Rescue Corals

[Mhayes462]

I'm losing the smaller Scolly that I thought would make it before the other would. It's down to only having a little flesh in the middle. The bigger one is looking a little better I think. Def hasnt gotten any worse. The blastos are starting to puff up and are still doing good.


Mike Hayes

[Stu Pickles]

I wish I would have known about super gluing the polyp earlier. I lost a nice bubble coral that we paid $150 for because a polyp got torn. Dipped it several times with no success

[symon_say]

Hi rescuers, help me with fungia, I order some corals this week and the main coral i wanted was the pink fungia, but to take advantage of shipping i order 6 more corals, from all the shipment everything came nice, except for the pink fungia , it came with tissue ripped and bone exposed.

Yesterday the mouth was close, today i has it mouth wide open, i don't know what this mean but i put some food in the mouth to see if it react, but nothing have happen, this is my first problem with a coral since in the hobbie and i don't know how to deal with, help me to see if i can save it.

This is the pic of the fungia right now, as you can some bone exposed, there is some more on the right side of the fungia, like 3 o'clock:

[Psirex]

from the angle of the pic it looks like the mouth is gone and if so there is little to no hope... sorry....

[MechEng99]

Symon - I would definitely let the supplier know what condition you received that coral in. Like psirex said, it looks like the mouth is completely gone...which means there's nothing you can do other than leave it, let it die, and hope it makes anthocauli (babies off the skeleton). Whenever coral mouths are gaping and not reacting to any stimulus, you shouldn't feed them. It means they are stressed to an extreme point (or nearly dead). The food can't be digested, so it'll rot...causing nearby tissue to rot.

Sorry...maybe a better picture will show differently.

[ReeferYork]

I don't know what I'm doing wrong at my LFS, I have honestly tried every angle possible but they will not give up a coral no matter how bad it looks for anything less than the price on the tank.

They are willing to let them die and throw them out, rather than sell them to me for even a penny less.

I thought I was lucky to have 8 LFS near me but it seems I have the worst 8 out of them all.

[MechEng99]

There are just some LFS like that. It's easier and better for their bottom line to claim a $100 loss than to sell it to you for $10. IMO, we all need to be responsible aquarists, and when a store cares more about their bottom line on a few pieces than being responsbile, I choose to no longer shop there.

Some LFS are also nervous to sell poor-health corals to someone trying to "rescue" them as they are worried that when the corals die, the buyers will come back and complain about the store. They aren't willing to take that risk for $10, but they will for $100 or whatever price.

Just keep trying though. Some of my LFS here took a while to warm up to me. Once they realized I wasn't going to bash them if the corals died, and that I was writing blogs on how to save the corals, they started taking me in the back rooms to their hospital tanks to give me stuff.

[Mhayes462]

Mecheng99, or anyone else that might know. How in the world do you save a bleaching coral? I have lost a lobo and losing a couple of brains right now do to bleaching. I have tried moving to shade, moving to qt where light isnt bright, feeding, everything. It seems if I move to qt where there is less light, they bleach more. I try feeding but they won't eat like they used to. Then I've bought a couple coral that I put right in the display and they heal quickly. I just can't seem to save the others. What am I doing wrong?


Mike Hayes

[MechEng99]

What are you feeding? I've saved quite a few bleached corals, but for some of them, getting them to eat is difficult. If they won't eat, then they probably won't make it since they don't have zooxanthallae to give them the sugars they need.

The problem is that bleaching can have *so* many different causes: high light, extreme low light, temp, poor water quality, and possibly even the lifecycle of zooxanthallae itself.

Is your coral QT the same one you mentioned above (10g Wally world special?) If so, that would make sense that they are bleaching more in QT since the light on those tanks is next to none (and isn't the correct spectrum.) If you seriously want to rescue corals, I'd set up a good coral QT...with the correct lighting and plenty of live rock. When you say they heal right up in the main tank, I'm guessing your QT tank is the problem.

If they still won't eat, try other foods. Some are pretty finicky, and it takes several tries to get a response. Never force feed. Try amino acid dosing before the lights go out, then feed an hour or two after dark.

[NewbyReefer]

I have a question about a bubble. I recently picked up what use to be a large bubble coral that was on its way out. Just wondering how you guys brought them back ie. placement, flow, light, and what food. Heres a pic of mine. Picked it up a few weeks ago.

[MechEng99]

Hey Newby! (Although by your join date, I don't think I'd call you a "newby" anymore!) ;-)

First off, that bubble is looking pretty good. I don't see any freshly exposed tissue (would be white), and it's expanding. I'd keep it in pretty low flow (so that the bubbles can fully inflate and not get poked by the skeleton.) Lighting should be low initially, but after a week or two you could move it to medium light.

I worry about the cyano I think I may see in the background. Dying corals fuel cyano, and cyano can smother dying corals (see the bad cycle?) Just be careful to keep it off the coral.

Bubbles are typically one of the least picky I've found when it comes to their food during rescue. I'd still use something pretty nutritious though (mysis, good pellet food, blended raw seafood, etc.)

[MechEng99]

So, I just heard an interesting tip thirdhand about someone who rescued corals too. The person I talked to said the other rescuer swore by squirting a tiny bit of Kent's Essential Elements on the rescue corals every day.

For anyone who knows me personally, you know I look at most dosing products skeptically (except ca, alk, mag). I'm looking at this even more skeptically. The ingredients are "Calcium Chloride, Cobalt Chloride, Iron EDTA, Lithium Chloride, Magnesium Chloride, Manganese EDTA, Nickel Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Potassium Iodide, Sodium Molybdate, Strontium Chloride, Zinc EDTA, Copper EDTA, and Potassium Bromide."

For a coral that is dying, I'm not sure how these elements would help...especially when target-dosed. The person claimed the coral would survive even if the entire mouth was missing.

Anyway, I'm going to try it...who knows. If no one tried anything, we'd still be using multi-colored gravel and undergravel filters. Just wanted to share what I heard in case anyone else can vouch...or wants to try it too.

[Mhayes462]

I feed the bleaching coral misis and brine. Yes, it is the same Wally world qt. I have a Reefbrite led light that has 6 3watt LEDs, 3 white and 3 royal blue. Is that good or too much? I move them in there because I've heard to get them in shade or lower light. The bleaching coral that did make it started in my main tank and got better. I start all the coral in the main, then if they get worse I move them to the qt where they continue to get worse. Only a couple bounced back, but I've lost more than I have recovered. I've had success healing coral with other problems, but I can't seem to help the bleaching ones and it frustrates me because they usually have all their flesh.


Mike Hayes

[ferguson2]

Sence reading this thread I have become Obssesed with helping corals lol, these are a few of my rescues. all are recent the brain has made the best recovery by far.

[ferguson2]

forgot to upload this photo

[MechEng99]

Ferguson - those are awesome, and thanks for sharing that this thread inspired you! Keep us posted on their recovery process. Any more tips to share?

MHayes - Hmm...I don't know enough about LEDs to answer. Maybe someone else will chime in. Feeding mysis is great, although brine shrimp isn't the most nutritious. I'm not really sure how to pinpoint what's the matter without seeing the coral, setup, and setup parameters. Sorry.

[StephLionfish]

Originally Posted by ReeferYork

I don't know what I'm doing wrong at my LFS, I have honestly tried every angle possible but they will not give up a coral no matter how bad it looks for anything less than the price on the tank.

They are willing to let them die and throw them out, rather than sell them to me for even a penny less.

I thought I was lucky to have 8 LFS near me but it seems I have the worst 8 out of them all.

Same. It's a darn shame... I can bring usually anything back to life, but I can't afford to buy a half dead coral for full price...
There's a Lobo at the LFS that needs some real help

[MechEng99]

Sooo...I decided to expand. This is...the Reef'd Up Rescue.



Coral QT on left, fish QT on right


Hospital tank


Meds


Chems

[MechEng99]

Rescue tank


Current rescues

[MBIETZ]

Awesome hospital setup i need to post a few pics of my rescues. Im currently trying to get my LFS to sell me beat up corals but they usually throw them out even after i talk to them but im sure they will come around sooner or later.

[Mhayes462]

Here's a pic of my qt. just added the reefbrite led strip.


Mike Hayes

[MechEng99]

Am I seeing things or is that a chocolate chip starfish? They eat coral...any problems with it?

I'd post in the lighting section about your lights. Those lights look pretty bright, and they may be too bright for stressed corals (or even moving them could further stress them.) You may do best posting a separate thread with all your tank(s) parameters to help troubleshoot.

[NewbyReefer]

Originally Posted by MechEng99

Am I seeing things or is that a chocolate chip starfish? They eat coral...any problems with it?

That is most certainly a Chocolate Chip Star.

[Mhayes462]

Yep, chocolate chip. I know about them eating coral and would take it out if it did. But I have never seen it anywhere but on the glass and that rock. Maybe it doesn't like crossing the fake gravel?


Mike Hayes

[ferguson2]

my most recent addition.