Green Goniopora Dying?

lexluethar

lexluethar

Active Member
So I bought a goniopora a few months back, it was my first coral and was doing great for the past 4 months or so. I have a 150 watt MH on a 30 gallon tank. Every since I've added my two clowns and BTA the goniopora has looked like crap - its lost a handfull of its tenticles, and it doesn't open and inflate up like it used to. Everything else in the tank is doing fine so I don't believe it is a water quality issue, but I am worried that my clowns are beating it up.
Every so often (i'm sure at least a dozen a day) my clown that hosts the BTA (the BTA and Gon. are not touching) likes to try and host most of my corals, and my Goniopora is no exception. So daily she rubs up against the goniopora in a hosting fasion.
Is there anything that can be done? Can I save the Goniopora?
Like I said earlier everything is doing fine, and the Goniopora was doing fine until the clowns came into the picture - now it NEVER fully inflates like it used to, the tenticles stretch out at night (but the body doesn't inflate) because the clowns are asleep and don't mess with it and i'm sure it doesn't inflate at night b/c there is no light.
Any thoughts? If i can do something to save the Gon. will it regrow what tenticles its lost?
I've tried moving it around the tank and the clowns still go over every once in a while (again probably a dozen times a day) and rubs on it.
Can someone please help!
 
perfectdark

perfectdark

Active Member
Originally Posted by LexLuethar
So I bought a goniopora a few months back, it was my first coral and was doing great for the past 4 months or so. I have a 150 watt MH on a 30 gallon tank. Every since I've added my two clowns and BTA the goniopora has looked like crap - its lost a handfull of its tenticles, and it doesn't open and inflate up like it used to. Everything else in the tank is doing fine so I don't believe it is a water quality issue, but I am worried that my clowns are beating it up.
Every so often (i'm sure at least a dozen a day) my clown that hosts the BTA (the BTA and Gon. are not touching) likes to try and host most of my corals, and my Goniopora is no exception. So daily she rubs up against the goniopora in a hosting fasion.
Is there anything that can be done? Can I save the Goniopora?
Like I said earlier everything is doing fine, and the Goniopora was doing fine until the clowns came into the picture - now it NEVER fully inflates like it used to, the tenticles stretch out at night (but the body doesn't inflate) because the clowns are asleep and don't mess with it and i'm sure it doesn't inflate at night b/c there is no light.
Any thoughts? If i can do something to save the Gon. will it regrow what tenticles its lost?
I've tried moving it around the tank and the clowns still go over every once in a while (again probably a dozen times a day) and rubs on it.
Can someone please help!

The BTA and the Goniopora dont have to touch for there to be an issue. What size tank is it and how close are they. Chemical warfare is not uncommon with SPS corals even if they are in the same proximity of another inhabitant. Also do you have flow directed at the coral?
 
saltn00b

saltn00b

Active Member
a few thoughts.
1) Gonios have a poor track record. usually the only ones that do well are in very large tanks. a lot is still unkown about this animal.
2) clowns attempting to host corals can easily bother and kill of coral flesh of many types of corals and feather dusters. i have seen it a dozen times.
3)you say "Everything else in the tank is doing fine so I don't believe it is a water quality issue"
well this is a poor way to go about looking at your tank. first i believe you said this is the only coral in the tank, it is also a LPS - or large polyp stony coral, that will have special needs that your other tank mates dont need. for corals, the big issues are a clean nitrate cycle and phosphate levels, and optimum Alk, Calcium and magnesium. what are these at? do you test for these things? what im saying is not to assume in this hobby, it can get you into a LOT of hot water. first thing you do as a general rule of thumb, whenever something doesnt look good, is TEST TEST TEST. dont say "everything else is good so it must be fine" for example if you had leather coral and it started looking not so good and you said that, you wouldnt have realized that leathers succumb to phosphate poisoning before other corals, forewarning you that your other corals will soon follow this path, but you wouldnt know cause you didnt test.
 
saltn00b

saltn00b

Active Member
Originally Posted by PerfectDark
The BTA and the Goniopora dont have to touch for there to be an issue. What size tank is it and how close are they. Chemical warfare is not uncommon with SPS corals even if they are in the same proximity of another inhabitant. Also do you have flow directed at the coral?
sorry but goniopora aka "flowerpots" are not SPS they are LPS, and even though LPS participate in chemical warfare as well, as far as i know, anenome do no such thing, they only have pneumatocysts (spelling) / stinging cells.
 
perfectdark

perfectdark

Active Member
Originally Posted by saltn00b
sorry but goniopora aka "flowerpots" are not SPS they are LPS, and even though LPS participate in chemical warfare as well, as far as i know, anenome do no such thing, they only have pneumatocysts (spelling) / stinging cells.
You know what... My bad...
I had one thought in my head typed another... dont know what I was thinking. But I retract my stament as I had the coral species completly botched in my head. And yes anemones can and most certainly do in a lot of cases engage in chemical warfare if they feel threatend by another inhabitant. If the coral is considered aggressive this increases the potential for issues and or small confines and or another anem of a different species. Running carbon is recomended becase you cannot test for these toxins should they be released.
 
lexluethar

lexluethar

Active Member
It was my FIRST coral - i have a few others but i don't believe they are as fragile as the gorn. I have mushrooms and sun polyps (i know not as fragile as the gorn). It is a 30 gallon tank and in total i have 20x or more turnover (i'm at work and dont' remember exactly). There is no DIRECT flow onto the coral, but a good amount to where the polyps sway in the current. I will test when I get home, generally I only test am,ni,na,ph,ca - but I will start testing the others. My ca as always been between 400 - 450. My nitrates as of lately have been 12.5 (lowest on the kit i have) because a while back I had a crappy sabea die (it was dead pretty much before i took it home, it was a bad buy), this is the reason for my high NA, prior to that for a month in a half my NA was 0. I do 20% water changes weekly.
I just assume everything is okay because the gorn. was totally fine for four months, then the day i add the clowns it doesn't open up anymore and looks like crap. I won't assume it is the clowns, i'm just saying they are definately suspect.
I will test when i get home this evening - OTHER than water quality issues lets pretend it is the clown, can anything be done? Will it grow back the tenticles its lost (probably 10% lost).
 
lexluethar

lexluethar

Active Member
Originally Posted by PerfectDark
You know what... My bad...
I had one thought in my head typed another... dont know what I was thinking. But I retract my stament as I had the coral species completly botched in my head. And yes anemones can and most certainly do in a lot of cases engage in chemical warfare if they feel threatend by another inhabitant. If the coral is considered aggressive this increases the potential for issues and or small confines and or another anem of a different species. Running carbon is recomended becase you cannot test for these toxins should they be released.
And i do run carbon. I change it out weekly.
 
saltn00b

saltn00b

Active Member
if the clown stops bothering it, then it could grow back no problem.
you test almost all of what you need to and that is good. defintely get an Alk test as that is very important for coral health, mag is secondary. unfortunately it might not be the clown as your problem but the tank size. your story is not unique. a lot of times these corals do well for a while and then start to decline into a downward spiral of doom until its nothing but base rock. it seems in most cases the people that are able to keep these corals have at least 100 gallon tanks, 200 + having better success rates.
 
lexluethar

lexluethar

Active Member
Okay, thanks for the help! And I definately will get the alk test. I know I have a small aquarium - but in the next year after I move I plan on getting a much larger aquarium (hopefully 50-100 gallon). As of sunday the only test that was off was my NA - which was at 12.5 (stupid stupid sabea). My ph was 7.9 which it is usually low and i really can't figure out why. Depending on the time of day it ranges from 7.9 in the evening to around 8.1 in the day. I have a PH agitating the top of the water and I use aragonite (about an inch) as a sandbed. I've heard the alk will affect the ph (along with CA) so perhaps the alk test will shed some light.
I will try to move the gorn one last time in hopes of getting the clown to leave it the f*&* alone. Other than another tank is there any way to "sheild" the gorn - or at this point is this just a losing battle? They are definately beautiful corals - and i probably got a little in over my head for a newbie.
Thanks for the quit replys saltnoob and dark - you guys are always EXTREMELY helpful!
 
S

slugkeeper

Guest
Originally Posted by LexLuethar
Can I place a plastic bottle with a bunch of holes (like a 2 liter) over it? Will this help its regrowth?
They need a lot of flow - the bottle may be too restrictive. See about getting a little plastic basket from the storage/organizer aisle of the local Walmart - one with slits on the side. I use them when fragging and they work great (about $2.63 for 2 baskets in this area).
 
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