Elegance coral disappeared under the rock… is it a goner?

[Starganderfish]

I have a lovely green elegance coral that’s been in my tank for 6 months and has been happy and healthy.
Its been in the substrate at the front of the tank and tends to spread maybe 10-15cm and look great.
About a month ago I had a disaster when my entire rock structure collapsed while trying to attach some corals. Mad panic to rebuild and relocate and at the end everything was back in roughly similar locations and survived.
I’ve always noticed a tendency for the corals on the substrate to move around a lot (elegance and plate corals). Never sure if that the coral moving or my sand sifting gobies, snails and CUC nudging things around.
In the last week or two the Elegance has gradually moved back in closer to the rock, though it was still open and happy. Last night it was kind of wedged in at the edge of a cave where the rock meets the sand and this morning… it’s gone.
I can only assume that it has drifted into the cave under the rock structure but I can’t find it. Had my whole arm in up to the elbow groping around under the rock and couldn’t feel it.
I don’t want to disassemble my rock again or provoke another collapse so I’m not sure what to do.
Is the Elegance likely to drag itself back out into the open or am I going to have to disassemble my rock again to get to it? My Bubble Tip anemone has found a happy spot and has nicely bubbled up now so I don’t really want to disturb it.

 

[fishguy242]

hi , unfortunately don't think it's going to come out by itself.

 

[JGT]

Try looking at night with a flashlight after lights are off. I have the most luck with this method in locating frags that have fallen into my live rock it under the rocks. I would think locating an elegance should be fairly easy.GL!

 

[Lavey29]

Probably to much flow moved it back into the cave. Why are you running your flow pumps at the bottom of your tank?

 

[Starganderfish]

Probably to much flow moved it back into the cave. Why are you running your flow pumps at the bottom of your tank?

It’s a 20 gal cube and I have a pair of Jebao wavemakers - one on each side. I have them on the side glass, just off the back glass and about a third of the way up. They run in alternating Master/Slave mode setting up a decent wave effect, and only need to run at 30%. It nicely clears out behind the rock structure so there’s no detritus build up. I have a bunch of small Encrusting frags on magnets on the back wall so this gives them good oscillating flow. It also creates a pretty good random flow around the front of the rocks where all the LPS are. With such a small cube tank, paired wavemakers provide plenty of flow throughout the entire tank.
I moved the Jebao’s a bit higher a month ago and that’s what basically led to my rock collapse. The Rose Bubble tip which had been happy before didn’t like the changed flow and moved up higher in the tank where it was encroaching on the Clam. I moved the Clam out of the way which meant moving one of the torches. Trying to epoxy the torch to its new location I pushed too hard and collapsed the entire rock. I moved the pumps back, rebuilt the rock as best I could and found happy locations for everything and they’ve been pretty happy since. If the flows too much I’ll move the Elegance because that won’t disrupt anything else. Tanks a little crowded and I’m worried about corals encroaching on each other so trying to avoid disrupting it all again.

 

[Lavey29]

It’s a 20 gal cube and I have a pair of Jebao wavemakers - one on each side. I have them on the side glass, just off the back glass and about a third of the way up. They run in alternating Master/Slave mode setting up a decent wave effect, and only need to run at 30%. It nicely clears out behind the rock structure so there’s no detritus build up. I have a bunch of small Encrusting frags on magnets on the back wall so this gives them good oscillating flow. It also creates a pretty good random flow around the front of the rocks where all the LPS are. With such a small cube tank, paired wavemakers provide plenty of flow throughout the entire tank.
I moved the Jebao’s a bit higher a month ago and that’s what basically led to my rock collapse. The Rose Bubble tip which had been happy before didn’t like the changed flow and moved up higher in the tank where it was encroaching on the Clam. I moved the Clam out of the way which meant moving one of the torches. Trying to epoxy the torch to its new location I pushed too hard and collapsed the entire rock. I moved the pumps back, rebuilt the rock as best I could and found happy locations for everything and they’ve been pretty happy since. If the flows too much I’ll move the Elegance because that won’t disrupt anything else. Tanks a little crowded and I’m worried about corals encroaching on each other so trying to avoid disrupting it all again.

That first picture makes them look like they are couple inches above the sand?

 

[Starganderfish]

Oh and incidentally, the issue has been resolved. Just got back from the kids swimming lessons, popped out to check the tank and found the Elegance all pulled in and on its side up against the glass.
I have a sneaking suspicion my Bullet Goby got p!she’d at the coral sneaking into his cave and pushed it out. He’s a pretty solid fish for a Nano tank and when he gets his fins going he’s fast and can move a lot of sand.
I’ll let the Elegance recover in the light for a few hours and then maybe look to move it to a different spot. (Ignore the dead Fungia next to it. Came from my Pico which underwent a mini crash when the AWC failed. Tried to save it but no go.)
Tragedy averted!!

 

[Starganderfish]

That first picture makes them look like they are couple inches above the sand?

They’re about 3 inches off the sand. Tanks only 12 inches deep and the corals are all in the lower 2/3’s. I have the return from the AIO pump pointed at the top of the rock mound so that gives flow from the top. I recently moved a couple of tiny SPS frags to the top from my Pico and they’re directly in the return pumps flow. Nothing else needs massive flow on this tank.
So far it’s working and things are pretty stable so I’m reluctant to mess with anything.

 

[Lavey29]

Elegance coral prefer shady low light areas next to rocks. I have one bigger then a football that resides between my rock structures in a shady area with minimal light and low flow. I had it out front originally with more light and flow and it wasn't responding well. But it's new spot has been fine for many months now.