Help!!!

[SaltwaterTeen]

I have some new frags I bought a week ago. I got a green center pink rimmed monti cap, a green stylo, and a pocillipora. My pocillipora is the one giving me troubles, its tissue seems to be ripping off the skeleton. I have optimal water conditions and it is in med flow, and is high on top of the shelf. The green stylo and the monti cap are doing good, the green stylo is recovering from when I accidently got a tad bit of super glue on him. Heres the specs:

Cal:450ppm
Alk:4.5meq/l
Ammonia:0 of course
Nitrite:0 of course
pH:8.3
Nitrate:10
440watts VHO and 110watts pc in a 55gal

 

[Entacmaea]

A picture might help, or a little more decsription.

Is there constant and direct flow on the coral? If so, it might be too much and causing the flesh to peel off.

More likely though, is some infection or necrosis causing the coral tissue to die, then come off. Is the tissue discolored at all?

 

[SaltwaterTeen]

The polyps are more clear on the top than the ones on the branches that are further down the coral which are brown. Sometimes I see my sixline sortof pic at them. The tissue just is like peeling off. It is comming off quickly I can try to get a pic

 

[spsmike]

That I am sorry to say is called RTN and your going to lose that whole coral.....It happens to sps sometimes for a reason and sometimes for no reason.What you need to do is frag off the parts that are not losing tissue and do it quick like.Those parts fragged will be saved.

 

[Unarce]

Run the frags that you're able to salvage through a Lugol's Dip (iodine treatment). This will increase the chance that the pathogen or bacteria that may have caused the RTN won't be present in what you've saved.

Good luck!

 

[SaltwaterTeen]

I have lugols, how do I do it?

 

[Unarce]

It's a dip of 5% iodine, but you could quickly add 20 drops of Lugol's to half a gallon of your tank water. Let them sit there for about 15 minutes.

Most likely, this was STN (slow tissue necrosis) which usually starts from the tips. RTN happens too quickly to react in time to save it.

Good luck!

 

[SaltwaterTeen]

Ok, I got the dip and the frags, I dont have glue at the moment, will they be fine for an hour without being glued?

 

[Unarce]

They should be fine. Frags sometimes sit on my substrate for weeks before I trade them away or glue them. It may even be better to let them recover and not be glued since they will be in a weakened state.

 

[SaltwaterTeen]

So I dont frag the ones with the white tips developed?

 

[SaltwaterTeen]

And if I leave the one with RTN in there to slowly die, I cant flush it just yet, cuz my dad will freak, but will it spread?

 

[Unarce]

You have two options. One is to frag off all of the branches that show STN and try to save the colony as a whole. This can be a bit risky since the pathogen could be more difficult to get rid of with a dip. The other option is to frag off the healthiest branches that are furthest away from where the STN has developed. Frags seem to be hardier IME, and are more likely to recover and resist the STN.

 

[Unarce]

And if I leave the one with RTN in there to slowly die, I cant flush it just yet, cuz my dad will freak, but will it spread?

Personally, I wouldn't leave it in there. There's a chance that the infected tissue will slough off and land on a neighboring coral. If that coral has poor sliming ability, it may not be able to fight it off, too.

 

[SaltwaterTeen]

The new frags are mounted

 

[spsmike]

You should see polyp extension within a couple days.

 

[SnowManSnow]

Good luck with this one

I'd like to see pics of your mounted frags especially after the polyps extend.

 

[Mihai]

Please let us know how it turned out one way or the other.
M.