Has your bubble coral (or, insert similar LPS) recovered from tissue recession?

[Newreeflady]

It'd be great to hear suggestions from those who have brought back these guys after some recession occurred.

I have a green bubble coral that I got with an online order that looked great when it got here (I don't remember any recession.) Anyhow, in short, there is recession now. Not sure when it started, because with its prior placement I couldn't see the base.

The base has no algal growth, but the radiating large sections, which also show recession, do have some microalgal growth. I'll try to grab a picture when the light is on tomorrow.

I'm figuring I probably should have been feeding this guy as well. I just went ahead and fed it and I can really see the recession now. It also just released a large chunk of food (Rod's food). Guess I'll try again tomorrow with plain mysis.

Just checked and alkalinity and calcium seem in order.

Other suggests?

[crsaz]

low flow. I've seen bubbles come back from 2 or 3 bubbles and half a mouth. now it's 3-4 inches around(half the size it was before it receeded)

[Lockhartia]

My bubble eats like a pig, so I would def try feeding it. Mine will eat whole cubes of (still frozen!) mysis. It's also eaten a cardinalfish.

Take a good, close look at the base of the bubble, where the flesh meets the skeleton. I noticed when I was managing a LFS that a lot of the green bubbles came in with, what I swore to be, pyramid snails on them. I treated them the same way one would with a clam, took a toothbrush and gently brushed what I could away. I used tweezers to pick out the rest.

Also, try an iodine/coral disinfectant dip. My white bubble suddenly started to receed last year, and when I dipped it, a huge bristleworm came crawling out! It was living inside the base of the bubble in a hole! After it's eradication, the bubble expanded again and all signs of recession stopped.

Good luck!

[Newreeflady]

The flow may be too high. I will try to build more barriers around it, thanks crsaz.

Lockhartia, I will look for them. Do you know if they are visible to the naked eye? How many mm am I looking for?

I think I'll dip it. Is Tropic Marin pro coral cure good for this? I did not use it on arrival, perhaps I should have:/

Thanks so much!
-A

[Lockhartia]

They are visable to the eye, the ones I saw were say, around 5mm or so. I would find them in little clusters, maybe 5-6 in a cluster, just where the flesh of the bubble joined with the skeleton. They tended to hide in the troughs or the skeleton ridges.

I myself use seachem reef dip, but I don't see why Coral Cure wouldn't work. Most of that stuff is just iodine anyway. I dip all my newcomers, just in case. Otherwise, keep the flow down (they don't like high flow, aggressive movement can cause bubbles to tear and rip). Have you tried feeding it? Like I said mine loves to eat! Some chunky foods like mysis or chopped crill/silversides would be best.

[Newreeflady]

I will do some chopped silversides tonight. Does yours feed at night? Mine seems to have feeding tentacles out all day long.

I did the dip. After taking it out, it turns out it is much worse than I thought. There were no snails. I took some photos, but haven't gotten them up yet. I wish I'd taken some when it arrived:/

-A

[Elysia]

I wouldn't say that my Blasto is exactly similar to a bubble, but it is an LPS, and I have a piece that rather suddenly receeded to almost nothing. But I was able to bring it back to its former self by putting it in some revive, doing daily feedings w/ phyto and other liquid foods (because it wasn't in any condition to take meaty foods at first) and, upon it recovering some, increasing the size of foods I fed. Good luck w/ your bubble.

[NaptownReefer]

An acan is quite different from a bubble, but I suppose both being a LPS qualifies it as being similar enough to post. :p

My acan enchnata (or how ever the heck you spell it) lost about half the polyps, leaving about 40% of the skeleton exposed. It has since then been recovering, regrowing new polyps where the old ones used to be.

Something you should know. Corals LOVE food. lol My acan REALLY started taking off when I started to pay more attention to feeding it. I would suggest that you just keep the water quality up, and keep feeding it. It should recover.

[Newreeflady]

Hi all,

last night the bubble took a silverside piece. It doesn't appear to like Rod's food, or Krill, but does eat silversides. I will begin feeding nightly. I've not noticed further recession, but it's only been a few days so too soon to tell. It was, like I said, dipped in TM Pro Coral Cure. I also have coral revive, and I can use that if I see continued degradation. The alkalinity and ca are good, and I've been doing weekly water changes (about 4g in <25g total water volume.) I will update again soon...

Thanks for the very helpful responses!
-A