Heliofungia - can these be saved?

[BadSquishy]

I've have two - one green and one pink for quite a while. They've been really easy to care for, I keep them on the sand and move them by sliding my hand under them and "floating" them to where I need them.

Last week, the pink heliofungia jumped the rubble barrier drifted into contact with my hammer coral and was inflicting serious damage. My son used the gravel rake to push it away.

Last Friday, my son showed me that two pie shaped wedges of brown jelly disease had consumed about a eight of the coral.

I've got it out of the main tank - siphoned off the jelly and treated with antibiotic dip for two days. Yesterday, it began inflating again - but its still
discoloured around the wound. The jelly is either stopped or slowed to the point where I no longer can siphon any away.

Assuming I can keep the jelly stopped, is there any realistic chance of this guy healing - or am I just protracting the inevitable?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[SWINGRRRR]

Heliofungia are the least desirable because they are very hard to keep. It’s like buying cut flowers.

 

[BadSquishy]

They don't seem to be hard to keep - but they do seem to hard to handle. I can't imagine why my son pushed the coral with a rake - he's always so careful with everything else.

If by saying "It's like buying cut flowers", you mean that there is little or no chance of propagation and that death is ultimately unavoidable, then the same applies to the fish in our tanks.

These corals have their downsides - their sting packs a serious wallop - and they drift, but other than mechanical damage - in my limited experience - they seem less difficult to keep happy than most.

I'd like to save it if I can. Does anyone know if the tissue will recover the skeleton? Should it be kept in a lower light portion of the tank to avoid algae growth on the exposed skeleton? Assuming the jelly is stopped, how long should I wait before putting it back in the main tank?

Any pointers are appreciated.

 

[SWINGRRRR]

or am I just protracting the inevitable?

This is the question I was answering.

If that was Heliofungia, as opposed to Cycloseris or Fungia, then they often don't do well in aquaria and are among the more difficult corals to keep in the hobby longterm.

Heliofungia are very difficult corals to keep. Best left in the wild

Sorry. I was just parroting what I read on here. There are tons of threads on the Helios being hard to keep.
As for will it recover, who knows. Will Balitmore ever win? Maybe so, maybe not. If its doing fine in the QT, I would keep doing whatever you are doing. I wouldnt put it back in the DT till you think its 100%.

 

[Lance M.]

I would just keep the water clean and stable and hope it gets better. That's pretty much all you can do.

Good luck Totoro~

 

[BadSquishy]

Damn, reading the vendor sites - its a beginners coral - reading the forums - long term survival doesn't look too promising...this was the second one I got because the first was seemingly doing well, looked good and seemed relatively robust. I knew handling was an issue - I just concluded that was the extent of it.

I put it in my puffer tank - its pretty funky - puffer is a messy eater - but I do 50% water changes on this one weekly (Its where I put the water I remove from the MT water changes).

Its been a week - no more jelly (yet) - looks a little better and is eating - so who knows. I've got it under full light, maybe the algae won't get it. I guess its too early to give up, maybe he'll get lucky. He's looking a little better.

Thanks for the support - Any ideas, advice or experience is always welcome.

 

[SWINGRRRR]

Damn, reading the vendor sites - its a beginners coral - reading the forums - long term survival doesn't look too promising...

Until I got somewhat experinced, I didnt buy anything without searching on RC first. I still stand in the LFS and look up fish on my phone.


The vendors sites are there to make $$$. Other hobbyist have no stake in the matter and want to see you and the animal prosper in the hobby. We wont lead you astray. Even though sometimes opinions differ.

 

[BadSquishy]

"Until I got somewhat experinced, I didnt buy anything without searching on RC first. I still stand in the LFS and look up fish on my phone."

Yep, I know this is good advice - not being careful is how I ended up with a puffer tank - and a domino damsel...at least something good came of it - I learned how to make fish traps.

Fish I learned early on to be very careful of - and I'm getting there with corals.

 

[Lance M.]

Until I got somewhat experinced, I didnt buy anything without searching on RC first. I still stand in the LFS and look up fish on my phone.


The vendors sites are there to make $$$. Other hobbyist have no stake in the matter and want to see you and the animal prosper in the hobby. We wont lead you astray. Even though sometimes opinions differ.

Yea same here. I don't really trust anyone that is trying to sell me stuff without backing it up with my own research. LFS's are great but they got to make money somehow.

Totoro- It looks like it's doing better. Have you noticed any new growth around the damaged area to the front left?

 

[BadSquishy]

No, no new growth, although I can't really see the left side the way I have him placed. Tomorrow, before the lights come on, I'll rotate him to get a better view.

The ugly brown at the top of the wound area has better colour. I kinda figured if the jelly involved its mouth it was all over, that was my fear anyway.

No new growth, but no new necrosis either. I'll take that...I've never had much luck stopping the brown jelly. Maybe this time will be different.

 

[BlueFaceAngel]

i have had a heliofungia for 3 plus years...its shown new grown, slowly but it grew and kept its color until i moved and it was damaged in the move...

its an easy coral that needs target feeding and needs to be kept clear of sand and other debris....maybe i'm just lucky

 

[BadSquishy]

"its an easy coral that needs target feeding and needs to be kept clear of sand and other debris..."

I only had the green helio for seven months, but my experience with it tends to agree with your observations. For me these are an easy and aggressive feeder, with a broad tolerance of light and current levels. I knew that they didn't ship or move well and that sand-sifters could cause troubles. I'm relieved a bit that yours thrived for so long. Do you think it is just the inevitability of accidental damage that these have a dodgy reputation with many on the forum?

When yours was damaged in the move did it recover?

 

[Lance M.]

Any updates? Has it healed?

 

[Allmost]

with perfect water conditions, they heal, I have one and now after about 4 months its fully recovered.

 

[Wzrdbear]

oooooo......i had this EXACT same thing happen.....except that mine was black with green tips and "drifted" into and tangled with a frogspawn head. It sounds like you are doing this exactly right. I did almost the exact same procedure. Mine didnt have the 2 seprated wounds, just one large one, but it survived and eventually grew back over its skeleton very slowly. From the shots at the end, since it looked very much like mine several days to a week later, i think this ones saved =)

Best luck