Accidental freshwater dip

[ThRoewer]

I mad a stupid mistake and accidentally put 1 old, 4 new SPS frags and 1 Acan frag for a few minutes into freshwater :headwally: - tap water no less :headwalls:.

I was dipping them for about 15 minutes in tank water with Bayer Advanced.
To rinse tools I prepared a container of tap water and another with tank water to rinse the corals.
I got distracted and when the time came to take the corals out of the dip I put them into the wrong container :headwally:
Then I emptied the dip bucket and inspected what came off the corals. When I got back to check on the corals and noticed my mistake.

I immediately transferred the corals to the tank water container and brought them over to my tank.
Most were sliming like crazy and at least one seems to have expelled some of its zooxanthellae - the stem is almost white where it was green before - only the polyps are still green.

Is there a chance for them to survive this?

 

[BrentH]

I think 15 min is a bit to long? But I'm not sure? I am curious to hear what others think .... I do know the reef sometimes gets exposed to low tide in the wild and it does rain when this happens. I bet depends on the corals I doubt scans ever see freshwater in the wild

 

[biggles]

Acros can take some harsh treatment so it's very likely some will recover and others may spit the dummy big time. Don't think the worst just yet but put those frags on the bottom away from strong light and watch them.

 

[ThRoewer]

Yes, the Acropora looks the best in that group. The other one that might make it is the Acan.
The two montipora look pretty bad. If anything only small areas on them will survive.

 

[ThRoewer]

The Acropora is dead and it looks like all other SPS have largely lost their connective tissue and only the polyps are still hanging on.

The Acan looks like it will make it.

 

[biggles]

Sorry to hear that mate but it was always going to be touch and go on the outcome. I've left frags on the bench for 30 mins and even dry looking they came back so it's always worth trying.

 

[ThRoewer]

Actually all the others now show signs of recovery. The connecting tissue seems to be damaged or mostly lost, at least on the surface, but 3 of the 4 SPS had polyps opening this morning.

The Acan has some damage you can see when the polyps are deflated at night but looks fine during the day.

I will post some pictures later.

In general I feel the connecting tissue is the weak link due to its thinness and exposure while the polyps are better equipped to survive something like this due to their ability to retract into the skeleton.