brain coral in trouble....help!

[newfound77951]

I just got a brain coral on Sunday, I think it is a Platygyra or something similar. Drip acclimated for 1.5 hours, it is under very similar lighting (T5) as at the LFS. When I put it in the tank I noticed one edge had no tissue, but I thought it might have been where it was touching another piece of rock in the LFS tank. Now, 4 days later, the dead area is spreading up the coral, a few mm each day, and another area on the other side looks like it is either bleaching or starting to die as well. The coral has had its polyps extended regularly. The tank it was in at the LFS had some soft corals, and my tank does too, I know soft corals can produce toxins that bother stony corals but I thought it was more towards SPS corals. Any ideas? What should I do? The LFS that I got it from isn't so "L", it's in NH, so bringing it back is probably not an option.

Pic isn't great but the area affected is the far edge on the left side. The highest point on the close side is now starting to fade.

 

[Devilishturtles]

The loss of color (the orangish part) doesn't concern me as much as the bleaching. My guess is that the coral is adapating to your lighting changes and that is why it went a little orange on you. It should color back up. Hopefully!

The bleached part on the left, I would get a dremel and a diamond cut wheel and frag off the infected area. Otherwise it may or may not just continue to keep spreading.

Beautiful coral, btw.

 

[melosu58]

How about some water test results. That will help. Make sure it is on the sand. If the brain is touching the rock then you`ll see some tissue recession. As I said earlier post your water parameters.

 

[newfound77951]

Will post tomorrow. It is on the sand completely but was not at the LFS, maybe that was part of the problem?

It is beautiful, I really don't want to lose it!

 

[melosu58]

but was not at the LFS, maybe that was part of the problem?

It is beautiful, I really don't want to lose it!

It is beautiful. I believe your LFS was part of the problem on his placement. But yes post tomorrow and lets make sure there is no stress factors in there.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

If the brain is touching the rock then you`ll see some tissue recession.

I've got a flat Platygrya similar to this, and I placed the flat rock it was encrusted on, onto a flat shelf of my rock work. It's been 3 months or so (at least) and it's overgrown off it's original rock and is now encrusting my rock nicely. Why would touching rock be bad? It doesn't expand that much.

(Here's the location I'm talking about - in the front, it's now bridged that gap and is growing nicely onto my rock work)

 

[melosu58]

http://www.reefcorner.com/SpecimenSheets/open_brain_coral.htm

http://www.centralpets.com/animals/fish/saltwater_inverts/swi1689.html

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/trachyphlliidae.htm

These are just some sites that have brain corals even though they are not the same type but all of them say being on the substrate except one said a flat rock piece also is OK. I`ll have to look where I saw that article that said they cannot touch Rock and the recession issues. We have had others if you want to do a search that had brain coral issues and when they put it on the substrate it was OK.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Not to sound nitpicky, but I think the substrate rule only applies to the fleshy open brain corals (trachyphyllia, lobophyllia, symphyllia, etc.). Closed brains (favites, favia, platygyra, etc.) don't really have a fleshy part, just feeding tentacles on the insides of the polyps. That's not to say that it can't be damaged from being abraised by other pieces of rock, but I don't think placement is too big of an issues with closed brains. All the pictures I've seen of them have them growing on the rocks as well.

Regardless, newfound, I'd not hesitate to frag that damaged section off asap if you see it spreading. Tissue necrosis can happen fast in flat stony corals like that. As for the color, like I said earlier, I wouldn't really worry about it too much just yet.

Anyways, water test results might help, but the damage might have also happened way before you got the coral and you are just now having to deal with it.

Best of luck!

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Thanks for the links Mike. Only reason I asked was because, well... I obviously have mine touching the rock and was thinking that while it seems to be doing just fine now, maybe that won't be the case down the road.

I'll dig around for some more info on platygyra placement, but my line of thinking has been along the lines of Devilishturtles... the substrate rule applies to the fleshy corals that really expand, and the constant expansion/contraction will irritate the flesh when it rubs on the rock. Whereas on sand, it just kind of glides along. Like fungias... those things get huge and leave a visible "dent" in the sand when it closes up after a big expansion. But the platygyras only really "expand" from the centers of the valleys, from what I've seen. But hey... I'm just trying to learn like everyone else, so that's why I raised the question to start with!

 

[melosu58]

You might be right Lindsay. That was a quick look up and it was the fleshy ones. I`ll check out the others today. No problem with asking Kurt. Ill get back on this.

 

[Innovator]

You can try crazy glue or zap gel around the edges and see if that helps stop the progression along with directing flow towards the area; otherwise, eventual cutting will be in order. As a side note, Platygyra should be placed within the liverock to prevent sediments from layering the tissue and usually appreciate lower light levels along with moderate flow.

 

[newfound77951]

OK, here are test results:

pH 8.0-8.2 (depending on which test I trust more)
NO2: 0
NO3: 0
NH3: 0
PO4: 0
SG: 1.024

I don't have a dremel, but I can probably borrow one.....exactly how do I do this? do I remove just the dead part or go into the live part a little?? I've never done this and am scared!

 

[Devilishturtles]

Try what Innovator mentioned first and see if that works before using the dremel. You could probably use some sort of bone shears as well but I think the cut would be sort of erratic maybe.

If you do have to use the dremel then just cut as smooth as possible in the way that you mentioned. The coral should suffer no harm from it, and try not to be too scared. HTH!

 

[newfound77951]

OK, I'll try giving it a little more flow (it's not getting much where it is) and see what happens before I break out the power tools. I just talked to one of my lab mates who just did a major coral fragging and transplanting trip in the Caymans (artifical reef building)....he suggested giving the coral a dip in a very dilute Lugol's solution (apparently that's what they did to all the fragged corals before attaching them). Any ideas on that?

 

[Innovator]

This is a newly aquired coral for you and many Platygyra's undergo some type of bleaching or tissue recession due to stress. Normally I could recommend a Lugol's dip at low concentrations when first introducing the coral into a display, but this coral has been in your tank trying to adjust for about a week already and considering Lugols is such a strong chemical, even at low doses for some coral, I wouldn't want to further stress the specimen. I would consider Lugols as one of your last efforts to save the colony at this point in time. Try the more forgiving options first.

 

[Devilishturtles]

I agree with Innovator. Lugols dips work well if there is nothing else to try, but not all corals recover from it.

 

[newfound77951]

Good to know....thanks for all the info!! At least I have plenty of Lugol's around if I do end up needing it....one of the advantages of working in a lab!