Hawkins Blue and Herbtana

Tomoko Schum

New member
I am sad to report that I am about to lose my Hawkins Blue colony.

My Powder Blue Tang came down with Ich suddenly two weeks ago after being in my tank for a month. After hearing good things about Herbtana, I started treating my tank with it on Monday evening.

After the first dose on Monday, I was rather shocked at the strong smell of Herbtana coming out of my tank. I used the recommended dosage specified on the label. Zoas reacted to Herbtana and shrunk just like I was told, but they fully recovered by next morning.

I continued the treatment as prescribed on Tuesday and Wednesday.

When I added the usual dose this evening (Thursday) around 8PM, I noticed a small branch of Hawkins Blue was losing its tissue. I broke off that branch and kept an eye on the coral. It's 12:50AM now and my Hawkins Blue look really bad.

It's gone from this:

1-9-11Frags021.jpg


to this now (sorry about the poor picture quality - best I could do without overhead light):

HawkinsandHerbtana006.jpg


All the new growth has turned white now. I just added a large portion of GAC and restarted my skimmer to protect the rest of the tank. I've heard that Hawkins Blue is quite sensitive to CoralRX and ReVive treatment although this one was okay when I treated it with ReVIve (could have been with Fluke Tab) before I put it into my tank. I am afraid that this colony will be lost, though. A Turaki colony, which looks identical to Hawkins Blue, seems to be doing okay at the moment.

I don't know if Herbtana is helping my Powder Blue Tang any, but I am pulling the plug on the treatment.
 
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Hawkins Blue is still hanging in there. It still looked like the second picture early this morning before I left for work. I have my fingers crossed. I will report back again after I get home from work this afternoon.
 
A picture taken this afternoon:

HawkinsandHerbtana008.jpg


With flash:

HawkinsandHerbtana011.jpg


You can see vaguely that Hawkins Blue is the only coral that shows damage (on the left hand side of my tank) at the moment:

HawkinsandHerbtana015.jpg


RTN has increased in size, but the center of the coral is still holding up. I am hoping and praying that the coral will survive the ordeal.

Should I go ahead and replace GAC? I put in probably three or so cups of it last night.
 
Sorry to hear that, Tomoko. I've had some odd issues with the Hawkin's Blue. I had half of a large colony die off just after being moved from one tank to another (same system). Then, I dipped some frags for the Nashville swap when moving form my frag tank (planaria) to the display to color back up. All frags either bleached or died over night (those that bleached are returning to former glory). Now (after the remaining colony being knocked onto an Acan echinata colony, killing the back half of the Hawkins), it has started RTN'ing from the center of the colony up and down. I think I'm going to lose it all this time. Over time, I've not had the best success with this one for some reason. Seems really reactive to me.
 
Well, the remainder of the coral looked fine until I left for Reilly's birthday dinner. I fragged it before I left. When I came home, I could smell the dying coral in the air. Sure enough the coral looked really bad. I am afraid that fragging it caused more stress than it could handle.
 
Sorry to hear this Tomoko. It was a very pretty patch of coral. I hope things work out and you can save some of it.
Good Luck
 
My Hawkins Blue is gone now unfortunately. Powder Blue looks okay.

Since this Hawkins Blue did very well for me, I would like to get another frag of Hawkins or Ice Fire. Anyone care to trade a frag of Hawkins for something I have? Maybe Blueberry Acro, Pearlberry, or something else that I have.
 
I've got some frags of the Hawkins that are dong well and you've got a few things I'd be interested in. Let me know if you don't find something more local.
 
Harry contacted me and offered me a good trade :). I will get Herbtana out of my system with more GAC this week and get the frag from him later.

I have a few sought-after corals such as pink prostrata with blue tips (maybe fraggable shortly) and pink milli with blue tips in addition to A. turaki, ORA blue milli, Blueberry acro, and ORA pearlberry. I am also interested in a frag of Ice Fire, if you or someone else has one to trade.
 
I feel your pain, got up this morning and checked my tank, noticed bottom of my Hawkins is losing tissue also. I had issues several months ago with this with no idea of cause, I lost my prized Oregon Torte and my Pearlberry.
I fragged both but no luck, I think I waited to long to save them, I cut mine from the base and hopefully saved one decent size piece as well as 3 two inch frags. It came from Art originally and grown very slowly but the past month really colored up and was growing nicely. Hope I can save it, if so may a frag for you.
 
Tomoko,
I picked up a frag of a blue stag from you at the Birmingham swap year before last. It is one of the prettiest corals in my tank, beautiful growth pattern it started out tan with blue tips now the whole coral is bright baby blue. I would like an ID on it if possible. If you need a pic send me your email and I will forward one.
Thanks Michael
 
I think that you are asking about Blueberry acro unless it's a milli. In a good environment it will turn into bright baby blue color. Under a very high light, it loses the brown color on the radial corallites completely. Will you be able to post a pic here?
 
it is the blueberry acro, defiantly not a milli , it has long thin branches . Anyway thats what I needed to know thanks
 
it is the blueberry acro, defiantly not a milli , it has long thin branches . Anyway thats what I needed to know thanks
 
An Update

An Update

My tang has recovered nicely and I got a new Hawkins with CRA's help.

Here's the picture of my tang:

Tangandcleanerwrasse010.jpg


Here's the picture of my new Hawkins Blue:

Tangandcleanerwrasse016.jpg


I stopped dosing Herbtana as I mentioned earlier and kept feeding my tang with lots of nori and green food. I found out that he really likes Formula 2 pellets.

What really helped my tang was actually this one:

Tangandcleanerwrasse032.jpg


Yes, I know that I am not supposed to buy a delicate obligate eater fish like Ceaner Wrasse, but he eats frozen food well, too.

It was funny to see all my fish compete to present themselves to the wrasse as soon as I dropped my wrasse into the tank. Only my tang was affected by ick but all other fish asked him to clean them. Amazingly, the wrasse tries to clean my hand everytime I put my hand in the tank just like cleaner shrimp does.

Tomoko
 
Thank you, Johnny.

I have always wanted a powder blue tang. I am glad that he is doing well.

The new frag is deeper in color than the colony I lost. I found out today that John got his Hawkins mother colony from his supplier in the west coast and not from ORA. That explains the difference in the colors.
 
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