Need some advice ASAP

[spyderreef]

I bought an elegance 5 weeks ago. Since then all of the tenticles disappeared. It will still open and close when the lights turn on and off. I moved it to a different tank and then moved it again to my refugium. I have feather caulerpa and red grape caulerpa in the refugium with a 50/50 55watt pc on 24/7. Should I turn my lights out for a period of time for the elegance? How long should they be off for? What harm may it cause the elegance if I left the lights on all of the time?

 

[bdhough]

Y on earth did you move it to the refugium? Corals need to have a day and night period to be healthy in my opinion....
I dunno did you move it around alot before? Elegance are finiky corals and i've heard never do well. Im sure others have opinions and experience.
My guess is you are moving it to much. Leave it in one place where you like it and just let it sit. Moving corals around only disrupts their growth and expansion because they are constantly adjusting to new conditions. WHat are your water params in each tank? Im sure you acclimated the elegance?
Ill give you an example. I constantly move my purple shroom rock around both of my tanks. They never stay in one spot longer than a month. I don't care becaue they are shrooms and shrooms can recover very easily but then again they don't expand very big after the move for a while. Then i do it again and start the process over and over. I do it mainly because i kept buying new more important to me corals. Your elegance on the other hand is not so easy....

 

[bonermeister]

Yeah dude, move it back to your best tank and leave it there. It might recover, but the outlook is grim.

 

[spyderreef]

I have been watching this coral decline a week after I bought it. It was risky purchase and maybe I was too hopeful that I could be successful where others have failed. I know that it is a coral that people have little success with. I placed it first, in what I felt, was my best tank. I moved it when I felt that it would not recover. I did not want to wait too long because I knew that it was already stressed. First tank 2 400 watt MH. I moved it to my 125 with the refugium. This tank is more established with lower lighting, 2 175 watt MH. It had been there a couple of weeks with a steady decline. It looked as if it had a bacterial infection. I treated it and then I moved it to the refugium because the lighting was lower. Maybe too low but from what I have read these corals are being collected from deeper waters. It was a desperate act to move it to the refugium. The curious thing is that it looks much better. I admit that it was stupid of me to not to ask about the lighting until after I moved it. I have created another spot in the main where I am hopeful will be better. My plan is to leave it there and hope for the best.

 

[bdhough]

Well i have some good and bad news for you. First is you have the coral in the right place now. Reading more about their natural location they need to be placed in the sand to avoid abrasions by live rock on their "skin". They also tend to be found in lagoonal areas growing in seaweed grasses and seaweed beds.... I.E. your refugium. The only problem with your refugium is that the lights are on 24/7 and you could have a little more light on the guy. Another 55 pc would be perfect. They don't need halides to survive from what i've read. They are similar to anemones and do need to be fed some meaty food every now and again.
My suggestion is to keep him in the refugium for now and see if he gets better. Maybe you could devise a contraption to place the elegance in the dark for the night and then remove it during the day time. If he does recover in there you can try and place him in your display. Find a spot in the sand for him. Keep in mind he needs alot of room to expand if you have him near any other corals....

 

[spyderreef]

Thank you for your advice. Because I don't have any grape caulerpa in my refugium I thought that it might be ok to turn the lights out. I don't think feather caulerpa is as prone to going sexual as the grape, someone please set me straight if I am wrong. I also agree that I would need more light in the refugium. I have another tank that I might move my macro algae to then all I would need is some more light.

 

[bdhough]

Well like i said another 55 pc would probably be perfect for him. And hes safest ,environment wise, in their right now until he recovers. Just make sure to feed him some food daily to get him back to health. I know they are two different corals but i nursed a brain back to full health by feeding him almost daily for weeks.
Until you get another light in there if you are going to keep the elegance then i would suggest leaving the light on as long as possible so he gets an exagerated amount of lighting period since he probably isn't getting enough light. If you could also get a small amount of current on him they do like that as well.....
Good luck. They are beautiful when healthy.....