[madamekiki]

hi guys...i have a goniopora that really needs some help and i don't know what to do with him. i work at a pet store and when one of the locations closed i got to bring home a lot of the livestock free of charge because the other locations don't sell saltwater. well long story short one of the corals i brought home is a very sad looking goniopora. very little is left on the skeleton and his polyps never fully expand. he was this way in the store. i think he may have been a customer drop off at one point. i have him in a 75 gallon tank with HO T-5 lighting. i put him in the middle of tank right now. all water parameters are good. my other corals are growing like crazy. but i don't know what to do to save the little goniopora. any suggestions? or is he a lost cause?

rachel

[charlie]

It really sounds like this poor critter is on it's last legs. I have never owned one but from what I understand, once they start to go, there is no going back. You may want to check here, and see if there is any info you can get from there.

www.asira.org - A S I R A

Good luck!

[Ninong]

You might find this article helpful. I could post links to Eric Borneman's and Rob Toonen's Goniopora articles from a few years back but basically both of them say don't try keeping them. Apparently some species are easier to keep than others.

Good luck!

[charlie]

rachel, you may want to try to contact Kevinpo. I know that he has 2 living and healthy specimens in his store, maybe he could offer some advice. Just a thought.

[zhenya]

You may also browse this site for some advise and techniques on keeping this delicate coral alive.

[H2oGirl]

There's a great website called Goniopora.org:::Goniopora Reference Web Site - here is my goniopora which I love to bits.

[Ninong]

Hello H2oGirl,

Your Goniopora is not a Goniopora at all. It's an Alveopora, an entirely different genus.

[H2oGirl]

Oh thank you I was beginning to wonder. Although it looks exactly the same when it has pulled itself inside its skeleton.

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by H2oGirl

Oh thank you I was beginning to wonder. Although it looks exactly the same when it has pulled itself inside its skeleton.

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

The easiest way to tell them apart is to count the tentacles on the polyps.
Goniopora has 24 and Alveopora has 12 tentacles.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by zhenya

The easiest way to tell them apart is to count the tentacles on the polyps.
Goniopora has 24 and Alveopora has 12 tentacles.

Don't give away our trade secrets.