KindCorals
New member
I recently started a thread HERE after I was lucky enough to purchase a rock with two hot pink yuma and a few pups. Within two weeks both pinks developed the dreaded bacterial infection that began spreading throughout my yuma garden. Ciprofloxacin (Cipro) saved me from losing my entire collection!
Time and time again there are accounts that after adding a new Ricordea yuma (especially hot pink) to an existing collection, that the new addition has slimed up from a bacterial infection that eventually spread throughout the collection, killing all Ricordea yuma in the tank. Other write ups I read have concluded that nearly every standard treatment option (Melafix Marine, Iodine, Furan 2 and even some unspecified human antibiotics) has been tried with no success.
It was suggested by el_pinguino, to look to antibiotics as other RC Members had been successfully treating sick Gigantea Carpet Anemones with Cipro This is a broad spectrum antibiotic with promising results. Cipro was ideal for the following reasons:
"¢ It is readily available in the US or available from a vet with a prescription
"¢ It dissolves easily in water
"¢ When administered in water, light breaks Cipro down rapidly (half life of about one and a half hours as evidenced HERE)*
*Please expose treated water that is to be discarded to several hours of light before discarding to keep active antibiotics from entering the water system and potentially contributing to antibiotic resistant bacteria.
**DO NOT DOSE CIPRO IN ANY TANK OTHER THAN A HOSPITAL TANK AS IT WILL DESTROY THE BACTERIA THAT MAKE UP YOUR BIOLOGICAL FILTRATION**
How am I sure this treatment works?
At best, this treatment has cured an infected (orange rimmed blue) Yuma in the early to middle stages of infection but at the very least, it has successfully halted the movement from infected yuma to healthy yuma in the same five gallon tank.
All of my yuma were exposed to the infection in the display tank. Two new pink yuma and two established yuma perished as a result of the infection before the rest of the Ricordea were moved to the hospital tank. The orange rim blue yuma was showing the early stages of infection and was separated from its pups. The foot of this one was damaged in the process but left in the display for several days before moving for treatment. After it was handled, the slime was brown, not white, so it appeared to be infected with a foot injury to boot.
My favorite, healthy yuma, were moved to a hospital tank and two days later Cipro treatment began.
The rest of the collection was moved to the same hospital tank approximately 10 days later and treatment continued. A few days later a green with pink base Yuma became contracted, the blue orange yuma remained contracted and these two were moved to a separate container within the hospital tank with some treated water added every night. The dosage was probably not enough and the green with pink base got worse, showed some slime, and perished. Once the slime appeared on the green yuma, the orange/blue yuma was returned to the main hospital tank. It was still partially contracted but looked slightly better.
Ten more days of diligent nightly dosing later, all of the remaining yuma looked normal and healthy once again. They have all been in the new, un-treated, tank for nine days now with no signs of re-infection.
Identify the infection
First signs of infection "“ A fully expanded and healthy looking Yuma will contract and stay contracted from that day forward. ALL of my infected yuma did this. They all remained completely contracted for approximately three to five days before showing secondary signs of infection.
*Please note that contraction and expansion is normal with Ricordea and you should not start treating with Cipro at the first sign of contraction. Many of my yuma repeatedly contracted and expanded for a few months before they finally settled into their new homes. The difference that I noticed was that an infected yuma stayed in a constant state of contraction for several days before the infection progressed. Below are pictures of the same pink yuma contracted and expanded for comparison.
Secondary infection "“ After staying contracted for three to five days, the infected yuma began secreting a stringy, brown slime. In the midst of transferring my collection to the hospital tank, many of the yuma slimed up as expected upon handling. Normal slime is a white color, and they all had some white slime present except for my blue/orange yuma which was contracted. The blue/orange yuma had a brown secretion which is what lead me to believe it was infected.
Brown slime is just starting to be excreted from the edges of this pink yuma:
Final stages of infection "“ The yuma will display copious amounts of globular brown slime along its outermost edges, on the base or around the mouth. The "˜hole in the mouth' that has been observed by others with infected Ricordea may now be visible; a Yuma at this stage is likely lost. I did not have another tank to try and properly treat a yuma in this late stage of infection.
Most of the brown slime had been removed from these pink yuma in hopes that keeping the Ricordea clean would allow it to heal and recover; however, they were both lost.
Treatment
Not long after the first pink yuma had entered the later stages of infection, the second pink yuma became infected. Just before the second pink yuma was completely gone, a green and purple yuma that had been in my tank for 8+ months also became infected. A few days later, another green yuma of 6+ months became infected. At this point I decided to remove all remaining Ricordea from the display tank and start treating them with Cipro.
I acclimated as normal into a hospital tank ensuring NONE of the display tank water was transferred. I rinsed all Ricordea with hospital tank water again before adding to the hospital tank.
Every night when the lights turned off, I used a dosage of approximately one 250mg tablet of Cipro per ten gallons (~forty litres) of hospital tank water. I used one half of a 250mg tablet for five gallons (~ twenty litres) of water. You can hold the tablet in front of a power head or add to a small container of hospital tank water and let it dissolve for a few minutes. I chose the latter and crushed up any remaining pieces that didn't completely dissolve the best I could. Then, I poured it in front of a power head to distribute the antibiotic throughout the tank. There was always undissolved residue that eventually started to accumulate on the rocks and other surfaces of the hospital tank. I did not notice any adverse effects from this. As this antibiotic will break down with exposure to light, I dosed when the lights were out and I turned off all other lights in the room. You could easily cover the hospital tank with a heavy blanket to ensure it is dark when treating to give the medication as long as possible to do its job.
**I did all water changes and tank transfers several hours into the light cycle in an attempt to break down the antibiotic as much as possible before discarding.**
I did a fifty percent water change every two to three days in the beginning but stopped after three water changes since I was not feeding the tank and nothing was decaying. My girlfriends mother is a pharmacist and recommended that I transfer the Ricordea to another hospital tank because bacteria can create a film on the inside of the tank and remain present in the water. This sounded like a good idea just in case the bacteria I was trying to eliminate was still present and growing in the current tank. After two weeks of treatment, I transferred all of the Ricordea to a new hospital tank, again taking care to ensure none of the original water went into the new hospital tank. I cleaned the original tank with vinegar and transferred all of the Ricordea back to the original tank two weeks later.
I made the mistake of adding the blue/orange Ricordea, that was exposed to an infected yuma, back to the hospital tank because I didn't have enough heaters to start another hospital tank. That makes me more confident in the treatment since none of the remaining yuma became infected.
I dosed the hospital tank with the surviving Ricordea for another ten days after the blue/orange Ricordea was added back.
My girlfriends mother suggested treating the Ricordea for two to four weeks to kill as much of the bacteria as possible but this was just and educated suggestion. Some of my Ricordea were in the hospital tank, with nightly dosing, for five weeks and the blue/orange Ricordea only had ten days of 'full strength' dosing after being exposed to an infected Ricordea.
It has been nine days since all Ricordea have been in the new, untreated, tank with no signs of infection.
Quarantine New Ricordea
Ricordea do not take up much space and are fairly hardy if given "˜good' conditions so why not setup a basic quarantine tank and observe them for four weeks? They only need a small tank with a heater, power head and a bit of light(a large CFL would probably work for four weeks). Is it really worth the risk of losing your $1000+ Ricordea garden because you did not want to spend $30-40 on a quarantine setup? I will never add a new Ricordea to my established garden without a proper quarantine again!
Here is the orange rimmed blue Ricordea and my first and largest Ricordea now:
Conclusion
"¢ I realize that is has only been nineteen days since the last sign of infection but once the infection started, a new yuma would begin showing symptoms every four to five days so this is a good sign.
"¢ There were no noticeable negative effects of a long treatment (five weeks) other than the white residue collecting on the rocks.
"¢ I was not able to determine if this treatment would save a Ricordea that was showing considerable brown slime and tissue damage but it did help a wounded and infected Ricordea make a complete recovery instead of progressing into the further stages of infection and likely death.
"¢ I have no idea of how long a bacterial strain like this will survive in the display tank without any Ricordea to infect.
"¢ Photo acclimation may have been a factor that contributed to the initial infection of my new pink yuma but I was told they were at the LFS for three weeks and they were about two thirds of the way down in a tank growing sps when I purchased them. I placed them on the bottom of my tank, about two feet from my leds and they are only turned up to about twenty-five percent. Either way, the infection did spread to healthy yuma that had been settled for many months.
"¢ Please quarantine all new Ricordea for at least four weeks just to make sure they aren't infected.
"¢ With the exception of the two new hot pink Ricordea and a few green/purple Ricordea, my collection is alive and well. One of the hot pink pups is just starting to develop some bright color so I consider this a huge success after all the other horror stories I have read.
Good luck and save those Ricordea!
Time and time again there are accounts that after adding a new Ricordea yuma (especially hot pink) to an existing collection, that the new addition has slimed up from a bacterial infection that eventually spread throughout the collection, killing all Ricordea yuma in the tank. Other write ups I read have concluded that nearly every standard treatment option (Melafix Marine, Iodine, Furan 2 and even some unspecified human antibiotics) has been tried with no success.
It was suggested by el_pinguino, to look to antibiotics as other RC Members had been successfully treating sick Gigantea Carpet Anemones with Cipro This is a broad spectrum antibiotic with promising results. Cipro was ideal for the following reasons:
"¢ It is readily available in the US or available from a vet with a prescription
"¢ It dissolves easily in water
"¢ When administered in water, light breaks Cipro down rapidly (half life of about one and a half hours as evidenced HERE)*
*Please expose treated water that is to be discarded to several hours of light before discarding to keep active antibiotics from entering the water system and potentially contributing to antibiotic resistant bacteria.
**DO NOT DOSE CIPRO IN ANY TANK OTHER THAN A HOSPITAL TANK AS IT WILL DESTROY THE BACTERIA THAT MAKE UP YOUR BIOLOGICAL FILTRATION**
How am I sure this treatment works?
At best, this treatment has cured an infected (orange rimmed blue) Yuma in the early to middle stages of infection but at the very least, it has successfully halted the movement from infected yuma to healthy yuma in the same five gallon tank.
All of my yuma were exposed to the infection in the display tank. Two new pink yuma and two established yuma perished as a result of the infection before the rest of the Ricordea were moved to the hospital tank. The orange rim blue yuma was showing the early stages of infection and was separated from its pups. The foot of this one was damaged in the process but left in the display for several days before moving for treatment. After it was handled, the slime was brown, not white, so it appeared to be infected with a foot injury to boot.
My favorite, healthy yuma, were moved to a hospital tank and two days later Cipro treatment began.
The rest of the collection was moved to the same hospital tank approximately 10 days later and treatment continued. A few days later a green with pink base Yuma became contracted, the blue orange yuma remained contracted and these two were moved to a separate container within the hospital tank with some treated water added every night. The dosage was probably not enough and the green with pink base got worse, showed some slime, and perished. Once the slime appeared on the green yuma, the orange/blue yuma was returned to the main hospital tank. It was still partially contracted but looked slightly better.
Ten more days of diligent nightly dosing later, all of the remaining yuma looked normal and healthy once again. They have all been in the new, un-treated, tank for nine days now with no signs of re-infection.
Identify the infection
First signs of infection "“ A fully expanded and healthy looking Yuma will contract and stay contracted from that day forward. ALL of my infected yuma did this. They all remained completely contracted for approximately three to five days before showing secondary signs of infection.
*Please note that contraction and expansion is normal with Ricordea and you should not start treating with Cipro at the first sign of contraction. Many of my yuma repeatedly contracted and expanded for a few months before they finally settled into their new homes. The difference that I noticed was that an infected yuma stayed in a constant state of contraction for several days before the infection progressed. Below are pictures of the same pink yuma contracted and expanded for comparison.
Secondary infection "“ After staying contracted for three to five days, the infected yuma began secreting a stringy, brown slime. In the midst of transferring my collection to the hospital tank, many of the yuma slimed up as expected upon handling. Normal slime is a white color, and they all had some white slime present except for my blue/orange yuma which was contracted. The blue/orange yuma had a brown secretion which is what lead me to believe it was infected.
Brown slime is just starting to be excreted from the edges of this pink yuma:
Final stages of infection "“ The yuma will display copious amounts of globular brown slime along its outermost edges, on the base or around the mouth. The "˜hole in the mouth' that has been observed by others with infected Ricordea may now be visible; a Yuma at this stage is likely lost. I did not have another tank to try and properly treat a yuma in this late stage of infection.
Most of the brown slime had been removed from these pink yuma in hopes that keeping the Ricordea clean would allow it to heal and recover; however, they were both lost.
Treatment
Not long after the first pink yuma had entered the later stages of infection, the second pink yuma became infected. Just before the second pink yuma was completely gone, a green and purple yuma that had been in my tank for 8+ months also became infected. A few days later, another green yuma of 6+ months became infected. At this point I decided to remove all remaining Ricordea from the display tank and start treating them with Cipro.
I acclimated as normal into a hospital tank ensuring NONE of the display tank water was transferred. I rinsed all Ricordea with hospital tank water again before adding to the hospital tank.
Every night when the lights turned off, I used a dosage of approximately one 250mg tablet of Cipro per ten gallons (~forty litres) of hospital tank water. I used one half of a 250mg tablet for five gallons (~ twenty litres) of water. You can hold the tablet in front of a power head or add to a small container of hospital tank water and let it dissolve for a few minutes. I chose the latter and crushed up any remaining pieces that didn't completely dissolve the best I could. Then, I poured it in front of a power head to distribute the antibiotic throughout the tank. There was always undissolved residue that eventually started to accumulate on the rocks and other surfaces of the hospital tank. I did not notice any adverse effects from this. As this antibiotic will break down with exposure to light, I dosed when the lights were out and I turned off all other lights in the room. You could easily cover the hospital tank with a heavy blanket to ensure it is dark when treating to give the medication as long as possible to do its job.
**I did all water changes and tank transfers several hours into the light cycle in an attempt to break down the antibiotic as much as possible before discarding.**
I did a fifty percent water change every two to three days in the beginning but stopped after three water changes since I was not feeding the tank and nothing was decaying. My girlfriends mother is a pharmacist and recommended that I transfer the Ricordea to another hospital tank because bacteria can create a film on the inside of the tank and remain present in the water. This sounded like a good idea just in case the bacteria I was trying to eliminate was still present and growing in the current tank. After two weeks of treatment, I transferred all of the Ricordea to a new hospital tank, again taking care to ensure none of the original water went into the new hospital tank. I cleaned the original tank with vinegar and transferred all of the Ricordea back to the original tank two weeks later.
I made the mistake of adding the blue/orange Ricordea, that was exposed to an infected yuma, back to the hospital tank because I didn't have enough heaters to start another hospital tank. That makes me more confident in the treatment since none of the remaining yuma became infected.
I dosed the hospital tank with the surviving Ricordea for another ten days after the blue/orange Ricordea was added back.
My girlfriends mother suggested treating the Ricordea for two to four weeks to kill as much of the bacteria as possible but this was just and educated suggestion. Some of my Ricordea were in the hospital tank, with nightly dosing, for five weeks and the blue/orange Ricordea only had ten days of 'full strength' dosing after being exposed to an infected Ricordea.
It has been nine days since all Ricordea have been in the new, untreated, tank with no signs of infection.
Quarantine New Ricordea
Ricordea do not take up much space and are fairly hardy if given "˜good' conditions so why not setup a basic quarantine tank and observe them for four weeks? They only need a small tank with a heater, power head and a bit of light(a large CFL would probably work for four weeks). Is it really worth the risk of losing your $1000+ Ricordea garden because you did not want to spend $30-40 on a quarantine setup? I will never add a new Ricordea to my established garden without a proper quarantine again!
Here is the orange rimmed blue Ricordea and my first and largest Ricordea now:
Conclusion
"¢ I realize that is has only been nineteen days since the last sign of infection but once the infection started, a new yuma would begin showing symptoms every four to five days so this is a good sign.
"¢ There were no noticeable negative effects of a long treatment (five weeks) other than the white residue collecting on the rocks.
"¢ I was not able to determine if this treatment would save a Ricordea that was showing considerable brown slime and tissue damage but it did help a wounded and infected Ricordea make a complete recovery instead of progressing into the further stages of infection and likely death.
"¢ I have no idea of how long a bacterial strain like this will survive in the display tank without any Ricordea to infect.
"¢ Photo acclimation may have been a factor that contributed to the initial infection of my new pink yuma but I was told they were at the LFS for three weeks and they were about two thirds of the way down in a tank growing sps when I purchased them. I placed them on the bottom of my tank, about two feet from my leds and they are only turned up to about twenty-five percent. Either way, the infection did spread to healthy yuma that had been settled for many months.
"¢ Please quarantine all new Ricordea for at least four weeks just to make sure they aren't infected.
"¢ With the exception of the two new hot pink Ricordea and a few green/purple Ricordea, my collection is alive and well. One of the hot pink pups is just starting to develop some bright color so I consider this a huge success after all the other horror stories I have read.
Good luck and save those Ricordea!
