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FAQs about Elegance Coral Behavior

Back to Articles on: Catalaphyllia Coral, Caryophylliids, Large Polyp Stony Corals

Related FAQs: Elegance Corals, Elegance Corals 2Elegance Coral Identification, Elegance Coral Compatibility, Elegance Coral Selection, Elegance Coral Systems, Elegance Coral Feeding, Elegance Coral Disease/Pests, Elegance Coral Reproduction, Caryophyllid ID, Caryophyllid Compatibility, Caryophyllid Systems, Caryophyllid Selection, Caryophyllid Behavior, Caryophyllid Feeding, Caryophyllid Disease, Caryophyllid Propagation/Reproduction, Stony/True Coral, Coral System Set-Up, Coral System Lighting, Stony Coral Identification, Stony Coral Selection, Coral PlacementFoods/Feeding/Nutrition, Disease/Health, Propagation, Growing Reef CoralsStony Coral Behavior,

elegance coral acting very strange PLEASE HELP! No useful info., or reading    7/23/08 Recently purchased an elegance coral and it looked great for about the first two days (see the first picture). On the third day it stayed shriveled up and never opened at all. But now for the past two days it has been GIGANTIC and SWOLLEN! (see second picture). Please assist as to why it is behaving this way. THANKS! - G <Uhh, these images show the colony placed on what appears to be a sterile substrate, and up on some sort of coral skeleton/rock... You need to read re this species habitat, care... A link in a bit. Catalaphyllias do expand/contract due to certain stimuli... in response to other Cnidarians, foods, changes in water quality... You present no data re. Read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/elegance.htm and the linked files above. Bob Fenner>

Re: weird frogspawn coral question... hlth. f'    3/12/08 Hi Bob, <Ken> Here is an update on the frogspawn coral situation. I have discontinued the use of powered aragonite and purple-up in my top off water. <Good> I have reverted back to using my wonderful tap water, which has a pH of 8.1 and is hard enough to leave lime deposits on my pot plants. <Wow! Like ours here in S. Cal... we affectionately label it "liquid rock"> One of these days I will test the calcium and KH to see what it is. I do know that there are no excessive phosphate and nitrate levels in the water. The reservoir the tap water comes from here is over an ancient limestone deposit which used to be ocean floor; explains the extreme parameters. Anyway, back to the coral. Not wanting to disturb the livestock, I decided to wait a while longer and see if the frogspawn would improve or start wasting away. The color has continued to darken and intensify. In my opinion the coral is much prettier now than when I received it. A few tentacles are still falling off, but new ones are growing back from the center of the polyps. <Good signs> Also, each of the 5 polyps has divided and now has two mouths. I think it is still too early to make a final decision but I think it may have been the light causing the weird response. If the new tentacles start to drop and the coral does not "stabilize", I will most likely remove the galaxy coral, as I like the frogspawn much better. <Did you read on WWM re Oculinids... are big winners in the sting-competition realm> As for the 40 lbs of live rock, it is the dense Florida rock, but I do have the tank quite full. You can never have too much live rock. (I even added another small piece three days ago with some sort of unidentified SPS coral on it.) Thank you for your last response, it was most helpful. Regards, Ken
<Welcome! BobF>

Elegance Coral - secreting white cotton like substance...   11/12/07 Hi, Thank you for maintaining a very informative site that provides extremely useful information to beginner like me. I recently bought an Elegance coral, I put it on the bottom of the tank as many of your articles suggested, and I tried to place it as far away as possible from the lighting. Since I put it in the tank, it started secreting some white stuff from a few of its mouths. The white stuff looks like cotton balls, pretty white in color (no brown stuff so far) and dense, and occasionally white slimy stuff. When I put the Elegance in the tank, my cleaner shrimp checked it out. It was pretty detailed, <?> and it pushed its claws into each of the mouths. I am not sure if it caused the problem. I tried to search your site, I saw most problems were related to brown stuff, but mine is white. The coral never fully opens. Is it some kind of a disease? <How long have you had this animal? What other livestock/cnidarians esp. are present? What re your water quality? What have you tried feeding it?> Should I dip it in SeaChem Coral Dip (the only medication I have now)? <... no> I also have an Open Brain before the Elegance. <Oh!> The Open Brain used to open very well. <How far away is this colony?> From the day I have the Elegance in the water, the Open Brain seems to open less as large as previously, and it has been hiding its tentacles so far. <Ah yes> Is the Elegance secreting some kind of chemical that affects other corals? <Oh YES!> Thanks in advance for your help! Simon <Look on WWM, the wider Net re mesenterial filaments, sweeper tentacles... of Caryophyliids... compatibility of Cnidarians... you have a battle going on here. Bob Fenner>

Re: Elegance Coral - secreting white cotton like substance... still not reading...  11/13/07 > Hi, > Thank you for maintaining a very informative site that provides extremely useful information to beginner like me. > I recently bought an Elegance coral, I put it on the bottom of the tank as many of your articles suggested, and I tried to place it as far away as possible from the lighting. Since I put it in the tank, it started secreting some white stuff from a few of its mouths. The white stuff looks like cotton balls, pretty white in color (no brown stuff so far) and dense, and occasionally white slimy stuff. When I put the Elegance in the tank, my cleaner shrimp checked it out. It was pretty detailed, > <?> [The shrimp was all over it including the mouths. I would be very happy if my clown does the same instead of the shrimp. <... no... It would be consumed> The condition of the Elegance is getting worse and it is completely closed, some tentacles are being bitten off by the shrimp and I can see them floating in the water! I can now see the white stuff between the skeleton and the flesh. May be I have an aggressive cleaner shrimp. This is not the first time, I have a frogspawn. <... ! You didn't mention this...> Please forgive my ignorance if I got it completely wrong. On the frogspawn, there is a small area like a small volcano. There are some really small tentacles inside it and they move in and out to drag food inside. The shrimp actually pull the poor little thing out <?> and now I think it is left with an empty shell, though the frogspawn seems to be ok.] > and it pushed its claws into each of the mouths. > I am not sure if it caused the problem. I tried to search your site, I saw most problems were related to brown stuff, but mine is white. > The coral never fully opens. Is it some kind of a disease? > <How long have you had this animal? What other livestock/cnidarians esp. are present? What re your water quality? What have you tried feeding it?> [I only have it for 3 days. I have a clown, a cleaner shrimp, a frogspawn, a open brain and a few snails. I also had a Sailfin until this morning! <Killed by the stony coral interaction...> It was doing very ok on the day I introduced the Elegance. It was very relax searching for food, it was eating, and it was not shy at all. Its condition suddenly went very bad, breathing very rapidly and then died within hours. Could it be the chemical from the Elegance? <Yes...> I also noticed the water get a bit foggy during the past two days. The water parameters was perfect, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, Ca, KH, pH are all at the recommended level for reef the day before I have the Elegance. I can't imagine they can change drastically within 3 days.] <Not the root cause here. What is? Your jamming incompatible life...> > Should I dip it in SeaChem Coral Dip (the only medication I have now)? > <... no> > I also have an Open Brain before the Elegance. > <Oh!> > The Open Brain used to open very well. > <How far away is this colony?> [They are at least 6 inches apart. I did not see any tentacles that can reach that far.] <Euphylliids need to be placed a foot or more apart... their sweeper tentacles can reach this far... mesenterial filaments can break off, chemical allelopathy go throughout the system...> > From the day I have the Elegance in the water, the Open Brain seems to open less as large as previously, and it has been hiding its tentacles so far. > <Ah yes> > Is the Elegance secreting some kind of chemical that affects other corals? > <Oh YES!> > Thanks in advance for your help! > Simon > <Look on WWM, the wider Net re mesenterial filaments, sweeper tentacles... of Caryophyliids... compatibility of Cnidarians... you have a battle going on here. Bob Fenner> [I can't deal with chemical warfare in my nano. I just move the Elegance to a QT and I have to decide the next step. I am not even sure if it can survive since it is completely close. Another lesson I guess! Thanks.] <... too cavalier. Read here (don't write): http://wetwebmedia.com/cnidcompppt.htm and the linked files above. BobF>

Elegance Coral Worry... Worries are a Waste!   1/27/07 Hello Bob, <Hello Jason, Mich with you today.> I hope you can help me out a little bit here. I just have a question or two for you. Yesterday I received a new elegance coral, and it acclimated to the tank really well. I did a slow acclimation over about a two hour period. The coral is about 4 to 5 inches across, with 5 or 6 mouths on it. It truly is a beautiful specimen. (which is why I bought it) I have read your home page article on elegance, and all of the frequently asked questions and answers. There is some great advice in there, thank you. <Glad you found it helpful.> There is one thing that I saw mentioned in a couple of places, but no one really asked and you didn't mention it anywhere, so I am asking, because it is happening to me on day two. my elegance coral is/has "spit" a blackish/brownish substance from its mouths. <Likely waste products... literally potty mouth!> Now, I am new to having corals, and I have been afraid to get them, hearing that they are difficult to take care of, but I decided to get a few, they were all listed as easy........ I tried to research (as I always do on everything I do), but I guess this time, I didn't do enough on this one. <Research is key to success in this hobby.> anyways, I guess my question is, is this black stuff normal? Is it the elegance's way of getting rid of waste? <Yes, can be.> Is it something I should be concerned about? because I am worried..... I want the corals in my tank to thrive, and if they can not thrive, then I would rather give them to someone or return them to a store that can take care of them. The other corals I have are a toadstool leather, candy cane LPS, xenia pulsing, and a bulb anemone. <Watch the anemone, can cause big problems when they decide to go for a walk.> If this expelling of the black material is normal, then I am happy, but if it isn't, and I can do something to correct it, please let me know. <Please correct your lack of capitalization, the first letter of a sentence is capitalized, I not i please!   I truly appreciate you taking the time to read this and help me out with any info you have. Thanks again for all the info on your site that you have posted, it helps us newbies out a whole lot. <It is a tremendous, invaluable resource.  Bob has dedicated countless days of his life to it.  I'm glad you have found it useful.  Thank you for the kind words.  -Mich> Jason Muzzey

Catalaphyllia jardinei mucus  - 2/4/2006 Hello WWM Crew. <Angela>   I would not be bothering you with an e-mail, but I am just packing to leave town and haven't yet found the answer to my problem on your Amazing Web Site. I am running out of time. It seems our Elegant Coral, which we have had for nearly a year, is spewing out a kind of white "fluffy" mucus. It doesn't seem to be affecting her <Will affect your other livestock> much as she still opens fully during the lighted hours in our tank. Unfortunately, we have just recently (about a month ago) lost a Hammer Coral, and half of a Torch Coral, to a brown jelly infection that did not seem to be bothering them much until it was too late. (The biggest problem here was that I had never encountered this infection before and did not notice that anything was wrong until the jelly actually appeared). I have tried using a turkey baster to gently blow the mucus off and scoop it out with a fish net, but I can't get it to come off. I do not want to harass her unnecessarily Is this mucus a sign of something horrible to come? <Too likely the latter> Should I be worried and call off my trip? <Mmm, no... but I would move/isolate this animal/colony> I will not leave her unless I know she is going to be o.k.   Thank you so much for taking the time to read my e-mail and respond (assuming you have the time). I think it is wonderful that you all volunteer you precious time and knowledge to help us all in the never ending pursuit of happy, healthy reefs.   I eagerly await your response.                                       Angela <Glad to share... I take it you've seen my piece re captive care of this species... I would move it to "somewhere else"... a planted shallow setting, on the bottom... if at all possible. Bob Fenner> Elegance Coral 11/26/03 Hello! <Hi> My husband and I have a question about our Elegance Coral.  Normally she has beautiful long green tentacles but today we noticed that she looks "swollen" so to say,  She almost looks an anemone-as in she is "closing" like an elephant ear when they are eating.  Her tentacles stick out of the center of the "swollen' body about 1cm.  I've never seen her do this before.  Do you know what might be wrong? <sounds like a feeding strategy... have you gone light on feeding it as of late? This is a very needy/hungry coral. They can/will starve slowly over months if not fed several times weekly> Also, there is a tiny patchy of green "hair" coming up out of the sand, directly next to her.  It's only about 1cm high in a group no larger than a quarter.  Do you have any idea what in the world this maybe? <tough to say without a picture. Do send for ID if you can> Thanks!
<best regards, Anthony>

Catalaphyllia Elegant coral excretion 6/16/04 I am sorry to disturbing you, <no trouble at all my friend> but I would truly like to know, if this was spawning occurrence of Catalaphyllia jardinei. Right after releasing brown eggs (?) most of them eaten by the maroon clownfish. Regards,  Aleksander <the excretion was... well... excrement. You now have the scoop on elegant poop :) And it is very common for reef animals to eat excrement as it is frankly nutritious. Many microcrustaceans like some copepods have to make multiple passes though various digestive systems before they are adequately broken down for digestion. All good. Anthony>



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