1 of 3 Goniopora not doing so well...

[Etoimos]

A week ago we picked up our first couple of corals and this Goniopora was one of them:



Of course it was all closed up after the transport and re-homing, but it was extended a little bit with in a hour or so of being in our tank. With in a day, it looked like the photo above.

This past Saturday, we picked up two more of them (the wife really like them).

With in hours one of them looked like this (the flow is off so it looks a little wilted in the pic):



But the biggest and most expensive one bought (actually the wife used her own money to buy it ) has not been doing as good as the other two.

I initially placed it high up on the rocks and in more direct flow. The large closed up one at the top left is Number 3, the one in the nook on the top right is Number 2, and Number one is hidden just behind it in this photo:



After a few hours in this location, this is the best that it looked:


It did not open up any over the course of the next day and started to look a little pale, so I moved it over closer to Number 1 (still a bit higher than the Number 1). This is the best it looked after a couple of hours in that location:



I thought it was going to be happy there, but a day later it looked like this:



Worried that my wife's expensive Goni was going to head south quick, I moved it down to the sand bed this afternoon. This is what it looked like right after moving it:






As you can see, the other two Gonis are doing just fine. Any thoughts on what is causing this one issues? Is it just having a harder time adjusting to my tank and I should leave it alone and let it acclimate?

Here are my water parameters (Red Sea test kits and Apex controller) as of this afternoon:

Temp: 79.1 avg
Salinity: 1.025
pH: 8.6
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrites: .05 ppm (I fed some raw shrimp pieces this morning, so I think that is where that came from)
Nitrates: 2 ppm (test kit is only accurate to 2 ppm)
KH: 9.52 dKH
Ca: 410
Mg: 1100

My lighting is a 250w MH at 14,000 Kevin color temp.

[thaitopher]

Well, you gave yourself a challenge choosing one of the most difficult corals as your first coral. They don't need much light and generally do best at the bottom of the tank. Mine have gone through similar phases. As long as the polyps don't disappear it often just take them time to adjust. Make sure to feed at least twice a week. I say put it at the bottom of the tank and leave it alone. Moving it all the time will just make it more annoyed.


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[Etoimos]

Originally Posted by thaitopher

Well, you gave yourself a challenge choosing one of the most difficult corals as your first coral. They don't need much light and generally do best at the bottom of the tank. Mine have gone through similar phases. As long as the polyps don't disappear it often just take them time to adjust. Make sure to feed at least twice a week. I say put it at the bottom of the tank and leave it alone. Moving it all the time will just make it more annoyed.

Thanks for the the reply. Yeah, it's on the harder side to care for, but so far the first two have been super easy and tolerate... hopefully this larger one turns around.

What do you feed yours, brine shrimp? Broadcast or spot?

[Etoimos]

Can't edit that last post, but it looks better after six hours down on the bottom...

[thaitopher]

Originally Posted by Etoimos

Thanks for the the reply. Yeah, it's on the harder side to care for, but so far the first two have been super easy and tolerate... hopefully this larger one turns around.



What do you feed yours, brine shrimp? Broadcast or spot?

Phytoplankton, oyster feast, zooplankton. When I first bought mine it looked a lot like that and made me nervous but now it's doing great. The problem generally for these is a long term one and not a short term one. Over the long term, unless they are regularly fed, they slowly die away.


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[Etoimos]

Thanks for the info. Broadcast or spot fed?

[thaitopher]

Spot feed each polyp

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[Etoimos]

Originally Posted by thaitopher

Spot feed each polyp

Damn, that's going to take a while. lol Should I let the one Goni get un****ed before trying to feed it?

[thaitopher]

Originally Posted by Etoimos

Damn, that's going to take a while. lol Should I let the one Goni get un****ed before trying to feed it?

I would.

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[Etoimos]

I'm happy to report that "Rosy" is make good progress.

This was taken yesterday, July 5th...



And this one was taken today, July 6th...



I'll be out of town on Fri and Sat, but I'll get an updated pic on Sunday evening when I get back.

[Tanthaitrung]

Spot fed mine with Polyp Lab Reef Roids (150-200 microns) and some drops of Reef Booster

[ldc3000]

That just shows how important placement can be. Glad to hear it's doing better.

[Diana A]

Happy to see it bounced back!

[thaitopher]

Originally Posted by Etoimos

I'm happy to report that "Rosy" is make good progress.

This was taken yesterday, July 5th...



And this one was taken today, July 6th...



I'll be out of town on Fri and Sat, but I'll get an updated pic on Sunday evening when I get back.

Looks good

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[Etoimos]

Things have turned for the worse again. We went on a 10 day vacation and came back to it looking like this...









Water parameters the night we got home:

Temp: 78.52avg
Salinity: 1.025
pH: 8.05
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 10 ppm
Alkalinity: 9.1 dKH
Calcium: 500
Magnesium: 920

Since coming home I have done an 12% water change (going to do another one tonight/tomorrow), cut the Calcium dosing (still trying to dial it in at 420 ppm), and started to dose to bring it up to 1350 ppm.

I have also picked up a Radion G4 Pro and an Apex PAR meter. I'm going to leave the MH light on the system and take PAR reading next to all of the corals for a few days and then switch to the Radion and dial in the lights to give similar PAR results. The Goniopora that is not doing well was under LEDs at the LFS were we bought it and it looked good there.

I just can't figure out why this one is not doing well.

[Kremis]

most likely because it got no food while you were on vacation. make sure you feed it. I fed mine oyster feast

[OoNickoC]

Tanks just simply too new, look at the sand line and the rock, not even diatoms yet.

[Etoimos]

Originally Posted by Kremis

most likely because it got no food while you were on vacation. make sure you feed it. I fed mine oyster feast

I have Phyto Feast and have fed the tank the last couple of days. The Goni's don't seem to like it when it falls on them when I try and spot feed them (it's os thick), so this last time I added it to the pump area of the sump to broadcast feed it.

Originally Posted by OoNickoC

Tanks just simply too new, look at the sand line and the rock, not even diatoms yet.

The tank is new, but the other two Goni's are doing great and have been from day one... this one has had issues since day one.

[Kremis]

IME also the short tentacle variety is harder to keep, the long tentacle ones are hardier