tubastrea micrantha Polyp blistering

[R3TR0]

Hello dark siders

Here is my problem, my tubastrea micrantha has developed what i can only call a blister (only 3 polyps) worst one is ringed in red, looked everywhere but cannot find any info on this.... It is 8 month old, the other photo (taken a month ago no blisters) shows usual polyp extension, as you can see there is a reduction.

Water quality is spot on, fed twice daily with PE Mysis and brine shrimp.

 

[WSI2406]

Not too sure what it can be, bit you can see the tissure rescission. Very nice colony. How long has the blister been there? If it's recent, leave it for a few days and investigate again. If you have had it for a while, you may want to cut the section out to avoid any further tissue damage.

 

[R3TR0]

I noticed it around 3 weeks ago, getting bigger, slowly, there is another 2 blisters on the base (would have to frag into 4 bits to accomplish removal) though they are smaller... the blister has not stopped the polyp from feeding.

Also worthy of note there is one young polyp on top of the colany that is showing signs of this ballooning.

I was contemplating taking it out and poping the blister with a pin, looks pressurized (tight).

Yeah it is a loverly colany, I would hate to loose it.

 

[R3TR0]

Well, I will perform the op tomorrow, I will leave any results here for future reference, and info from following weeks progress in the micrantha health.

 

[WSI2406]

Good luck, one tip for fragging is to use a dremal and cut from the back if you can get to it, and cut 90% through and snap off, you will limit any other loose of polyps. Post your pics after..

 

[R3TR0]

Will do, have not had chace to do it today, been to my LFS for supplies.

Not fragging, im just going to see whats under the flesh, could be a tumer could be some parasite, this will be done outside of tank, I will only Frag if I feel I have to, dont want to seperate a 100+ polyp colany if i can help it.

I do have camera ready and scalpel.

 

[R3TR0]

Sorry for the delay in getting back on this, very busy.

Ok the op happened 25th Aug, took my baby out of tank (after polyps closed) and had a 12 ltr bucket of saltwater (at tank temp) ready for soaking after i made cuts, I didn’t want to place straight back in tank (didn’t know what would come out of blisters).

I found a total of 4 blistered polyps and decided only to make incision on 2 of the biggest, what came out was (see pics) a crumbly grit same colour as the skeleton suspended in what may of been saltwater.

I have no real idea what this gunk is but possible ideas are bristle worm has got inside and the gritty substance is from drilling or some sort of decay on the polyp skeleton head see image After-cut.jpg ringed is the main popped blister and the head looks misshapen.

Ideas/comments on what is going on here are welcome.

PS – 2hr-After.jpg is how the coral is now, seems fine, except 1 of the polyps has died other seems fine and no further growth anywhere other than the other 2 polyps I didn’t operate on. Waiting to see if there are any further developments before I operate on the other 2.

EDIT: so you can get an idea of size of substance see attached image size.jpg (dont know why it aint with the thumbs)

 

[WSI2406]

The colony still looks amazing. I love the Black Sun coral. Hopefully the operation was successful and no more loss of polyps.

 

[uhuru]

Looks like liquefactive necrosis which is usually the result of a bacterial infection (sometimes fungal). It would be interesting to look at that and the normal tissue next to it under a microscope to see what type of immune response sun corals have.

 

[uhuru]

double

 

[R3TR0]

The colony still looks amazing. I love the Black Sun coral. Hopefully the operation was successful and no more loss of polyps.

Yeah me too. execept I got home tonight and there is deffenetly some groth on the other 2 polyps (had to turn it around).

 

[R3TR0]

Looks like liquefactive necrosis which is usually the result of a bacterial infection (sometimes fungal). It would be interesting to look at that and the normal tissue next to it under a microscope to see what type of immune response sun corals have.

Thanks for info Uhuru, unfortunately I have no scope, though going on your comments I will give the coral some time and see if it can deal with this without my intervention, being bacterial I feel me cutting open any more of these sacks/boils will probably make it worse.

 

[uhuru]

Actually since you sound like you know what you are doing, I think removing anything that may be infected is your best bet

 

[R3TR0]

Actually since you sound like you know what you are doing, I think removing anything that may be infected is your best bet

That would mean slicing the base off, i am ok doing this but I'll give it a little while... I will update here any further updates on condition.

 

[suta4242]

How is the coral now?

 

[R3TR0]

How is the coral now?

Great, thanks for asking... I should of updated this anyway, so.....

About a week after moving I noticed that there were a few blisters starting on some of the upper branches so I was thinking of fragging, good job i didnt, on a whim I moved him to a heavy flow (must mention that he seemed happy where it was) just to see if there could possibly be some small bacteria build up where he was, after a couple of days they (blisters) all dissapeared, so fingerz crossed.

I will get some images up, but at work atm.

 

[limontee]

I realize these posts are two years old but, since I am trying to save my own Tubastrea micrantha I am curious about the ultimate outcome. And, since I am in a university setting myself, I wonder if a university in your area would have been interested in receiving some frozen samples of the tissues. Sounds like a nice project for a graduate assistant!
Thanks