New2Salt1
don't see how you can just dismiss someones experience and say it is BS. I have had the same expeirence the the crab. I bought an elegance coral after watching it do well in the LFS for about 2 months or so. I had it for about 2 mon ths then it started to decline. So one day I looked at it really well and saw some orange claws going like mad. So I picked it up to take a closer look and a small orange, grey, purple crab. The grab had actually burrowed itself into the coral. I do not think that the coral was declining then the crab entered it. I think that the crab entered it and made the coral decline. Now I am not 100% sure because the crab was extremely small. I pulled it out with a pair of tweezers and the elegance coral started to improve. It is now about 4-5 months after removing the crab and it has 100% recovered. Now neither of us are saying that this is the one and only decline of the elegance coral in aquariums.
I do however disagree with your statement that we should all go out and continue to buy a coral that is not living in aquariums. There are many people that have more experience and more qualification then the normal aquarists that are working to solve this issue. I have read some stuff on these corals as well and one thing that I read is that the location of the collections is the decline of these corals. Such as the ones that were higher up in the ocean are no longer there due to the colloction. So it forced collectors to dive down deeper and this person states that these have thinner skin and when they are brought up and placed in an aquarium they are getting the equivilant of a sunburn. I took this advice and placed it at the bottom of my aquarium in the sand and the VHO lighting that I had was sheilded by a huge gorgonia. I placed it there for about 2 months then moved the gorgonia. I also have it in nice indirect flow that bounces off the glass. I am also not saying that this is the one and only problem as well. This is just what worked for me.
So since you have had good sucess what you should do is post what you do and don't do. I do not reccomend that you push people top buy these corals because there are a lot of people that do not know about the poor survival rate. So pushing some one to buy a $70-$100 coral that will wither away and die in there aquarium is not a very nice way to start off in this hobby. There are a lot of corals, fish, and inverts that should not be sold in this hobby and I do not think that anyone should support purchasing these species. I only bought the elegance because it was doing very well for 2 months and it was $30.00. Also I have been in SF hobby for 6 YRS and concinder myself advanced, but these corals are nopt for the beginer. Also increasing the demand in my opion will do nothing but take healthy corals from the wild and place them in peoples tanks where about 90% of them will die. I think that we should leave these corals where they are and let the people who are qualified do this research like Marine Biologists. Also yes were are supposed to leave these corals in the wild because it does not make sense to collect them, place them in an aquarium, spend money, then watch them die. You are just putting money into peoples pockets that frankly don care about the health and well being of these corals once they make there quick buck.
I am really glad that your elegance is doing very well, but your success story is few and far between maybe there is something to be learned from your coral and you should post exactly what you do. Then if there are some more advacnced aquarist that are willing to take a chance we can put your findings to the test, but I find it hard to beleive that poor aquarium practices(lack of water changes and low calcium levels) are the key. They survive in the ocean and that is not the norm in the ocean. They get very high water quality and about 425 PPM calcium consistantly.
Aslo no one is saying to stay away from aquacultured corals. Almost everyone I know would say to purchase them over wild caught corals. I have never seen an aquacultured elegance and I'll bet 98% of the people on this board have never seen one either. If you do I would say buy it if you can, but you pushing the elegance as a whole because you know of a few aquacultured ones does not seem right to me. Again I ma very glad yours is doing extremely well and do not want to argue about this, but think you are going about helping the elegance corals in the wrong way. I do admire your ambition and people with that ambition will help bring about a cure or findings in this hobby, but I suggest you channel it in different ways other than urging people to purchase a coral just to have it die. Good luck and keep us posted on your findings.
