I give you The Elegance Coral Project .
For many years, elegance corals (Catalaphyllia jardinei) were among the easiest corals to keep in aquaria. Over the past five years, most entering the trade are doomed because of a condition for which there is no known cause or cure. In this condition, the coral adopts a relatively swollen oral disk with a fringe of unextended tentacles. The coral tissue eventually shrinks, and the coral dies despite all manner of experimental intervention.
There has been much speculation as to why this condition now occurs, and various sources have suggested causes and even cures. But I stress that no research to my knowledge has been done on this condition, and to date none of the potential causes, solutions, or cures seems to have much validity.
These corals are extremely beautiful and desirable. Unfortunately today, their poor survival rate in captivity puts them in a similar class with Goniopora stokesi where survival rates are too low to justify the large-scale collection of them from the wild. In fact, Catalaphyllia appear to be relatively rare species and may be highly overcollected so that populations in some collection areas are threatened or even locally extinct. To continue to collect rare species that have extremely low survival is bad for everyone - it is an economic loss, a resource waste, and a source of great frustration for all those who purchase and attempt to keep them alive.
Eric Borneman is a highly respected marine biologist, and author.
One of my first corals was an elegance, that lived for 9 years in my first reef tank. Since then, I’ve bought two which died within a year, and I have since quit purchasing them altogether.
I’ve already donated money to this cause, but if any other reefer dopers (heh) can help, this post will have been worth it.