and it retracted a little bit when I accidentally touched it. Here's a picture of it (i need a better camera)

Just leave it alone for a few days. Constantly moving it is not going to help it get settled in your tank. Elegance should usually be left on the sand bed. Unless you have very weak lighting on your tank there is no reason to move it up higher.

[Saltyllama]

I find that the new ones being pulled from the ocean generally don't do well. I was lucky enough to find a guy in my local club that had a 17yr lineage on his. He gave me a pup the size of a nickel that fell off of his. That was 9 months ago. Now it is the size of a baseball with about five mouths on it. I have fed mine everything from pellets to siversides... yes SILVERSIDES! This was by accident as a piece the size of an M&M fell into it when I was feeding anemones. To my surprise it gobbled it right up. Luckily, mine has proved to be bullet proof. I have mine about 2 inches off the sand bed under T5's driven by an icecap 660.

[kettlecorn]

Okay I am not going to touch it. It's in a low-medium flow area and I placed it into the sand bed upright. The tentacles are getting longer but it is not fully open. I'm not even sure what that looks like but I am going to leave it. I don't even know how to feed it since... it's not open. I wouldn't want to just drop fish food on top lol. I'll give it a few days and see how it goes.

[Saltyllama]

Any update??

[robs.mark]

Alot depends on where it comes from too, i know the ozzy ones fair up a lot easier to keep, ive had one for about 18 months, and although it hasnt grown heaps (which is good as i want it to stay small) its always open and inflated, looks very healthy.. I keep mine on the sandbed, a have 250w halides so it gets medium light and i found mine likes lower flow better, as Dont Ask Me advised, just get the tents moving. I have never fed mine directly, though i do feed the tank with mysis and brine a few times a week..

[kettlecorn]

Yeah so i placed it in the sand and never moved it and after a few days it opened up fully. really cool. Its been like 2 months now and its been open everyday. Recently though (the past few days) it has been closing and not opening daily so I dont know what's wrong with it. I know the only thing I had done differently was change from NSW to Tropic Marin from my LFS. im going to try NSW again for my next water change and see if there's any change. I have to say it is very temperamental if you could call a coral that. the most sensitive of my corals.

[robs.mark]

NSW for me all the time! IMO cant be beaten..

[lisafoster]

I have lost two that were no aussie looked great one day the next not so great.you will notice it will start to retract all the way into its skeleton sometimes they get brown jelly that is what happened to my first. The common ones from indo have a much lower success rate than the aussie ones. Nitrates at 5 are no big deal.

[kettlecorn]

yeah i read that the indo ones wont last more than a few months at most but im not sure where this ones from since i got it from someone else. but i think i may have figured out why the elegance has been retracted into the skelaton. I feed my fish VERY little every other day. (there are only 2 firefish and 1 fire shrimp, cuc and some corals) and I think i have not been feeding enough when I do feed. I got some pellets and put it all the way down into the tank and let it float around the elegance and it immediately opened up all the way. So i got some frozen mysis and mixed it with the tank water, let it thaw and then used a turkey baster to put some directly onto the elegance and it has closed up that portion to feed. really cool