Elegance Coral wont eat, spat food out.?? Help

jamie lee · 12/26/2014, 09:36 AM

Hi,
I have a new Red Sea Max 250 tank with 12 Fish, 3 starfish, an anemone, 2 conch snails, 5 other snails ( big ones) plus a few other little ones, a couple of small crabs (came from the live rock when I got it, sneaky bonus...
Anyway also i have a nudibranch, a small sea cucumber and last but definatly not least I have a hammer coral, eyed brain, couple of plate corals and branching corals, flower pot coral, candy cane coral, morph, few mushroom corals, and a few more, Ill try put some pics up..
My problem is with my Elegance coral, it wouldn't eat when i fed the rest, I gave it food like normally do, with a little dropper but instead of grabbing its tentacles around end of dropper and taking food i had to drop food into it and then a second later it seriously spat the food out, its tentacles are very short, and seems to be fading in colour..
Tested everything and tank seems perfect, I need help ASAP as will cry if my Elegance dies...
Thanks in advance for any help..

ReefKeep66 · 12/26/2014, 11:37 AM

First thing first, how long has your tank been set up? Second, what fish are in there? 12 fish in a 65g seems a little excessive especially if the tank was set up recently. Third, what are your paramters specifically? Ph, SL, Alk,Nitrite, nitrate, ammonia, ca, mg? Have you moved the coral recently or any recent changes? That will stress them out for a few days or so.

Mcgeezer · 12/26/2014, 03:05 PM

You say you tested and all is well...but posted no parameters.

12 fish in a 65g is way too much. You likely have phosphate issues. A test of zero on phosphate is deceptive because algae will use up available phosphate. Do you run GFO? Do you have any noticeable algae in your tank?

If the elegance is expelling brown stringy stuff from its mouth, that is zooxanthellae or leftover food. This is the corals way of either "using the restroom" or can be indicative of stress by expelling its symbiotic algae. How often are you feeding it? LPS typically only benefit from 1-2x weekly feedings in small amounts.

billdogg · 12/26/2014, 03:28 PM

^^^What they said^^^

I don't feed my elegance coral (or any other coral for that matter) anything on purpose. They are welcome to catch extra food at fish feeding time, but otherwise, nada. The last time I fed them intentionally was about a year ago, then stopped because it really didn't seem to make any difference, and was just contributing to excess nutrients in the system. They all seem to be doing very well.

12/26/2014, 09:36 AM	#1
jamie lee Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 1	Elegance Coral wont eat, spat food out.?? Help Hi, I have a new Red Sea Max 250 tank with 12 Fish, 3 starfish, an anemone, 2 conch snails, 5 other snails ( big ones) plus a few other little ones, a couple of small crabs (came from the live rock when I got it, sneaky bonus... Anyway also i have a nudibranch, a small sea cucumber and last but definatly not least I have a hammer coral, eyed brain, couple of plate corals and branching corals, flower pot coral, candy cane coral, morph, few mushroom corals, and a few more, Ill try put some pics up.. My problem is with my Elegance coral, it wouldn't eat when i fed the rest, I gave it food like normally do, with a little dropper but instead of grabbing its tentacles around end of dropper and taking food i had to drop food into it and then a second later it seriously spat the food out, its tentacles are very short, and seems to be fading in colour.. Tested everything and tank seems perfect, I need help ASAP as will cry if my Elegance dies... Thanks in advance for any help..

12/26/2014, 03:28 PM	#4
billdogg Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Grove City, Ohio Posts: 10,806	^^^What they said^^^ I don't feed my elegance coral (or any other coral for that matter) anything on purpose. They are welcome to catch extra food at fish feeding time, but otherwise, nada. The last time I fed them intentionally was about a year ago, then stopped because it really didn't seem to make any difference, and was just contributing to excess nutrients in the system. They all seem to be doing very well. __________________ I'll try to be nice if you try to be smarter! I can't help that I grow older, but you can't make me grow up! Current Tank Info: 120 mixed reef with 40b sump, RO 150 skimmer, AI Sol Blue x 2, and a 60g Frag Tank with 100g rubbermaid sump. 2 x Kessil A360w lights, BM curve 5 skimmer

12/26/2014, 11:37 AM	#2
ReefKeep66 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2014 Location: The great state of Georgia Posts: 549	First thing first, how long has your tank been set up? Second, what fish are in there? 12 fish in a 65g seems a little excessive especially if the tank was set up recently. Third, what are your paramters specifically? Ph, SL, Alk,Nitrite, nitrate, ammonia, ca, mg? Have you moved the coral recently or any recent changes? That will stress them out for a few days or so.

12/26/2014, 03:05 PM	#3
Mcgeezer Reef gardener Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: DeLand, Florida Posts: 1,205	You say you tested and all is well...but posted no parameters. 12 fish in a 65g is way too much. You likely have phosphate issues. A test of zero on phosphate is deceptive because algae will use up available phosphate. Do you run GFO? Do you have any noticeable algae in your tank? If the elegance is expelling brown stringy stuff from its mouth, that is zooxanthellae or leftover food. This is the corals way of either "using the restroom" or can be indicative of stress by expelling its symbiotic algae. How often are you feeding it? LPS typically only benefit from 1-2x weekly feedings in small amounts.