goniopora

bolt696

New member
Hi,

I just had a goniopora taken over by some brown jelly slime stuff with bubbles on the end. Out of the 30-40 tenticles, only about 7 are open. ANything I can do for this? What causes this? Should I remove it? Will it spread to other corals?

Thanks
 
Goniopora almost never live more than 6 months in our tanks. I honestly don't know of anything that can be done to save it.
 
I respectfully disagree--Goniopora used to be known as impossible to keep, but no longer--with proper feeding, and good flow they have been kept for years and fragged in regular home aquaria. Here's an article about them--

Goniopora care article by Justin C.

The brown jelly sounds like either a bacterial infection or the coral starving. Are you target feeding it, and if so what do you feed? If it is bacterial, then your best bet may be to cut away the dead parts and try to salvage what is still healthy.

Good luck and keep us posted--

Christine
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8401251#post8401251 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Spracklcat
I respectfully disagree--Goniopora used to be known as impossible to keep, but no longer--with proper feeding, and good flow they have been kept for years and fragged in regular home aquaria. Here's an article about them--

Goniopora care article by Justin C.

The brown jelly sounds like either a bacterial infection or the coral starving. Are you target feeding it, and if so what do you feed? If it is bacterial, then your best bet may be to cut away the dead parts and try to salvage what is still healthy.

Good luck and keep us posted--

Christine

How would I cut it away it has a hard stony rock base with holes. Am I naming this wrong. I looked up a picture in a coral book I had and I am pretty sure that is what is is and what I purchased. I was feeding kent micro vert.

Will this gel spread to other corals?

I did take a turkey baster and blast away the gel last night, but it came back this afternoon.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8401522#post8401522 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bolt696
How would I cut it away it has a hard stony rock base with holes. Am I naming this wrong. I looked up a picture in a coral book I had and I am pretty sure that is what is is and what I purchased. I was feeding kent micro vert.

Will this gel spread to other corals?

I did take a turkey baster and blast away the gel last night, but it came back this afternoon.

I tried to put a picture, but it said it was too big to upload. I posted the same question on the site where I bought it and it has a picture. I circled the slime in black, and the pink on the top (fuzzy) is what is still alive. Please take a look.
http://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/showthread.php?p=1824744#post1824744
 
Hard to say without a picture what it is, and even then I don't know that I would know, but someone else might know. To frag it, get a Dremel with a cutting wheel or tile attachment, and cut through the stony part to separate the good tissue from the bad. If you go that route, make sure you get ALL the brown off, so cut into the healthy tissue a bit. IT's a last ditch effort to save the animal.

Were you feeding it?
 
I do have a dremel. I got for christmas last year and always look for a way to use it. I think I used it twice. Good idea.
 
Most brown jelly type infections are a protozoan, usually helicostoma and it spreads like wildfire. If you were to look at the smallest piece of "jelly" you could get under a microscope, it would contain thousands of these protozoans.
Honestly the best thing is to shut down your pumps, siphon off the brown jelly with a rigid airline tubing, then remove the colony and toss it, especially if its G. stokesii.

Not all goniopora species are the same, and as such some do well in captivity, while others are more challenging.

If you have a copy of The Reef Aquarium Volume One by Sprung and Delbeek, I have a picture on page 285 of an individual helicostoma and the ingested zooxanthallae (I compressed the actual helicostoma to get a clear shot of the zooxanthallae).
I just looked at the copyright date and its hard to believe the book came out in 1994... glad I don't look or feel any older...:)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8401959#post8401959 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Justjoe
Most brown jelly type infections are a protozoan, usually helicostoma and it spreads like wildfire. If you were to look at the smallest piece of "jelly" you could get under a microscope, it would contain thousands of these protozoans.
Honestly the best thing is to shut down your pumps, siphon off the brown jelly with a rigid airline tubing, then remove the colony and toss it, especially if its G. stokesii.

Not all goniopora species are the same, and as such some do well in captivity, while others are more challenging.

If you have a copy of The Reef Aquarium Volume One by Sprung and Delbeek, I have a picture on page 285 of an individual helicostoma and the ingested zooxanthallae (I compressed the actual helicostoma to get a clear shot of the zooxanthallae).
I just looked at the copyright date and its hard to believe the book came out in 1994... glad I don't look or feel any older...:)

Thanks Joe. I did suction most of it out Friday, then I went away for the weekend, and I just got home to find a white skeleton with the holes the polyps came out of. Its a loss.... All the jelly is gone. Is that normal? Can that spread to other corals?
 
Yes, the jelly can spread, but likely it is just localized to this coral.
How are your tank parameters? Is it setup like it was described in the article?

Speaking of the article...

"A goopy food mix I use for larger-polyped Goniopora is 1 part crushed brine shrimp cube to 2 parts crushed Cyclop-eeze flake,1-2 parts frozen rotifers, and 5-6 parts phytoplankton/ Cyclop-eeze juice/ DT's oyster eggs."

My god, you'll need a second job just to feed these animals.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8454318#post8454318 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Reef Junkie
Yes, the jelly can spread, but likely it is just localized to this coral.
How are your tank parameters? Is it setup like it was described in the article?

Speaking of the article...

"A goopy food mix I use for larger-polyped Goniopora is 1 part crushed brine shrimp cube to 2 parts crushed Cyclop-eeze flake,1-2 parts frozen rotifers, and 5-6 parts phytoplankton/ Cyclop-eeze juice/ DT's oyster eggs."

My god, you'll need a second job just to feed these animals.

I had it high in the tank with MH lights and good flow. I was not feeding everything listed above.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8440868#post8440868 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bolt696
Thanks Joe. I did suction most of it out Friday, then I went away for the weekend, and I just got home to find a white skeleton with the holes the polyps came out of. Its a loss.... All the jelly is gone. Is that normal? Can that spread to other corals?

It is normal, once the food/ tissue source is devoured the mass of brown jelly breaks down. Most healthy corals fend it off, but like us, if they have a tear or hole in their flesh, infection can set in and it can start all over again. The rest of your corals should be ok.
Joe
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8460715#post8460715 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Justjoe
It is normal, once the food/ tissue source is devoured the mass of brown jelly breaks down. Most healthy corals fend it off, but like us, if they have a tear or hole in their flesh, infection can set in and it can start all over again. The rest of your corals should be ok.
Joe

thanks again. the rest seem to be doing fine.
 
just as a note i keep mine on the bottom of a 75 with 6x54 t-5's. after a year its still going great with good growth. enough to frag it but i,m affraid to touch it.
 
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