Brown Candelabrum Gorgonian (Eunicea sp.)

This gorgonian took a very sudden and very dramatic turn for the worse recently. I first noticed that the polyps were semi-retracted during the day, something that this gorgonian has never done. Within 24 hours, the polyps were almost completely retracted and I noticed a number of yellow splotches covering the entire body of the gorgonian. These splotches were identical to those that I observed when I first aquired it. By the next day, the gorgonian appeared pretty much dead.

I have been keeping it in the aquarium for a while in the hopes that some part of it might recover, but I no longer think that that is likely. This is my oldest gorgonian in this tank and I am quite surprised this happened. This is the kind of behavior I would expect from a non-photosynthetic gorgonian.

At this point I believe that it was some kind of opportunistic pathogen that acted while my pH was low (7.5-7.6). None of my other nine gorgonians are showing similar symptoms, so I really don't know what to make of this. It could have been a disease, it could have been a reaction to the low pH, or it could be that this gorgonian has been slowly deteriorating all along.

This gorgonian continues to do well.

I ended up moving this specimen towards the top-back of the aquarium in order to give the fish a little more room at the front. It seems to be fine with it's new position, although it's now harder to get a good picture of it.

Here you can see that polyp extension around the base of the gorgonian (which was weak in my last picture) has improved.

I have been advised that gorgonians in this genus typically do not benefit from phytoplankton-sized food. I will be trying something larger when I get the chance.

Many species of gorgonians are difficult to identify to the species level without a microscope. However, Gorgonians within the Eunicea genus are informally referred to as "candelabrum" gorgonians. This species is photosynthetic and is fairly hardy. It's polyps give it a "bushy" appearance whenthey are expanded. At night, or when the coral is otherwise stressed, the polyps retract and only a white stalk remains. Although primarily photosynthetic, it is thought that this species benefits from additional feeding.

This specimen was fully expanded within a few hours of being introduced into my tank. It was sold to me as a non-photosynthetic gorgonian (which are significantly harder to keep) but I was fairly sure of it's photosynthetic nature even while I was paying for it.

I have placed this gorgonian exactly where my old gorgonian stood before the tank crash. I am currently adding some Kent Marine Phytoplex to the tank twice a week for it.