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by Albert J. Thiel, Thiel Technologies
Goniopora corals are favorites of hobbyists but many have unfortunate experiences with them and usually do not manage to keep them alive for very long. Often, in my opinion, this is because the basics needed to keep them thriving are not adhered to. In this three part series suggestions are given based on experience and on conversations with others who have kept these corals for extended periods of time and even have had them reproduce in their tanks.
Part I gave you a series of recommendations to adhere to and some tips with regard to what endangers this coral.
Below is some more information that will/may help you in better managing the environment in which your coral(s) is placed. Part III will give you even more details and information.
Goniopora coral does not necessarily come from environments with real high lighting. One reference I found refers to a place where the water is so murky one can barely see when diving yet the Goniopora in that area is doing just fine.
Note the "not necessarily". Yours may come from a high intensity lighting environment. In such a case you will need to provide that kind of lighting but you may need to acclimate the coral first if you buy it and see that it is under FL light. Of course it is hard for you to know that in advance, indeed ...
Since we really do not know where the one or ones we own come from, we may need to do some moving around placing such a coral that is not doing well in a different lighting environment and determine whether that makes any difference. Often it does.
Note also that upon receiving one you should be very careful with the coral as it will be stressed and will need to be acclimated (to lighting and tank water quality conditions - it helps to know what kind of water it was in and what kind of light it was under at the LPS or holding facility if you buy from a mail order firm).
Whether this is highly significant or not, is not certain but highly likely. Travel brings about stress and acclimating a coral reduces the stress.
I also know of hobbyists who have lost their at one time magnificent looking Goniopora, by running too much GAC (granular activated carbon), for too long and depleting the water of too many elements.
If you use carbon I would suggest that you consider using smaller amounts and making sure that you use a complete additive. Julian Sprung, in one of his Reef Notes, refers to a method of using GAC where the water is not forced "through" but just run over the carbon.
Perhaps the single most important matter, in my opinion, in ensuring the longevity and growth of Goniopora corals that I have found to be true over the years is: feeding!
These corals feed a lot! Whenever plankton is added to the tank they appear to do much better and thrive and grow. Mind you this does not apply to Gonioporaalone.
If you looked at the amount of plankton around a reef at feeding time you would be amazed. Yes the reef is nutrient poor but not in plankton! Since these corals trap plankton, making it available ensures that their living environment corresponds a lot more to what they are accustomed to.
Not using mechanical filtration helps. Strong water current in the tank helps in that respect too as it moves food particles and plankton around and allows these and other corals to trap them.
Adding live plankton is even better and definitely ensures that food stuff is available. Do so at night. Stop your skimmer so all food is not removed and, if you really want to do it properly, stop the pumps that run water to the sump. This keeps the plankton "in" the tank and allows the corals to trap it.
Whenever I have done so, I have used a one to two hour rule depending on how crowded the tank was. What I mean is the skimmer and overflow pumps where off for one to two hours. Human agency is required here of course as skimmers do not stop by themselves and pumps do not either.
Although all this could be automated I have found that since this was not a daily instance that it was just easier to do so manually, watch the tank and sump and make sure all was going fine and then add the zoo plankton.
One or two hours later I would then switch everything back on and make sure that all was running well (especially the skimmer).
Besides the importance of feeding this coral, I firmly believe that the next most important step is to ensure that real strong irregular water motion exists around the coral. In fact, as I am writing this, I am reminded of a program I happened to watch on the Discover or similar Channel a few months ago that showed portions of reefs and at some point either Goniopora or Alveopora was shown. What I do remember is the very strong current and the forceful swaying of the polyps.
This certainly keeps this coral "clean" and washes off excess mucus. This is important if one remembers that detritus that settles between the tentacles can and will more than likely lead to bacterial or other diseases if it starts to decay.
An interesting observation comes to mind. At some point, in one of his books, Peter Wilkens recommends that these corals do not do well at all in aquariums where nitrates are slightly elevated (2-3 ppm I believe). Combined with that statement, he attributes the loss of many Goniopora specimens to the alga "Ostreobium", an alga classified as a obligate symbiont.
This is odd, to say the least, especially since Wilkens refers to it as growing in such a manner that it dislodges tentacles from the coral skeleton. Dr. Steemann Nielsen confirms this, and adds that Ostrobium (probably a typo as there is no such an alga based on multiple net searches and checking available literature I own) is endozoic and can absorb light energy above 700 nm which is normally the upper limit for photosynthesis). Ostreobium appears to have special pigments allowing it to photosynthesize up to wavelengths of 750 nm. How this relates to dislodging tentacles is not clear yet but more on this in part III. (E. Steemann Nielsen, Marine Photosynthesis, Elesevier Oceanography Series, 1975, 141 pp)
Another reason for the losses experienced with this coral is predation and ensuing damage leading to tissue loss or necrosis (brown jelly disease is often seen as a mass of, yes, brown jelly floating above parts of this coral).
Whether the damage is solely due to predation or to damage to the polyp in some other fashion appears unimportant. What seems to happen is that when the polyp "is" damaged an infection sets in very rapidly.
Iodine and Vitamin C can certainly be used to combat this and try to arrest the progression but often when the damage is done, intervention is often already too late.
The better approach therefore is to avoid that damage occurs at all by ensuring that predators are removed from the tank, that no nettling occurs from nearby corals, that urchins can not scratch or pierce it and so on. Prevention is really the key here. Using C on a prophylactic basis is, in my opinion, certainly a good idea (not just for this coral but in general).
Is all this so unusual and am I talking about situations that do not affect other corals but are only of significance to Goniopora? I think not. Most of what I have been writing applies in my opinion to just about any coral we keep. With this coral there may be a few extra precautions that one needs to take and I have mentioned them but in general the care and maintenance are not that different from what we would do to maintain a healthy reef tank.
In nature these are very "tough" corals, often exposed to the air at low tide and covered with sediment. They thrive in murky and polluted waters, yet do badly in our tanks. Strange indeed. Which leads me to surmise that nutrient depletion may very well be more important than we imagine and that supplemental feeding and strong current are necessary.
I welcome any comments and suggestions for additions. Note that there is a part III, dealing amongst others more with Ostreobium, reproduction by budding, and so on.
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