# Gonipora won't open



## buffalo12 (Oct 16, 2016)

Ive had a gonipora frag for a few months at one time thought it was dead but about a month ago i notice the heads peaking out. However they have never extended. My reef have softies mostly dominating 90 gallon reef. All corals doing fantastic except for Gonipora.


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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

buffalo12 said:


> Ive had a gonipora frag for a few months at one time thought it was dead but about a month ago i notice the heads peaking out. However they have never extended. My reef have softies mostly dominating 90 gallon reef. All corals doing fantastic except for Gonipora.


That's not too surprising as most people fail to keep Goniopora successfully. There's no clear answer as to what you can do to keep them alive and thrive but it appears that most of them need frequent feeding (perhaps target feeding, daily) which is lacking in most people's tank. I had a frag before, while most corals do well in my tank the goniopora did not make it past few months.

Here's a lengthy article discussing goniopora care - https://reefs.com/magazine/the-successful-aquarium-culture-of-goniopora-species/


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## Sea MunnKey (Oct 2, 2014)

There's 2 type of gonioporas. One has the extended polyps whereas the other is encrusting and therefore short polyps. Depending it require in-direct flows and sufficient lighting and possibly some feeding as well.


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## noy (Nov 19, 2012)

You might want to direct some flow at it - may encourage the polyps to extend. Also soft corals depending on type can dump lots of organics into the tank that inhibit other corals.


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## buffalo12 (Oct 16, 2016)

My soft corals have incredible growth this year taking over the 90 gallon cube. Have sinularia that needs a much bigger aquarium. So yes its possible soft coral may be an issue. All the coral seem to increase growth except Gonipora that refuse to even extend polypts.


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## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

buffalo12 said:


> My soft corals have incredible growth this year taking over the 90 gallon cube. Have sinularia that needs a much bigger aquarium. So yes its possible soft coral may be an issue. All the coral seem to increase growth except Gonipora that refuse to even extend polypts.


Goniopora is known to be very challenging coral to keep. Even more so than acroporas. I don't think the soft corals are the issue or the tank condition. Have a look at the article I linked and see if you can make it successful.


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## buffalo12 (Oct 16, 2016)

Thank you interesting read. I will try target feeding , i do have a sump with skimmer and a refugium hopefully i can see some polyp extension. Tried my first target feed today; will see if it helps


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## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

If the goni is on the substrate, cut the dome off an appropriate sized plastic bottle, cover goni and spot feed that way for a few minutes and remove.

If your NO3 is less than 10mg/L and PO4 less than 0.1 mg/L, use SeaChem Fuel and soak the coral food with the spot/broadcasting coral food mix. 

HTH and best of luck.


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## buffalo12 (Oct 16, 2016)

Made one from water bottle. 
i will look for fuel


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