need advice from "frag managers" for a Stag colony

[DrDNA]

I picked up this nice colony of purple stag on Friday and it has some issues with its base. As far as I remember, it did have this bare spot when I got it. My question is... should I just leave it alone, or frag it? I could probably get several good size frags off of it, but I really like the shape of the colony now....

Pardon my ignorance of SPS corals, but when I was last in reefkeeping, no one kept them, so they are still new to me!

Anyway here are some pics, please give some advice.

Whole colony:

And the area on the base I am concerned about:

 

[funman1]

I'm no frag / coral expert, but if it were me, I'd frag that off and start clean again.

 

[MrMikeB]

I cannot readily tell from the pics, but is the affected area fresh, as in the tissue damage is relatively new? If it does not appear to be spreading I would leave it be and it will begin encrusting over at the base once it gets established. If it is indeed spreading and you see new tissue damage, triage it soon before you lose the whole thing. From the pics, I do not see new bleaching so it might be very well contained.

 

[Justin74]

To me it looks like a result from collection and or something burned it before it got to you, and/or something was growing there that has since been removed. The part that I notice though, looks almost like a tree that's healing from its wound, see how theres a distinctive line where the white and colored flesh meet? If it was an infection, there would be less a distinguishable area such as that. The white would be more blended traveling up, also it would be getting bigger as each day progresses.

It's fine, and would do best to be left alone IMO. BUT, if you ever see something similar, and it's getting nothing but bigger..That's when you hack it above the resessive tissue.

Good luck! That is a beautifull lavendar colony.


-Justin

 

[dots]

Lets start with the safe thing and QT it in a tank without any other SPS for the time being. Where/when did you get it?

Cuz if your speaking of the large white area and not the small white rim, I would say thats grounds for further examination, cuz from the pic does not look like your garden variety RTN if that is what has happened in the last few days. Those brown "spots" are a little concerning to me.

 

[Justin74]

This is key:

As far as I remember, it did have this bare spot when I got it.

If it happened while in your tank, or the orignal bare spot got bigger while in your tank, then there would be issues.

The brown spots on the boneare likely the coralite openings of the skeletal structure and the septa of the corralites are collecting algae and show up like that. A bare bone white skeleton is like a sponge for the stuff.

Again you can see by the growth of the alive tissue as it meets up with the bare spot. If this were bugs, or RSTN it would be a smooth transitition from infected to healthy sections, not forming a lip like it has.

-Justin

 

[dots]

If the large spot is recent, that would get me to look at it closer, but can say either way from my point of view to be certain.

For the non SPSers or new to em......here is a thread about the creepy crawlies we deal with....which is why I err on the safe side........

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=903839

 

[DrDNA]

I think I am going to just watch it closely for the next day or so. If does appear to start spreading (which it hasn't yet), then I am going to take frags and start fresh. Guess I may get a crash course in fragging, I have only watched John at YR do it, but haven't done it myself yet!

This is something I should have noted before I bought it, I know that for sure!

Thanks again for everyone's insights.

 

[MrMikeB]

Jeff,

Fragging is pretty simple. I have a small dremel with a cutting disk and I find a good joint where I can get a clean cut and saw that baby. I would caution the use of any bone cutters, wire cutters, or other scissor like objects. Those items typically will crush the coral until it more or less breaks off. The problem is that you really do not know where it will break or into how many pieces. I have had a couple jump off when they were cut (especially thick stocked SPS) and land on the table/floor and shatter into lots of pieces. Good for giving away free frags - bad for fragging at places you actually want it be cut from.