Sickly Frag

[CoralCaper]

Hello everyone. I just picked up a frag of an orange Montiporo Capricornis (whorling Montipora) and he's looking a little rough. I got him late, and decided to place him somewhere calm in the tank and leave him unattached over night. Unfortunately in the process of doing a little rearranging he slid off his perch and landed on a new Montipora Digita (velvet coral) frag. When I finally rescued him and returned him to someplace more secure, he was partially covered by a greyish brown slime. Then when I woke up this morn, I discovered he is now completely covered in the slime. Can't see any orange at all. Is this from touching the other coral? Is it just because he is unhappy? Help!

 

[reefrunner69]

need a pic, but it sounds like brown jelly infection, if it has totally consumed the frag, then the frag is not rough, it is dead.

It was most likely caused by the injury and stress of being unsecured. Opportunistic protozoans infested the coral and consumed the flesh. It is important to remove the jelly from the tank and keep it from settling on your other corals.

 

[ReefLady]

I agree with Kevin. Between the stress of transport, new tank placement/acclimation, and falling into the other coral - it has likely stressed the coral to the point of succumbing to a fatal brown jelly infection.

What I would do is this. Remove the frag from the tank to a small bowl of tank water. Gently shake the coral in the bowl of tank water until all of the jelly/slime is removed. Is there any coral tissue (orange coloration) remaining? If yes, it has a chance, if totally bleached - it's a goner.

If it has some tissue remaining, I would attempt a Tech-D dip (Kent product). I would then place it securely in the tank in a moderate current. Don't try to place it where there is no current - it needs decent waterflow to wash potential "slime" and algae off of it's tissue.

Good luck!