Purple Gorgonia - HELP!

[confusedfishy]

I have just purchased a purple gorgonia. I am pretty sure it is doing badly, but I am not sure why...? What are bad signs-does anyone know? How do they normally respond when acclimating?
ANY HELP would be great!
Thank you!

 

[yosemite sam]

What is your setup like, including tank size, age, inhabitants, and water parameters? Can you describe what kind of gorgonia, there are several purple ones. How did you acclimate it? Why do you think it's not doing well? Describe the problem for us. A photo would help, if you have one.

 

[perfectdark]

Gorgonians tend not to be subject to acclimation shock, nor do they change appearance in hours after being placed in the aquarium. There exoskeleton protects their inner skeleton from drastic problems. It is important to know what species of gorg it is. A purple brush gorg is one of the more hardier species and depending on what it looks like rehabilitation is not out of the question. The are also a photosynthetic species, some are not and some need reletivly high lighting. More info and pics are needed...

 

[confusedfishy]

I believe based on my research that it is a purple sea blade "pterogorgia." I have a 65 gallon tank. I bought it last night (appx. 24 hours ago). It looks like it has a skin pealing off of it. The part beneath the part coming off looks all the same color but pealing off doesn't seem right to me?

 

[confusedfishy]

What I have in the tank is live rock, bubble coral, bubble annemia, mushrooms, brain coral, clown fish, and magnificant foxface. I am still building it up, I purchased 2 months ago from someone else that had it for about a year.

 

[perfectdark]

It sounds like Necrosis, which is common with gorgonians. Typically build up of some kind either cyano or some type of film algea accumulates on the coral and starts to decay its outter skin. You can stop it by cutting the branches off where the decay ends, then go about another 1/4" onto the good part of the coral. Snip it off there and discard the other piece. Its also a good idea to have some flow aimed at them to prevent build up from happening. And you can take a very soft bristled brush and gently brush the gorg off to get rid of any more build up on it that hasent started to decay yet.

 

[scopus tang]

In my experience your gorgonian is fine. As was stated in an earlier response, the purple blade gorgonian sluffs off an outerlayer on a regular basis to get rid of accumulated microalgaes that grow on it. In my experience, it also generally does this when placed in a new tank. It should be a much brighter purple after sluffing and in a day or two it should start sending out its polyps. Do Not start cutting parts off -unless you are trying to frag it. When it dies, it will reduce to a simple black core. Good Luck!

 

[perfectdark]

To further assess the issue its important that you look at the what is comming off carfully. If what is sluffing off is the outter purple color and what is left is a completly different color. Then it is necrosis, if it is not a different color then it could be just a way to cleanse itself and adjust to acclimation. A picture would clarify this....