Goniopora lobata (flowerpot)

Ltspd · 08-01-2001, 01:27 PM

I ran across a Goniopora lobata, at a LFS today. The coral looks to be fading, which stands to reason with the LFS. They have poor lighting and no circulation on the coral. The lighting consist of a no blue and no regular shoplight bulb. I told the employee the coral was soon to be dead and I would make them a offer on it.

The problem is for some reason I think these are hard to keep?

Am I correct? I told the LFS I would let them know.

David · 08-01-2001, 01:56 PM

Ltspd- when people see my tank the very first question they ask is "how long have you had that?" as they point to the goniopora. The answer is four months and it looks great, although I can't say it has grown a whole lot. I get the impression that people consider it a "difficult" coral and one of Sprung's books rates it as a "3" on one to ten scale of hardiness. Time will tell, but so far mine seems very healthy and I don't do anything special for it, just basic good reef keeping practices. Good luck.

tendar · 08-01-2001, 03:51 PM

Ive had this red gonipora for 6 mouinths and it is doing great so far but only time will tell. The base rock is only about 2" across and is rather small for most gonipora i see. The reds are suppose to easier to take care of than the greens and others. It is said that they generally die in the first year slowly.

Neal359 · 08-01-2001, 04:46 PM

i have herd that they are VERY dificalt to keep. Whem my lfs gets them(they never order them) thay wont sell it because they have such a low servivl.

ravenmore · 08-01-2001, 06:19 PM

actually if you've had one for under 9 months I'd say you're still in the danger zone. The problems with these corals are symptomatic of a coral starving to death, and a goni can live 6-9 months on "energy" stores it accumulated from the wild.

Try feeding it Dt's phytoplankton and the smaller sizes of golden pearls. These are very difficult corals to keep...they come from very nutrient rich waters and our tanks may be too sterile for them to get the nutrition they need.

Also, beware clownfish as they often take them up as a host which can also kill the coral.

hth,
-Mike

Ltspd · 08-01-2001, 10:26 PM

I have decided to pass this one up. Espically since its not in good shape to begin with, it would be even more difficult to keep.

I am glad I hesitated on buying.

Thanks for the help

David · 08-02-2001, 02:50 AM

How ironic, all this talk about goniapora and me saying how mine is just fine so far... today it wasn't looking so hot, about half closed up.
Well, well, only time will tell.

ravenmore · 08-02-2001, 10:32 AM

David - time WILL tell if you're not feeding it...... Do you use any type of "coral food"? I really recommend the Dt's phyto and golden pearls.... tahitian blend might be good also(www.brineshrimpdirect.com). Bottom line you HAVE to feed these guys or they WILL die.

hth,
-Mike

alf3482 · 08-02-2001, 11:30 AM

Well i have heard that they are hard to keep as well. I bought these three you will see at the bottom(sorry for the large pic) the green one on the left is in the tank 14 months now, the red one on your right is 9 or 10 months now and the neon green in the middle is in the tank 6 month plus. All three had tissue damage. The red is 100 % recovery, the green one is 90% recovery and the neon is 85 % recovery and new tissue growing every day on the two that are still healing. I did a series of iodine bath dips for them when i furst got them and they have taken off. I feed Dt's from time to time.

Ltspd · 08-02-2001, 01:50 PM

alf3482, you seem to be doing well with them, but its obvious that you are attempting to take special care of them.

With the suggestion of the nutrient rich water it makes me wonder if it would do well in my 20g tank that I am battling green hair algea. Wonder if that is the right nutrients????

I get bummed out due tot he lack of any real good corals or reef safe livestock in town. Been wanting to get something new of the tank but there's nothing out there........

Guess I need to really look into MO

alf3482 · 08-02-2001, 02:06 PM

If your having a lot of hair algea problems i would not suggest this coral in there. I had a hair algea problem when i first introduced my oldest Goni. and it was competing for space for the tissue to grow, the algea was winning and the coral was losing. this was in a diffrent tank. I had to remove the Goni. to my 125 where i did not have this problem. This is one reason why i think the red recovered faster than my green which i have had longer. The green was being taken over by hair algea at that time and recovery was very slow for a while. By the way thanks for the compliment.

David · 08-02-2001, 05:40 PM

Ravenmore- I do feed tank every three days with either DT's or lately I've using Phytoplex. I make soup with phytoplankton, frozen baby brine, selcon and some of that powdered micro-vert food. Also my wife swears she has seen goni eat adult live brine shrimp but I have not seen that happen.

Looking at pics I notice everybody keeps these corals up high near lights, I have mine on sandy bottom. Should I move it? It has always seemed pretty happy where it is. Thanks for input...

ravenmore · 08-02-2001, 05:51 PM

If it's happy, I'd leave it.

My understanding is that this IS a typically a sand bed coral. However, from some discussions with Eric (Borneman) in his forum on reef central, he has indicated they sometimes do live on rocks. They're so delicate that, if you're having success with your current placement, I'd be hesitant to move it.

-Mike

alf3482 · 08-02-2001, 08:02 PM

I agree with ravenmore. If it's happy and it's doing well leave it. I have done a lot of research on this coral, and have found that most say that they should be placed in the sand as they feed on some things in the sand bed, I had began placing them on the rocks before i had learned of them needing to be in the sand, As stated before the green one at the left in the pic is 14 months in the tank. No way i'm to scared to move any of them, as they have regrown tissue so well.
I wish i would have had a good camara when she looked really bad. She had a bear spot as big as a quater. And as far as special care I do no more for them than the rest but i do spend alot of time on the tanks (3 salt 2 Fresh and a new empty 120 gal) in general. And i skim 24/7 but i do not run carbon.
Good luck keep us posted on how it does. Just fyi if it does show bad signs, the iodine dip treatments showed good signs of tissue regeneration in a lot of the studies i have read. And it has worked well for me.

GreenLincoln · 08-02-2001, 10:23 PM

I'd like to share my experience with a small (3") purple goni I purchased from the lfs. It was very starved when I took it home and put it in my 90 gallon reef. It continued to go downhill, losing more and more of its tissue that normally covers the stony OUTside of the coral. Soon I was left with not much more than a rock with little pores in it. All of the color was gone, except for the white centers of each polyp. I believe my 90 was too well filtered to support the goni, so I moved it to my nano reef. The recovery has been nothing short of miraculous!!! I guess because the nano is a much more nutrient-rich environment (less water volume), the goni is able to thrive. When I feed in this little tank, the goni is able to feed much easier. That encouraged me to put my other high-nutrient corals in the nano, 2 tubastea and an elegance I am trying to save. I don't know how to post multiple pics on this BB, so the first pic is the "before" and the second is the "after" pic of the goni.

GreenLincoln · 08-02-2001, 10:25 PM

...and here is the "after" pic. Still a long way to go, but much healthier than it was.

GreenLincoln · 08-03-2001, 01:16 AM

Just had to post one more...this one I just took tonight.

David · 08-03-2001, 01:46 AM

This just kills me, for four months, up until two days ago when I got into this thread, my goni has been doing well. Once we started talking about it, it went from half open (yesterday) to not open at all today. Any time I see a change in anything in tank I ask myself, "what's different?" Well, in this case I "improved" filtration by adding a micron bag to pre-filter section of sump about a week ago. Now water entering (and exiciting) skimmer is much cleaner and water passing through secondary mech filter before return to tank is immaculate. So maybe goniapora liked dirtier water? Also, as I live in San Diego I use a lot of NSW available at Scripp's Institute. Lately we have been experiencing "red tide" algael bloom so I just changed 25% of tank volume to Instant Ocean. Maybe goni didn't like water change? I was planning weekly 25% change overs to get tank on 100% synthetic salt but now I'm not so sure. Everything else in tank is thriving except clam which died after only about three weeks. All params perfect. What a baffling hobby.

The_Bandit · 08-05-2001, 08:18 PM

Click here

And one on Feeding of Corals

Borneman on coral feeding

08-01-2001, 01:27 PM	#1
Ltspd Governor Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Arden, NC USA Posts: 2,767	Goniopora lobata (flowerpot) I ran across a Goniopora lobata, at a LFS today. The coral looks to be fading, which stands to reason with the LFS. They have poor lighting and no circulation on the coral. The lighting consist of a no blue and no regular shoplight bulb. I told the employee the coral was soon to be dead and I would make them a offer on it. The problem is for some reason I think these are hard to keep? Am I correct? I told the LFS I would let them know. __________________ Paul C Timing has an awful lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.

08-01-2001, 03:51 PM	#3
tendar Governor Join Date: May 2000 Location: tempe,AZ Posts: 1,114	Ive had this red gonipora for 6 mouinths and it is doing great so far but only time will tell. The base rock is only about 2" across and is rather small for most gonipora i see. The reds are suppose to easier to take care of than the greens and others. It is said that they generally die in the first year slowly. Last edited by tendar; 08-01-2001 at 03:54 PM.

08-01-2001, 06:19 PM	#5
ravenmore Mayor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: dallas, tx, USA Posts: 896	actually if you've had one for under 9 months I'd say you're still in the danger zone. The problems with these corals are symptomatic of a coral starving to death, and a goni can live 6-9 months on "energy" stores it accumulated from the wild. Try feeding it Dt's phytoplankton and the smaller sizes of golden pearls. These are very difficult corals to keep...they come from very nutrient rich waters and our tanks may be too sterile for them to get the nutrition they need. Also, beware clownfish as they often take them up as a host which can also kill the coral. hth, -Mike __________________ I didn't do it. Nobody saw me do it. You can't prove anything. Website My other hobby

08-01-2001, 10:26 PM	#6
Ltspd Governor Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Arden, NC USA Posts: 2,767	I have decided to pass this one up. Espically since its not in good shape to begin with, it would be even more difficult to keep. I am glad I hesitated on buying. Thanks for the help __________________ Paul C Timing has an awful lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.

08-02-2001, 10:32 AM	#8
ravenmore Mayor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: dallas, tx, USA Posts: 896	David - time WILL tell if you're not feeding it...... Do you use any type of "coral food"? I really recommend the Dt's phyto and golden pearls.... tahitian blend might be good also(www.brineshrimpdirect.com). Bottom line you HAVE to feed these guys or they WILL die. hth, -Mike __________________ I didn't do it. Nobody saw me do it. You can't prove anything. Website My other hobby

08-01-2001, 01:56 PM	#2
David Citizen Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: San Diego Posts: 210	Ltspd- when people see my tank the very first question they ask is "how long have you had that?" as they point to the goniopora. The answer is four months and it looks great, although I can't say it has grown a whole lot. I get the impression that people consider it a "difficult" coral and one of Sprung's books rates it as a "3" on one to ten scale of hardiness. Time will tell, but so far mine seems very healthy and I don't do anything special for it, just basic good reef keeping practices. Good luck.

08-01-2001, 04:46 PM	#4
Neal359 Mayor Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: richmond Posts: 558	i have herd that they are VERY dificalt to keep. Whem my lfs gets them(they never order them) thay wont sell it because they have such a low servivl.

08-02-2001, 02:50 AM	#7
David Citizen Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: San Diego Posts: 210	How ironic, all this talk about goniapora and me saying how mine is just fine so far... today it wasn't looking so hot, about half closed up. Well, well, only time will tell.

08-02-2001, 11:30 AM	#9
alf3482 Council Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Venus Texas Posts: 251	Well i have heard that they are hard to keep as well. I bought these three you will see at the bottom(sorry for the large pic) the green one on the left is in the tank 14 months now, the red one on your right is 9 or 10 months now and the neon green in the middle is in the tank 6 month plus. All three had tissue damage. The red is 100 % recovery, the green one is 90% recovery and the neon is 85 % recovery and new tissue growing every day on the two that are still healing. I did a series of iodine bath dips for them when i furst got them and they have taken off. I feed Dt's from time to time. __________________ Robert L. Brady See My Tanks through the links below: 125 Gal 120 Gal 55 gal 20 Gal SeaHorse Tank If you get a chance come check out at the RAG

08-02-2001, 01:50 PM	#10
Ltspd Governor Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Arden, NC USA Posts: 2,767	alf3482, you seem to be doing well with them, but its obvious that you are attempting to take special care of them. With the suggestion of the nutrient rich water it makes me wonder if it would do well in my 20g tank that I am battling green hair algea. Wonder if that is the right nutrients???? I get bummed out due tot he lack of any real good corals or reef safe livestock in town. Been wanting to get something new of the tank but there's nothing out there........ Guess I need to really look into MO __________________ Paul C Timing has an awful lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.

08-02-2001, 02:06 PM	#11
alf3482 Council Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Venus Texas Posts: 251	If your having a lot of hair algea problems i would not suggest this coral in there. I had a hair algea problem when i first introduced my oldest Goni. and it was competing for space for the tissue to grow, the algea was winning and the coral was losing. this was in a diffrent tank. I had to remove the Goni. to my 125 where i did not have this problem. This is one reason why i think the red recovered faster than my green which i have had longer. The green was being taken over by hair algea at that time and recovery was very slow for a while. By the way thanks for the compliment. __________________ Robert L. Brady See My Tanks through the links below: 125 Gal 120 Gal 55 gal 20 Gal SeaHorse Tank If you get a chance come check out at the RAG

08-02-2001, 05:40 PM	#12
David Citizen Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: San Diego Posts: 210	Ravenmore- I do feed tank every three days with either DT's or lately I've using Phytoplex. I make soup with phytoplankton, frozen baby brine, selcon and some of that powdered micro-vert food. Also my wife swears she has seen goni eat adult live brine shrimp but I have not seen that happen. Looking at pics I notice everybody keeps these corals up high near lights, I have mine on sandy bottom. Should I move it? It has always seemed pretty happy where it is. Thanks for input...

08-02-2001, 05:51 PM	#13
ravenmore Mayor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: dallas, tx, USA Posts: 896	If it's happy, I'd leave it. My understanding is that this IS a typically a sand bed coral. However, from some discussions with Eric (Borneman) in his forum on reef central, he has indicated they sometimes do live on rocks. They're so delicate that, if you're having success with your current placement, I'd be hesitant to move it. -Mike __________________ I didn't do it. Nobody saw me do it. You can't prove anything. Website My other hobby

08-02-2001, 08:02 PM	#14
alf3482 Council Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Venus Texas Posts: 251	I agree with ravenmore. If it's happy and it's doing well leave it. I have done a lot of research on this coral, and have found that most say that they should be placed in the sand as they feed on some things in the sand bed, I had began placing them on the rocks before i had learned of them needing to be in the sand, As stated before the green one at the left in the pic is 14 months in the tank. No way i'm to scared to move any of them, as they have regrown tissue so well. I wish i would have had a good camara when she looked really bad. She had a bear spot as big as a quater. And as far as special care I do no more for them than the rest but i do spend alot of time on the tanks (3 salt 2 Fresh and a new empty 120 gal) in general. And i skim 24/7 but i do not run carbon. Good luck keep us posted on how it does. Just fyi if it does show bad signs, the iodine dip treatments showed good signs of tissue regeneration in a lot of the studies i have read. And it has worked well for me. __________________ Robert L. Brady See My Tanks through the links below: 125 Gal 120 Gal 55 gal 20 Gal SeaHorse Tank If you get a chance come check out at the RAG

08-02-2001, 10:23 PM	#15
GreenLincoln Tenant Join Date: May 2001 Location: Portland, OR, USA Posts: 84	I'd like to share my experience with a small (3") purple goni I purchased from the lfs. It was very starved when I took it home and put it in my 90 gallon reef. It continued to go downhill, losing more and more of its tissue that normally covers the stony OUTside of the coral. Soon I was left with not much more than a rock with little pores in it. All of the color was gone, except for the white centers of each polyp. I believe my 90 was too well filtered to support the goni, so I moved it to my nano reef. The recovery has been nothing short of miraculous!!! I guess because the nano is a much more nutrient-rich environment (less water volume), the goni is able to thrive. When I feed in this little tank, the goni is able to feed much easier. That encouraged me to put my other high-nutrient corals in the nano, 2 tubastea and an elegance I am trying to save. I don't know how to post multiple pics on this BB, so the first pic is the "before" and the second is the "after" pic of the goni. __________________ http://members.home.net/greenlincoln

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)

08-02-2001, 10:25 PM	#16
GreenLincoln Tenant Join Date: May 2001 Location: Portland, OR, USA Posts: 84	...and here is the "after" pic. Still a long way to go, but much healthier than it was. __________________ http://members.home.net/greenlincoln

08-03-2001, 01:16 AM	#17
GreenLincoln Tenant Join Date: May 2001 Location: Portland, OR, USA Posts: 84	Just had to post one more...this one I just took tonight. __________________ http://members.home.net/greenlincoln

08-03-2001, 01:46 AM	#18
David Citizen Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: San Diego Posts: 210	This just kills me, for four months, up until two days ago when I got into this thread, my goni has been doing well. Once we started talking about it, it went from half open (yesterday) to not open at all today. Any time I see a change in anything in tank I ask myself, "what's different?" Well, in this case I "improved" filtration by adding a micron bag to pre-filter section of sump about a week ago. Now water entering (and exiciting) skimmer is much cleaner and water passing through secondary mech filter before return to tank is immaculate. So maybe goniapora liked dirtier water? Also, as I live in San Diego I use a lot of NSW available at Scripp's Institute. Lately we have been experiencing "red tide" algael bloom so I just changed 25% of tank volume to Instant Ocean. Maybe goni didn't like water change? I was planning weekly 25% change overs to get tank on 100% synthetic salt but now I'm not so sure. Everything else in tank is thriving except clam which died after only about three weeks. All params perfect. What a baffling hobby.

08-05-2001, 08:18 PM	#19
The_Bandit Council Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Upwey, Vic, Australia Posts: 452	Some interesting info Click here And one on Feeding of Corals Borneman on coral feeding __________________ Check Out: Reefing The Australian Way Some days you are the bug, some days you are the windshield.

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