Brain coral not doing so great

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Well it's been a few days and the coral looks worse. The entire one side has receded now showing his round skeleton. the other side seems ok but doesnt look like it did either.

At what point do I give up? Is having a dying coral bad to have in the tank? And what do i do with it if it dies, it's not a fish that can be flushed....
 
I leave the skeleton in my tank and usually put it in a place that gsp or zoas can cover it. Have you looked up brown jelly disease? Maybe you could frag off the dieing part and save the rest.
 
Hmm i dont even know where to begin to frag off the alive section. i dont think I'd have the stomach for it either. If it dies it won't nuke my tank?
 
It shouldn't nuke your tank no, I would leave the skeleton in there...my brother was doing some research and found a guy who left his in the tank and a few months later it released baby ones from its center...i dno if thats true at all haha but i always keep mine in there now just in case

Just googled and found this, i copied and pasted but the link is there to read more

Brain coral reproduction? - 3reef Forums
Open Brain Coral

ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION IN TRACHYPHYLLIA.

This report specifically addresses a fascinating observation by the authors of numerous asexually produced daughter colonies of Trachyphyllia in an aquarium specimen not unlike anthocauli in fungiids. In popular literature, anthocauli production has been reported in the family funglidae (Borneman, 2001; Calfo, 2001; Delbeck & Sprung, 1994 veron 1986). Other forms of asexual reproduction have been reported in Trachyphyllia in captivity. Small polyp buds, for example have been observed to form in growth around the base of parent colonies in similar fashion to the budding commonly observed in Caryophyllids (including so-called Bubble, Hammer, Octopus, Torch, and Frogspawn corals). However, the distinct formation of daughter colonies through de-calcification of a parent colony has been scarcely reported non-fungiids. The occurrence seems to be uncommon if only for the fact that aquarists are unlikely to leave the denuded "skeleton" (corallum of the parent colony in plain view for months with the hope of it rising from the dead so to speak.

In the production of anghocauli in fungiids. A seemingly dead, denuded parent may appear to spring back to life from the remant "skeleton" after several to many months of dormancy. Daughter colonies are formed by the decalcifying parent as they bud and grow along the septa. Anthocauli can form on either side of a fungiid, but it remains to be seen if clones in like kind can be produced on the corallum of Trachyphyllia.

STEVEN'S DISCOVERY OF THE DESCRIBED TRACHYPHYLIIA COLONY.

The illustrated Trachyphyllia was in a client's 150 gallon reef aquarium for over three years. On Jan 16th, 2002, it was discovered that at some point in time since the last service call, the Trachyphyllia had been overturned on the sand floor. The most likely cause was a large Coris wrasse. Unfortunately for the coral, no one in residence noticed or cared enough to do anything about the coral's distress. When it was discovered, the coral was righted and an attempt was made to gently vacuum off the necrotic tissue with a slow siphon from 1/4" tubing. Alas, the coral was denuded of apparent tissue, leaving behind only the seemingly dead, white corallum. Service on the aquarium was completed and the "skeleton" was left in the tank. The bare, exposed "skeleton" quickly became prime real estate for nuisance algae, Valonia and Derbesia, probably fueled in large part by the lingering nutrients from the decomposed parent tissue. There was little concern for plague algae at this time, as faith in aggressive protein skimming and water changes would take care of them in short order.

On Feruary 23rd, 2002, during another service call, some flashes of iridescent green were apparent between the algae on the denuded Trachyphyllia corallum. The first thought was that a green Zooantharian Protopalythoa, in the display had spread. Upon further investigation it was observed for the first time that daughter colonies appeared to be springing forth from the septa of the remmant corallum. The event seemed to be very similar to anthocauli production in the fugiids. Without having heard of this reporductive strategy reported before in captive Trachyphyllia, a call to co author and friend, Anthony Calfo, led us in discussion to believe that there was indeed merit in offering a report of this scarcely described reproductive stragegy to the body of popular literature on reef aquariology. The corallum was removed to a better display for dedicated care and photography.

As of April 18th the alga has all but disappeared and a total of 37 baby Trachyphyllia, eleven of which have become apparent since April 1st.

What is most promising about this observation is that the families fungiidae and Trchyphyllidae are distant in Veron's family tree of Scleractinia (Veron, 1986). If both of these coral families are capable of producing anthocauli, then perhaps there are more species in the trade that share this stragegy of asexual reporduction. Some aquarists may be very pleasantly surprised and rewarded for leaving a seemingly dead and denuded scleractinian "skeleton" in an otherwise heathy display with hope for the continuation of life.
 
I'm not sure. i have quad t5's so maybe it was too much light? Or just a bad specimen i guess. I'm still hoping it will bounce back
 
It is possible it will come back. Do you have anything like revive or coral rx to dip it in? Make sure you shake it so it closes before taking out of the water do dip it.
 
I'm not sure. i have quad t5's so maybe it was too much light? Or just a bad specimen i guess. I'm still hoping it will bounce back

It could still bounce back. It takes a while for corals to turn around, and I'm not talking weeks.

I don't think it's too much light - you had it on the sand bed all the time, and that's where it should be. I think like you said, it might've been just been on the downhill slide before you even bought it. Or damaged in shipment to your LFS and the damage didn't reveal itself until later. If it was brown jelly, you'd know it by know because, well... there'd be brown jelly all over it and you'd just be looking at a skeleton by now.

I had a Trachy that somehow got injured - I'm guessing a crab dove off my rockwork and used the Tracy as a trampoline. I crossed my fingers for quite a while hoping it would pull through. But at a certain point, as flesh started disintegrating off the skeleton, it was obvious it wasn't coming back. At that point I pulled it from my tank - no need to drive up nitrates as the tissue decomposed. I think you'll know it when the time comes, but it doesn't sound like it's at that point yet.

Don't beat yourself up too much about it - everyone will lose corals as you add more to your system. Some of it is bad luck, and some of it is just gaining experience on what a healthy specimen looks like to start with. One telltale sign is looking for an obvious lack of coralline algae, or discoloration around the area where the tissue meets the skeleton. If you see a white band of skeleton, that means the coral has had fairly rapid and recent recession and might be a good one to pass up.
 
Believe it or not the fleshy part on the one side seems to be moving back outwards starting to cover the skeleton again. it's by no means in good condition but it does look a bit better. I'll be moving it over to my new 55g soon so i hope he makes the transition well.

thanks very much for sharing. :)
 
I believe it. The picture you posted of it bleached out didn't look that bad. Bleached, yeah... but definitely not on its death bed. As long as it is inflating itself, it's trying to stay with it! It's when it totally deflates, clamping its tissue down tight against its skeleton, for days on end... that's when you start worrying.
 
Actually, he was in much worse shape after that photo. His entire left side was receded all the way back. I'm still hoping for a miracle. I hate losing a living thing. i feel it reflects back on me somehow.
 
Well I definitely think this guy has had it. The flesh on one side is peeling off and the skeleton is showing on the top now.

Can his dying slowly poison my water? he is still in the 29g and I haven't moved all my stuff yet to the 55g. Should I leave him in the 29g for awhile or give it up?
 
Uggg.... that doesn't sound good. Whenever I've had a coral get damaged and I've seen exposed skeleton, things go downhill fast. If tissue is peeling off, it doesn't sound like it's going to recover.

Tough call on what to do. It's always possible that it will not completely die off, but what it will do to your water parameters is always a concern. It won't "poison" your water, but it will be the equivalent of dumping a ton of food in the water - it was/is living tissue and will break down into ammonia just like anything else. So depending on your bacteria population, and how fast it's dieing, it could cause an ammonia spike... at worst. At best, it will just cause an increase in nitrates over the coming weeks.

If you plan on moving everything over to the new tank soon, you might just leave it in there by itself since it can't harm anything else.
 
Thats exactly what i did. Its now in the 29g with just a cuc left. I anticipate selling the 29 soon though, so not sure what I'd do with him then unless he makes a miraculous recovery.

This is my 2nd death, I had a mbuna that swam into a powerhead once and now. :-( I hate this feeling, like I failed.
 
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