Coral physical recovery - help?

[cleverbs]

Why wouldnt you remove them. We are talking like 60$ in coral thats pretty much dead. I would just pull it dip it and put it back. Its not going to hurt it. they need to be in a iodine solution for more then a few seconds. They need to be in it for like 5 mins. if you want to save your frags you are going to need to take some risks. I had a large scroll coral have some die off for some reason I had to frag out the entire colonie. it was 12"x15" coral that is now is about 20 peices. but it saved the coral and now they all look like totally healed frags. and I have been selling them for 20$ each. I paid about 70$ for the coral when it was 12x15 so I have made more then my money back and still have about 20 frags left.

 

[karimwassef]

My tank is mostly empty. The growth rate is still very slow.

The finger porite was my first coral and was doing exceptionally well. I really don't want to lose it.

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[karimwassef]

They're anchored with rigid airline to stand up the surge flow in my tank. The corals usually break if I have to remove them. So the stress may kill them.

 

[karimwassef]

Ok. Did it. Used my tech-D dip for 6 mins on my favia, porites, and pavona.

 

[tmz]

It's unfortunate. A bacterial infection usually sets in when the coral is weakend from alk burn, drastic temp change, salinity, etc. And of course algae growth as it's feeding on the localized area of decomposing tissue. Thus my suggestion of dipping.

In fact it was recently discovered necrosis is in fact caused by a bacterial infection and a 6 day treatment of ampicillin (outside of the display) will kill the bacteria and halt the necrosis.

Interesting, Do you have more information on the ampicillin treatment. A link or personal experience?

I've found studies that show increased bacterial levels in necrotic coral tissue but nothing to indicate causation vs an opportunistic feeding on dead tissue:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17564618



It's pretty commonly known that protozoa ,like brown jelly infections , play into it .

This presentation gives a good overview of a number of coral pathologies,steps that can be taken and a number of environmental issues that are more likely causative :

http://www.reefs.org/library/talklog/eb_jl_111598.html

 

[CuzzA]

Coral physical recovery - help?

TMZ, I'm in the process of acquiring it. Fortunately I don't have any necrosis at the moment. However when I go from the 90 to 300 I'm going to treat everything as I switch over. Here's the study last month. Note the big concern about algae being a carrier of the bacteria, more proof IMO of reasons to not have a refugium. However, from what I gather the bacteria is not the cause, simply taking advantage of a weak coral. I suspect for us in our closed systems the "cause" is weakening of the coral from alk fluctuations, drastic salinity changes, excessive nutrients or other hobbyist errors creating stress on the coral.

I do plan on running my own less than scientific tests if the situation presents an opportunity. But being that you work at Reefkeeping mag I think you should share this info.

{<iframe src="//www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/46293242" width="668" height="714" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" style="border:1px solid #CCC; border-width:1px; margin-bottom:5px; max-width: 100%;" allowfullscreen> </iframe> <div style="margin-bottom:5px"> <strong> <a href="//www.slideshare.net/cuzza/white-band-antibiotic-treatment-for-corals" title="White band antibiotic treatment for corals" target="_blank">White band antibiotic treatment for corals</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="//www.slideshare.net/cuzza" target="_blank">cuzza</a></strong> </div>}

 

[tmz]

Thanks for the link,

Seems like ampicillin is worth a shot for white band diseases. Cruios if anyone has tried a specifc protcol for this treatment.

There are some unanswered questions regarding the role of the cilitates( P. lucindae) and the absecne of predatory bacteial though. Interstingly , no necrotic tissue was found at the boundry of the advancing denuded areas suggesting the ciliates are eating live tissue in areas with a mix of a variety of bacteria including vibrio but absent predatory bacteriovorax bacteria which eat some of those other bacteria.

To be clear I don't work for the magazine. I accepted the honor of an invitation to be an RC Team memeber several years ago with the charge to keep posting and help with the magazine if I could . It's all voluntary . I mostly post ad hoc on several forums , facilitate discussion , learn and advise when asked. That keeps me as busy as I want to be without actually writing articles;though I might try that at some point.

 

[karimwassef]

What's a good resource on healthy coral immune responses?
I can't guage sickness without understanding what healthy is.

Do they just use mucus? Do they secrete enzymes? Do they have populations of good symbiotic bacteria that help them?

 

[karimwassef]

I reinstalled my LEDs (blue and UV) which extended the photoperiod at a lower light level by 6 hours. This coincided with warmer weather in TX so the tank is running 80-82F.

Within days of this, post-dip, my finger porite is growing into the dead tissue and starting to heal over the scar created by the dead zone.

I can see this clearly under UV where the new tissue (which is white) glows against the dead region (which is also white). It literally looks like a healing scar.

Not sure if it was the dip or the low level extended lighting or the warmer temperature... But that's the update.

I'll take new pics when I can.

 

[CuzzA]

Glad to hear the good news. I'm going with it's due to the dip, only because I suggested it. :lmao:

 

[karimwassef]

Old
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New
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Zoom in
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[karimwassef]

I'm seeing good growth again except where the tissue died. That is covered in very small and fine tufts of algae and develops bubbles.

When the hermits climb up to the branches, they clean them. But I'm tempted to just prune them completely.

Should I cut back and into the living tissue?

Should I treat the cut surface with something to retard algae return? Like a drop of superglue for example?

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[karimwassef]

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The Pavona is going to be a little difficult due to the undulating edges that are dead.

 

[karimwassef]

This is what it looked like new
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Maybe a daily peroxide dip to keep the edges clean?