Ganiopara....... I think

[c0mf0rt]

Anyone have any advice on these???? I picked one up and have read about the variance in stories regarding keeping these corals.... anyone have a success story????????

[SamIAm]

Very, very difficult to keep alive. Most of 'em die within a month or so. They're beautiful, but I'm not really sure why pet stores keep selling them. Maybe you'll have better luck than I did.

[c0mf0rt]

Well this one's been at the LFS for about two weeks and has been doing well there...... we'll seee.......... my fingers are crossed... maybe I'll be one of the lucky ones..... they really are nice.....

[lando]

I am afraid this coral has a very poor survival rating. They are very difficult to keep. I had one for a few months as well. They are extremely beautiful and I understand the alure of them. As time passes, this coral will die from the bottom up. You will notice it will not expand around the bottom and start to look nacrotic. This will slowly work its way up the dome to the top. Sorry for the bad news, enjoy it while you have it. Lando

[lando]

Forgot to mention that if you rally like the looks of the gonipora, the alvepora looks very similar and has a much better survival rate.

[Clown Monarch]

I had a pink gonio in my 125 that was doing ridiculously well. Seriously, when extended, it was big around as a bowling ball and looked like a woman's flowing hair in the water. It was huge and healthy until the maroon clown decided he was going to take it as a host.

I moved it in the tank several times but the clown would still bother and pick at it every day. Despite this and the Powder Blue Tang taking bites of it occasionally and being moved 20 times - it still did well.

Finally yesterday, I had to dispose of it when brown jelly formed around it's base.

[Clown Monarch]

dp

[revhtree]

The Avipora is more hardy, but difficult as well. I know I lost one of those.

[fishfreek]

Both should not be sold in stores. The experts dont even have a firm grasp on the needs of these corals. Some say they require 'dirty' water and others say they need a boat load of light and yet others say they need target feeding or some combo of the three.

[c0mf0rt]

Thanks for the help guys. I guess I won't be getting another one. I need your help though. At what point should I take it out so that it doesn't foul up the tank???? And did you guys bleach it or anything so that you could at least put the "rock" back into your tank??????

[Jason]

The guy that owns my LFS had one in his show tank that was 2 years old. He wouldn't sell it to anyone because he said it was a miracle that it had lived for that long. A guy came in one day and offered him $250 for it and like most anyone else would do, he sold it.....


The weirdest thing about the coral was he said he had moved it probably 10 times(to different tanks) in that 2 year period and was always expecting it to die... It never did and as far as I know it still hasn't died (I always see the guy who bought it in there)..... Then just the other day, he ordered another one to go into his show tank just to see if he could keep it, and it came in dry. The other owner picked it up strait out of the box tore the bag open and dropped it into a tank that is under the register (they put all the corals that come in dry in there)........ it's been about 2 weeks and that thing is as big as a basketball.

Goniporia is a strange coral.....

[fishfreek]

Yes they can do great for long periods of time and then just poof. Start to deterate. The 'rock' as you put it will start to degrade as its just calcium carboniate.

[Clown Monarch]

I read that once a "brown jelly" forms on the coral that the chances of saving it are pretty much nil. The only future they have in your tank after that is to infect other hard corals.

[Clown Monarch]

Jason -

I'm convinced my Gonio was one of those rare ones. Had it not been constantly picked on it would still be flourishing.

[c0mf0rt]

so I'm guessing the brown jelly will be obvious to me and at that point I should remove him????

[Jason]

Originally Posted by Clown Monarch

Jason -

I'm convinced my Gonio was one of those rare ones. Had it not been constantly picked on it would still be flourishing.

The same guy who just tossed the dry one in the tank said he had one in his tank at home and it started to get that brown slime at the bottom of it. He said he took it out and just ploped it into another tank...... apparently it's still alive after a few months and the slime went away.

I'm not sure if I would reccomend anyone doing that or anything, but I know someone who did it and it worked ........

[Clown Monarch]

comfort -

Yes, the jelly will be pretty obvious on a hard coral. I'm just going by what I've read. It may be possible for the coral to rid itself of it, but in my experience the part that has the jelly is dead and will only spread. It also suggested immediately quarantining the coral if you want to save it because it could potentially wipe out all of your corals.

[fishfreek]

The jelly is a bactera infection. Simply moving it to another tank woudl not clear up the infection unless the second tank had prevoius been medicated with an antibacteral agent.

When the jelly appears the best thing to do is to use a syphon and try to remove as much of the jelly as possible and to not disturb the jelly and distrabute it over the rest of the tank. When in doubt you can frag the affected part taking some good tissue with it. This will save the rest of the coral that not infected with the jelly.