scolymia trimming???

[geckoejon]

hello,

i picked up a couple scolymia last week that have seen their better day. figured it would be a fun project and maybe be able to nurse them back to good health. the flash had receded back showing the exoskeleton on both of them. the smaller looks like it had almost 1/2 of the flesh cut out like a slice of pie. when i looked at them originally, there were fish that were dropping shells on them and they were in a high flow area. refer to pic. this is the night i got them. i picked them up, dipped them in bayer and revive, and have them in qt with very light flow and t5's for light.

after 5 days, the larger has opened up nicely! i have even gotten both of them to eat a couple pellets :lolspin: i figured this was a good thing!

the smaller with the wedge missing has extended some as well. where the flesh is missing, it has a lot of the sharp exoskeleton showing.

so... my question is about trimming the exoskeleton. do you think it would be better to trim the part where there is no flesh or leave it? i'm wondering how well it will grow over the sharp knife like disk?

thoughts? experience?

thanks!

 

[ReefRMadness710]

Just take are of them. If ur tank is fine they will be fine lol. I love restoring damaged coral it really lets u kno where ur tank stands as far as quality lol

 

[unkel j]

Don't trim anything. Just leave them be and feed them.
I bought a wedge shaped frag of one with skeleton exposed all around
it and it has grown nicely into a complete circle. They do grow slowly IME
even if fed. I think trying to cut and trim will end up just hurting it. Good luck.

 

[erndog1001]

Here's an excellent thread on rescue corals and he says Yes trim away the dead skeletal parts.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1918483

 

[MechEng99]

Here's an excellent thread on rescue corals and he says Yes trim away the dead skeletal parts.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1918483

Aw, thanks for the shoutout! (And I'm a she...not that it really matters.)

If you're comfortable with trimming the skeleton, you'll get faster healing/growth. (If you've never trimmed a coral skeleton of that size/density, please don't learn on it.) If you aren't comfortable doing this, then it's not worth the risk. Eventually the coral will round out and look completely normal, but it'll just take more time. I've found that if you leave the skeleton intact, the tissue will try to regrow along the same ridges, which slows it down and makes it odd looking for quite some time. If you cut off the skeleton (or at least try to smooth it out), the coral will try to form its natural shape.