Help with Elegance Coral

[jnava19]

Hello!

I've got an elegance in December, it was looking very good and has been doing good so far in the tank.

However, last weeks I started to notice, it is starting to detach from the skeleton base, at the sides. You can see the skeleton in the sides and looks like every day is a bit more detached.
It still opens and expands huge during the day, and retracts at night. Seems to feed ok also when I feed mysis. I am not sure why.
I am working to get my nitrates and phosphates down (cheato algae reactor and rowaphos), but everything else on the tank is doing great.

My tank is a 40 gal with a 10 gal sump. Tank has been up for a year now.

Parameters as of yesterday

NH3 0 to 0.001
NO3 40
PO4 0.24
Salinity 1.026
dKh 9
Ca 440
Mg 1420
Ph (stable between 8.15 - 8.3, swings day/night)

Any ideas to help or prevent full bailout will be appreciated or any experience someone has had with a similar problem to share.

Thanks!

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Good evening

sorry for the delay

I have never kept an elegance so I cannot diagnose. My thoughts are Nitrate and Pho’s are high but it could be other factors

see if anyone is around tonight

 

[Silverfish]

Could it b flow? I believe they don’t like a robust flow.

 

[ndrwater]

This is one of those things with Elegance corals nowadays.. I wouldn't specifically call it Elegance disease, but it isn't uncommon unfortunately.
The outcome is about 50/50.
This doesn't seem to be water quality or lighting specific..
From what I have heard and read, plus adding a bit of my own 1st hand experience, it seems to be bacterial in nature. There are a few ancidotal stories of a dip in antibacterial meds having a positive effect, but nothing difinitve.

 

[jnava19]

Thank you for replies.
Today it dettached completely out of Skeleton.

Looks good and opened fully but I guess it won't survive much like that.

Initially (before it started bailing out) my phosphates were pretty high. When I started rowaphos it decreased very fast (1 or 2 weeks from 0.4, today is 0.1)

Do you think depleting po4 this fast could have caused this?

 

[Afrashz]

Elegance are a tough coral to keep. One of the most beautiful corals in our hobby if you asked me. Just tough to keep.

 

[Bbfishb81]

Could be the quick drop in phosphates and could be that flow was too much. Mine had started bail out, so I moved it to lower flow area and it stopped and is doing great now.

 

[jnava19]

Could be the quick drop in phosphates and could be that flow was too much. Mine had started bail out, so I moved it to lower flow area and it stopped and is doing great now.

Interesting, I reduced all flow and still bailed out.
Now that is completely out, do you think is there any chance to survive? I could not find any experience positive so far. Thanks!

 

[TripleTruble]

Did you monitor your temperature as well. I notice they can be sensitive to temp change. They seem to not like it on the cooler side

 

[Bbfishb81]

I had it happen to an elegance and a bubble. In both cases it only live a few months. I had left the skeleton of the bubble in the tank though, and I noticed a few months later there was a new baby one started on it.

 

[jnava19]

I had it happen to an elegance and a bubble. In both cases it only live a few months. I had left the skeleton of the bubble in the tank though, and I noticed a few months later there was a new baby one started on it.

Very cool if that happens!