i think my large cup coral is dying. i was having a lot of luck bringing part of it back that was dead when i got it, but now i think it was stung by the frogspawn that was in my sisters tank that she just gave me (it didnt make the transition). the tentacles when floating around and landed on the the cup coral. when i sucked them off with a baster, there was a dead spot. now it seems to be growing.
my question is this ... do you guys think it would be safe for me to cut the flesh of the coral off, just past the dying spot. Pic is below.
BObby,Turbinaria peltata has a very thick/dense skeleton and isn't the easiest coral to cut.Obviously,the coral is receding.You need to determine out why it is.(too much light,allelopathy,etc).In the mean time,remove the coral from the tank and do this.Draw up some Lugols in a syringe,draw a line around the margin between the healthy tissue and receding tissue.Let it sit for a min or 2 being careful that the Lugold doesn't drip/run into the healthty tissue.After the time is up,swish the coral around in a bowlful of tank water.Then place it in the sump for an hour or so.Remove it again and trace a line of superglue gel along the tissue margin to seal it.Place it in a low-light spot in your tank with good current and observe it for the next week or so to see if tissue continues to recede.If your not already,start useing carbon filtration 24/7 as this will help remove any chemical toxins that might be causing this.Good luck
David Jones, the spot that it dying is what was under the frogspawn that was dying when i got it from my sister. when it finally died and released the tentacles, they landed on that exact spot. when i cleaned it off that is the result. so i know what did it. i was hoping i could just cut the flesh of the coral and get it to grow back. because the dying is just on the flesh this should be doable right ??
Mummra called it out,after blowing up your pic,you definately have a brown jelly infection.This is a nasty infection and will require immediate treatment if you want to save it.First thing,remove the coral into a bowl of tank water.IF you have a dental water pik,great,if not then use a another syringe.You will need to blast off the jelly material with a strong jet of tank water.After thoroughly blasting it off,remove the coral to another fresh bowl of tank water.Then,follow the protocol listed above to treat.Brown jelly will spread rapidly,you need to do this today if you want to save it.
Bobby,I often buy sick corals at the LFS.I found this 8"diameter FAvia sp. colony and half of it had already succumbed to the brown jelly infection.I ended up buying it,cutting the dead half off and began the protocol outlined above to treat the infection.It took 2 seperate treatments before i was able to stop the infection.The point i'm trying to make is that this needs to be addressed ASAP and dont assume that you have removed the jelly like substance.You need to really blast it off even blasting a small portion of th healthy tissue as well.The first treatment i did,I only let the Lugols sit on the coral for about 1min,the infection came back.The next treatment i waited 2 mins before rinsing it off as well as really concentrating on blasting the jelly/healthy tissue margin.Good luck,this is a tough disease to stop.On good thing,Turbinaria peltata has a very dense(not as porous)skeleton as many Faviids so i assume that the pathogens might not be able to burrow/embed themselves into the coenosteum(skeletal matrix)
BTW,the live half of the coral you see in the pic above is the piece that i ended up treating.As you can see,there was a small section of it that still had the infection.By the time i ended up stopping the infection,I lost about 1/2 of the colony in the above pic.All of this happened in 2days so you can understand why i say you need to start treating immediately
well as of today, there is no more dying flesh on this coral. it looks just like it did last night, even has some polyp extention today. i went out and got the iodine last night, but didn't get to use it because i had to work today (didn't get in bed until 2 am). yesterday i cut the flesh just past the dying portion and moved it to another tank (empty QT), and today it seems to be doing pretty well. when i got this coral it had a dead spot on it and i was bringing it back until this, so i guess i will keep an eye on it and see how it goes.
cup coral is dying
Reply With Quote
