Severe unstoppable recession in mature brain corals

[Myka]

I'm a seasoned reefer having kept reefs since 1993, and I'm stumped. I have two brain corals that started receding about a year ago after I added an Australian Maze brain coral. I bought the Maze thinking I could save it from the bad recession it was experiencing. The LFS had found some stray voltage and that was blamed for the recession. No biggie I figure. I dipped the Maze in Coral Rx and added it to the reef. I couldn't stop the recession, and lost the Maze entirely a couple weeks later.

About a month later my 4 year old Favia brain started very slowly receding around the entire perimeter. The recession looked a lot like White/Black Band Disease. Aside from the perimeter, the coral was a picture of health.

I used a Dremel with a diamond wheel to trim the Favia back into 1/4" of healthy flesh. This was Jan 14, 2011. I did not dip it in any treatments after trimming.

This action stopped the recession on the Favia for quite some time. A few months later I notice 1/4 of the perimeter is starting to recede again. I also notice a 3 year old Symphyllia coral is starting to recede around its entire perimeter also. The Symphyllia sits right beside the Favia.

An hour ago I removed both of these corals, trimmed the skeleton back into 1/4" of healthy tissue and dipped the corals in Coral Rx. There are two Trachyphyllia on the other side of the tank that are unaffected.

The tank is a 90 gallon SPS dominant reef, with some "prize" LPS that I have had for years. The tank is otherwise healthy aside from a small amount of cyano that pops up every once in awhile.

Calcium 410 ppm (Elos)
Alkalinity 7 dKH (Elos)
Mg 1350-1400 ppm (Salifert)
Nitrate undetectable (Salifert)
Phosphate 0.08 ppm (D-D Merck)
Temp 78-82 F
Salinity 1.025-6
Lighting 2x 250 watt SE Phoenix halides (6 hrs) and 2x54 watt KZ Super Blue (12 hrs)

Has anyone seen this issue before? Any suggestions or help? I would hate to lose these corals.

 

[jdhuyvetter]

taggin along. Having similar problem.

 

[oceanarium]

Does look like it could be WBD, this is considered to be from a combination of bacteria there is not a lot known about cures antibiotics could be an answer. http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2011/06/14/White-band-disease-treatment-Antibiotics/UPI-73741308077267/
Perhaps some kind of antibiotic dip?

I like to get corals showing these signs out the DT if possible to prevent possibility of spreading bad bacteria strains, I have known tanks to harbour bad bacteria strains after an event triggering coral necrosis where new corals added latter succumb.

You are doing the right thing with cutting away infected tissue IMO. You probably want them off the substrate with good water flow all round. If you cut deeper into the coral you might possibly find a black hydrogen sulphide like layer infecting the live tissue from within the centre of the coral its only reaching the outer layer at the thin edges.

 

[Myka]

Thanks for your reply Pete. There were some H2S type smells coming from a couple small spots on the coral, but no visible black. I have definitely been considering an antibiotic dip, but I haven't found much info on that. I will check out this link you provided. I do worry that if it is bacterial related that it will be all but impossible to get rid of it in the reef. Leaving the tank fallow of affected corals may not starve the bacteria out.

 

[oceanarium]

I think its more easily spread by lose bits of necrotic tissue coming in direct contact with other corals, why I suggest treating out side the DT. Heaven forbid an entire tank infection.

Pete

 

[Myka]

Pete, you think this might be spreadable to all other corals?

Now I think of it, when the Symphyllia got infected it was across the tank from the Favia. I moved the Favia beside the Symphyllia after they were both showing symptoms.

 

[Useful_Idiot]

Some of my lps had a similar problem. There was a white ring around them and it was all receded underneath. kinda like mucous that you could blast off with a turkey baster. Acans chalices, blastos. Revive dips stopped it for a week at a time. My problem I believe was overdosing nopox, essentially starving them which it took maybe 6 weeks to figure out so maybe that was why the recession resumed. I do wonder about an infection though But the last dips I did were with iodine and those seemed to have a signifigantly better affect than revive or coral rx. Now that my p04 is recently back in the measureable range, if it comes back again I'm in the same boat as you. Good luck
And it did affect all my lps eventually, some seemed to resist it more than others and didn't get it for 3+ weeks. Some frags took it badly and completely dissolved even with dips (before I tried the iodine).

 

[seapug]

Never had this happen with Favias or Acans I've experienced it in the past with a few Trachys in my tank. All look fine and dandy, then one day they will look shrunken then start losing tissue. A couple times it spread to adjacent brains, but other times it was only the single coral. I've always assumed it was some random bacterial infection.

 

[oceanarium]

Pete, you think this might be spreadable to all other corals?

I hate to suggest the possibility, I always like to be careful myself with coral infections better to be safe than sorry latter. Your corals look pretty healthy certainly not pale like to low a nutrient issue. Plus you have a bit of an issue with Valonia so not likely a totally depleted PO4

I have seen WBD and BBD in the wild and it can be persistent and infectious with otherwise seemingly healthy corals. There was a patch of Turbinaria and Goniopora growing in one of our favourite spots to catch lion fish we called our fishing spot the coral garden it was so nice. Then I noticed a few corals showing WWB in about three years all the corals had become infected and perished one by one. They were seemingly other wise healthy corals. It was a short period of turbidity after a storm that seem to trigger the initial infection of only a few specimens.

I have tried Iodine dips with that type of infection (or similar) with little success cutting away the tissue as you have seems to wok at times in combination with washing with clean seawater and iodine.

There are some antibiotics available for fish treatment it would be interesting to try using these as a coral dip based on the article I linked to.

Pete

 

[ros_sco]

I have had acans that exhibit the same pattern as your Symphyllia that responded to an interceptor treatment. I don't know why it works, but I have reversed recession on acans and favia several times with interceptor. I just recently did two whole tank treatments after dipping two acans and getting a response. I dipped them overnight in interceptor just in a deli container first and saw an improvement the very next day. Two and four weeks later I did the whole tank treatment. So far so good.

 

[Myka]

The Favia and the Symphyllia today look like they receded a bit after the cutting, maybe due to the Coral Rx dip...? I will keep an eye on them and consider a Tropic Marin Coral Cure dip if they don't show growth in the next little while.

Patrick, your description sounds bang on what I'm experiencing.

Pete, there is no lack of nutrients in the reef right now. I had a tank sitter looking after it for 8 months and it nearly crashed, covered in cyano and some hair algae. I am slowly nursing it back to health, but I think the live rock is still leeching nutrients.

Seapug, these corals don't look shrunken as they recede, they look perfectly healthy otherwise.

Scott, this is a very interesting experience you have had! I do have Interceptor on hand. I did treat the reef with Interceptor awhile back, I can't think if that was before or after the receding started. I will back through my notes. What dosage did you use for the overnight baths?

 

[bridun22ajl]

ros- how long are you dipping in interceptor? how stop dose?

 

[ros_sco]

ros- how long are you dipping in interceptor? how stop dose?

I dipped them overnight, probably 9 hours or so. The concentration was just a chunk of a tablet maybe the size of a bb in a 16 oz deli container, about 12 oz of water. (the same concentration I dip acros in) I had just watched a different acan colony wither away after growing from a 4 polyp frag to a 10 polyp colony and then the other two started receding too. I had tried lugols dips, povidone iodine dip, and Revive. I was frustrated to the point of thinking what the heck if they don't make it , they don't make it but I had to try something else. I didn't even aerate it, but like I said, it really was a last ditch effort and was fully planning on just tossing them if they didn't pull out.

The whole tank treatments were a whole large dog 23mg tablet. I estimate my system to be maybe 225 gallons total. The diplay holds 200 gallons, less the rockwork plus 2/3 of my 65 gallon sump. No additional method of clearing the medication other than skimming and my normal 25 gallon water change. I don't re-introduce my hermits until at least 2 weeks after the last dose.