mushy hoeksemai skeleton?

[shelburn61]

I recently acquired an A. Hoeksemai frag that RTN'd on me from both the top and bottom. I tried to frag off the dying parts to save it, and I noticed the skeleton seemed very soft and not very dense compared to other acros.

My water quality is very good, and other acros are growing well. I haven't lost a coral in ages which makes me wonder. The parent colony was ocean aquacultured and the owner mentioned it had STN'd a while back, but this had stopped.

Does a mushy skeleton indicate anything? Poor health, low alk, etc. or is this just the nature of a. hoeksemai?

 

[thebicyclecafe]

Ocean aquacultured can be the equivalent of a wild colony so they are not as hardy as true aquacultured ones. Was it shipped to you? Sometimes stuff just stresses and everybody loses things once in a while when they first get them, they just can't take the stress of adjustment sometimes! I am not going to say anything about the skeleton, I don't have enough knowledge in that area to make a recommendation. However, if your other acropora are doing fine then it is likely just that one hoke frag. Sorry to hear about the loss though!

 

[GreshamH]

Ocean aquaculture is called, mariculture. Aquaculture is land based. Sorry, it's a pet peave of mine

Do a search here on RC, if it works for you, and you'll see some threads about this very thing. I've noticed it on several CV Dinar Bali maricultured pieces. I sent Eric B a pic and I posted his response in a thread here.

Here's a pic of the condition in a friends tank:

 

[thereefgeek]

Gresh, I have the same thing happening to my loripes. Mushy, empty sacs of swolen tissue on several of the branches. I'll try to post a pic later.

 

[castorpollux]

i was to understand thats from very fast growth

 

[GreshamH]

You gonna make me dig up the email, aren;t you Castorpollux

This is interesting, because it looks like you have a tissue-skeletal anomaly that has been presented as a type of coral neoplasia that is relatively common in Acroporids

There's been a spat of threads about people worried about it recently. I've seen it for about 3 years now, and it does seem to be getting more common. It doesn't appear to be contegious accoding to Eric, so it may not be a major worry.

Rich, that's it. Was yours a Bali piece?

 

[thereefgeek]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7132142#post7132142 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by GreshamH
Rich, that's it. Was yours a Bali piece?

Got it from Aquatic Gallery middle of last year. It was aquacultured, I know that. Just not sure if it came from Bali.

 

[GreshamH]

AG, gotta be Bali then

 

[shelburn61]

I understand maricultured corals are not as hardy, but I have a few from the same source that have done well. This one was cut from a colony that has been in "captivity" for a few months, and I got it locally so no shipping stress.

The coral looked beautiful and everything looked completely normal. Nothing like Gresham's pic. I never would have noticed except that I tried to frag it and the skeleton seemed very soft and brittle.

 

[GreshamH]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7133831#post7133831 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shelburn61
I understand maricultured corals are not as hardy, but I have a few from the same source that have done well. This one was cut from a colony that has been in "captivity" for a few months, and I got it locally so no shipping stress.

The coral looked beautiful and everything looked completely normal. Nothing like Gresham's pic. I never would have noticed except that I tried to frag it and the skeleton seemed very soft and brittle.

That's a super severe case in my friends tank. Mine is mostly tips swelling up.