Nepthea Under Attack

[radiata]

I have three varieties of green nepthea in one of my systems. One is neon green, one is less green and the other only slightly green. The last one has the odd habit of staining your fingers black if you don't wear gloves when fragging it. I think all three originated in Palau, and I'd bet money they all have the same DNA - just different strains of zooxanthellae.

Three days ago the neon one started turning black on the frills. It was worse two days ago and I tried to frag it. I removed three stems that didn't appear damaged, but the frags didn't make it and I wrote the mother piece off today. Today I also noticed it had spread to the other two neptheas. I gave them both a 7 minute dip in Kent's Tech-D. One is looking a little better.

Anyone care to diagnose this and suggest a cure? Anyone know if it will go after any of my other softies?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[SKremk]

Were the black parts soft and mushy? I had a few sinularias do this a few years ago. I tried dips as well, but lost them both. I'm not sure what causes it. I hadn't added anything for a while when it occurred, and I had other sinularias and softies that weren't affected.

 

[mark728]

Do you have any pics ,and what is you alk,mag,cal,salinity.

 

[skimmerman100]

put it in high flow where it is turbulent and just use iodine dips the first day use 15 drops of expert series lugol in 5 gallon bucket and leave in there for 4 minutes then wash it off in coral revive and put back in tank

 

[radiata]

Many thanks for your replies. This evening I followed skimmerman100 suggestions and used a Lugol's bath and a 2LF ReVive rinse on the two remaining specimens.

I had to go out and buy both products. When I checked with someone I trust at Aquatic Visions (Hanover, NJ) he said that his only encounters with a nepthea turning black had occurred when the water it was in became too warm. (Not my problem.) I also checked with two people I trust at Absolutely Fish (Clifton, NJ). They have had a very large neon green nepthea for many years now (a good 8 to 10) and have been selling large frags (10+ inches) for 2 to 3 hundred dollars each. They currently have a number of 1.5 inch mounted frags available for $80 each. (I have reason to believe that they are the origin of the belief that this specimen is no longer available in the wild.)

Absolutely Fish suggested I follow skimmerman100's Lugol and ReVive treatment. They have had occasional random outbreaks of the black stuff, and have only been partialy successful in treating it. They think it is probably bacterial, and they also suggested adding Lugol's to the system to handle any remaining bacteria.

Anyone have any reasons why I shouldn't add 1 drop of Lugol's per 25g? I'm nervous about my Xenia - I have 5 or 6 dfferent Xenias in the system and am concerned about any possible effect of Lugol's on them.

Thanks again,
Bob

 

[lancer99]

Re: Nepthea Under Attack

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15205527#post15205527 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by radiata
I have three varieties of green nepthea in one of my systems. ...I'd bet money they all have the same DNA - just different strains of zooxanthellae.

What would make you believe that...did you do DNA and zooxanthellae analyses of them?

Iodine is unlikely to make any difference, based on mine (any many others') experiences.

You probably just need more flow.

Bravo that you can sell frags for that amount of money...there's one born every minute.

-R

 

[radiata]

Re: Re: Nepthea Under Attack

Re: Re: Nepthea Under Attack

What would make you believe that...did you do DNA and zooxanthellae analyses of them?

Iodine is unlikely to make any difference, based on mine (any many others') experiences.

You probably just need more flow.

Bravo that you can sell frags for that amount of money...there's one born every minute.

-R

-R,

All three neptheas appear to have the same structure, just different coloration of green. All three apparently originated in Palau. The light green one is making the fragging rounds here in NJ and is the same color as the Absolute Fish specimen. The middle green one came from a frag that came from someone who got one of the original AF specimens way back when they were known as Aqua Tropics. The darker specimen came from a frag donated by Greg Hiller when he gave a fragging demo at an NJRC meeting a few years back. Greg reported that it had come from Palau.

The Hiller specimen may be different than the other two. It gives off something that stains your fingers black if you don't wear gloves when you frag them. (I've had to use bleach to get it off my fingers.) I don't have enough fragging experience with other two to know if they also do this.

Charlie Vernon made some interesting discoveries on stoney coral DNA. I recollect I heard him speak at the Baltimore MACNA. He's found corals of different colors, different shapes, coming from different depths a thousand miles away from each other, that had the same DNA. Go figgure...

Thanks for the input,
Bob

 

[mark728]

Hi guys I have some nepthea pics ,1st is a pic from the web of Greg Hiller's nepthea,2nd is a pic from a reef magazine of Absolutely Fish's original nephthea going back to aqua tropics days ,Pat and Todd over at AF have 2 different types of nepthea in that show tank the old one the darker type which is very rare and very few get the chance to buy frags of that one ,then he has a lighter green nepthea which is what they usually sell ,the 3rd pic is a frag I have of the ordinal AF nepthea the dark one which will stain your fingers ,the 4th and 5th and 6th pics are of my nepthea full grown from AF .I also have some from Garf which is lighter ,and It's been going around the hobby for many years I 1st heard of it on the web about this being extinct in the wild ,some of the guys at AF were telling me that that was not true,but I'm sure it did not start with AF . JUST MY 2 CENTS

SOME OF THE LIGHTER NEPTHEA

GARF

 

[radiata]

Attack Update

Attack Update

mark728 ,

Thanks for the information and pictures. I've never noticed two different nepthea colors in the AF show tank, but I've never looked very hard either. I will next time I go. This does explain why I would apparently have two of their specimens and have them be different as to coloration.

The original darker AF specimen may have survived the attack. After the dip, wash and scraping, it no longer appears to have any necrosis. The three pieces on the rock all came off and the pieces are shrunken and less than half the size they were two weeks ago. I've moved them to a separate quarantine system, and my feeling just a little bit optimistic.

As for the Hiller specimen...


skimmerman100 ,

The Hiller nepthea still has necrotic tissue on it, and I noticed a few bristle worms have moved it. Any suggestions on repeating your Lugol dip/ReVive wash regimen?

Fortunately I have another piece of the Hiller specimen in another system that is unaffected. So, I won't feel as bummed out about losing it as I will if I lose the darker AF specimen.

I'm also lucky with the lighter AF specimen. Three weeks ago I gave away a nice established 3" piece to another NJRC member, and the NJRC source of my original cutting still has his.

Thanks again,
Bob D.

 

[skimmerman100]

well the reason i recomended you to do that is because about 1 or 2 months ago i aquired a piece from mark(lucky me) and it got the plague. i did do the lugol dips 2 and the revive dip 2 and it all went away. but you also have to put it on a medium to high flow. the lugols you can do 7 to 10 days after the first. i got mine back to life and it has began to grow alot more than before. but like mark asked what are your perameters? that will play a major role in getting it to come back to its original state.

and mark728 how do you keep your sand so clean and white. just wondering it looks nice!!

 

[mark728]

I have 2 sand sifting gobies = white sand!

 

[skimmerman100]

cool gonna get me some. hey mark728 im gonna email you pics of my tank.
radiata keep taking care of it and maybe some spot feeding with rotifers or some phytoplex will help too. . i spot feed mine and see that they grow a little faster. if you see theres no improvement get a scissor and start cutting the good pieces and place it in a container with sand in it and dip it in the sand the mucus pics up the sand and covers the fresh cut which prevents infection and the plague tothe newly fragged pieceslet them heal for a week, and when you see that the sand stuck to them itll make it easyer to glue it to a rock with out having to pinch it between rocks to get it to stick.

 

[STLmatt]

wow...the 5th and last pic look great. I had a frag that looked like that. it doubled in size pretty quick. sadly i lost it in the summer a year ago when the ac went out

 

[sdreefsurf]

my bright green nepthea has had a couple "fingers" turn black at their tips......i dipped today in lugals for 15 mins. and moved off to the side. so far it's extended itself and opened up more than it has the last couple weeks. so we'll see if the black issue stops too.