Catalaphyllia - separated from skeleton

[mrchriscarlton]

Hi All,

I've had a stunning Catalaphyllia in my tank now for 10 months and it's grown really well. In the last month or so it had started to separate from the skeleton at the each end. I thought this could be too much flow so I moved it to a more sheltered area but two nights ago it completed separately. I've just managed to retrieve it from the rockwork and it looks okay just without the skeleton!

I was told this was a way of propagation but I'm not convinced - I think the prognosis is bad but obviously I'd like to do something!

A couple of questions then;

1) To stop it floating around the tank and ending in the rocks again can i attach it to a rock using superglue or would it attach itself if I put an elastic band around it and the rock?

2) Could I propagate this by cutting it in two/three parts and then fix using the answer to question 1?


Hope someone out there can offer some guidance!

Cheers

Chris


Cat in its glory days!

 

[kramgnik]

Hello,

From what I have read, this problem seems to stem from either an inadequacy in care (water quality, ect.) or a last ditch effort to propagate in response to a stresssor (polyp bail-out). Have you had any recent stressfull events take place in the tank? I believe low levels of strontium have been implicated in tissue peeling as well.
For the time being try to place it in as low current area as possible. I would try to make some sort of 'cage' for it, so it doesn't float away, like an upside down plastic basket (like the kind fruit such as strawberries are packaged in). This will allow it to recieve light and little flow while restraining it. You will have to wait some time for it to secrete a new skeleton, you will not be able to glue it or anyting. I personally would not try to cut it, it is already under enought stress, cutting would only heighten that and you may loose the animal. To encourage recalcification of a skeleton maintain optimal Ca2+ and Alk. levels, also you may want to check the strontium out, also feed the animal (brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, ect) directly by a syringe to boost its health.

Good luck,
Mark

 

[mrchriscarlton]

Thanks for the reply Mark.

Water quality hasn't been too bad. The tank is well stocked and Nitrates are a little high at 40! They have been higher and are slowly reducing despite the stocking levels. I've just bought a 50gallon frag tank online so total water volume is now approximately 430 gallons. There'll be another 100+ gallons coming online in the next three weeks.

Phosphates usually reside around 0.015 but they never rise above 0.03. Tested with the deltec phosphate test.

I've never tested for strontium so I'll buy a kit when the shops open and give it a test.

I do struggle keeping my dKh up despite having a schuran jetstream 1 calcium reactor. I've heard many stories of this unit kicking out extremely high dKh but I just don't seem to get it right. I was given a spreadsheet last week which gives the values of having Ca, Mg and Kh in balance so I'm aiming to get these all in line within a couple of months.

The tank has 15 LPS corals, excluding the cat, and all are fine and growing at a phenomenal rate. It would be a real shame to lose this stunning coral.

I'll try the cage and see what happens. Thanks for your help.

 

[shutiny]

I glued down three small baby elegence coral with epoxy to keep them from blowing away. The samllest one( less than 1/2") has very little skeletal structure so its tissue was patialy covered with epoxy. And the two larger ones have enough skeleton for the epoxy to be on its base without touch the tissues. Three days later, the smaller one died from the epoxy contact, I believe. But the two larger ones are doing great.

If it was mine coral, I would left it alone on a sand bed or in a container with rubbles. Glue and epoxy may cause harm to tissue on direct contact. In many cases, mine acropora frags died at the point of contact with epoxy.
HTH

 

[mano1192]

epoxy works well with most acros montis but for lps I dont like to do it cause like was said above it usually suffocates the tissue and kills it off.

 

[mrchriscarlton]

Thanks guys.

I've built myself an egg crate cage which is suspended between the stress bars at the top of the tank in a low flow area. I didn't have any acrylic to hand so I've placed the cat on, and surrounded it with, some small flatish pieces rock. I gave it a dusting of brineshrimp yesterday evening so I guess it's a waiting game now.

 

[poopsko24]

keep it in the cage, it will lay down a new base.........thats awsome bro..........get some pics up here...........