What are the chances?

[Drewbaby]

So my Tyree blue chalice decide it was going to sting my Tyree ponape birdnest for the first time in 8 months of the two corals being in the exact same spot. Needless to say, the spot that was stung was near the main "trunk" if you will, of the ponape. At first it looked like the small area that got stung would die then eventually regrow. By tonight the dead spot had spread. I have never had this happen, but to avoid further death or total loss of my ponape colony I pulled out a dremel. I tried to cut out all of the dead section an leave what I could that I knew was healthy and living.

There were alot of smaller (1/2") pieces at the tips that I tried to save by mounting them on a piece of rock rubble just in case my colony doesn't make it. So what are my chances the colony will make it?

 

[d3rryc]

Kudos for taking quick action! In my experience, once a problem sets in, birdsnests will RTN in no time if left alone. If you've successfully gotten the dead/dying sections out, the rest should be fine. My pink birdsnest got stung by a stupid wandering red mushroom awhile back, and I had to remove basically the middle third of the colony. However, the rest has recovered beautifully, and now you'd never guess anything was ever wrong with it. Keep an eye on the remaining colony for a few days to make sure that you didn't miss any spots, and you should be in the clear.

 

[Drewbaby]

I had to leave early this morning before the lights came on and didn't have time to check it, but now that I'm back home I'm seeing some spots that I missed. They are on the main part of the colony so when I cut them out I'll have alot of 1-2" branch frags which I really hate to do because my colony will look like a frag garden instead.

I guess I've got some more cutting to do. I'll see how it goes

 

[d3rryc]

If you cluster those 1-2" branches close together, they'll grow into each other and fuse together. In a couple of months, you won't be able to tell it didn't grow that way originally.

 

[Drewbaby]

That's what I ended up doing. I had alot of smaller pieces that were new growth pieces about 1/2" long all mounted on a 1 inch piece of rubble. Then I have 3 larger pieces about 2" with multiple branches mounte on a frag plug and the main piece of what's left which is about a 3rd of the original colony is sitting on my rockwork farther away from the chalice