Rescue Corals

[wildman926]

Originally Posted by greg1786

Just wanted to update everyone on the weslo brain coral rescue. Its been just over a month and while theres still somerecovering to do its come a long way. Its grown back a good portion of its missing tissue and has gotten more than half its color back. These two photos were snapped just as i fed it and about five minutes after that. Let me know what you think thanks -greg

Man, that is nice. I wish I was able to save a couple of trachys that I had found like yours. But I was not able to.

[Mhayes462]

Nice save, it definitely is looking better.

[greg1786]

Thanks, its def got some coloring up to do but compared to how it looked in that post from march its so much better. The mouths are no longer open and its regained all of its feeding tentacle and a good bit of its color and flesh. Im working on an octo spawn, two RBTA and a plate coral as well that im gonna post up tonight after work, hopefully you can give me some thoughts and recommendations mhayes

[Madehtsobi]

any tips for wall hammers??? have a couple that just arent happy but i still see a few tentacles sticking out...


awesome rescue picks and saves!! wish i could do the same!

[MechEng99]

Originally Posted by Riona

How soon is it to consider a rescue? The LFS I go to has a half bleached trachy of some sort that I keep eyeing, and the coral guy said he'd cut me a pretty good discount on it. Thing is it looks like it might be trying to recede a bit around the base on one side, and my tank JUST finished the main part of the cycle. I hit 0 for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate within the week. I have other corals in the tank, but no fish or hermits yet(just some hitchhiking xanthid and gorilla crabs that I'm trying to catch.)

Would it be too soon to consider bringing it home with me? About all I know about it right now is that he said the tank it is in is pretty high in dissolved nutrients, so he's only tried feeding it once, and it didn't take the food.

I applaud your good intentions in trying to save a coral, but for many reasons, please do not attempt this. As someone who has rescued a few hundred corals over several years, I can tell you...throwing a sick coral into an unstable environment is not ok.

1. You need a full QT and dipping protocol if you want to rescue coral. Seriously. Most "rescues" are sick because of pests, viruses, bacteria, or whatever else...not because someone didn't love them enough. You do not want this stuff in your main tank. I have a two-stage QT system, and stuff STILL makes it past my crazy dip system, past the first stage, and into the second stage. Seriously...get a QT.

2. Sick corals will continue to release some dead matter, and a new tank is not equipped bacterially to handle this extra dead matter. The ammonia will spike, which may cause things (and the coral) to die...further spiking the ammonia. It's not a good spiral at that point.

3. Sick corals usually require food (especially if it is bleached as in your case). This additional food may spike the ammonia, phosphates, etc. See the spiral mentioned above.

4. You mentioned you have gorilla crabs, etc. They are opportunistic and predatory. They'll probably go after the coral...and definitely after the food you'll need to feed the coral. These crabs are known to rip corals to shreds in order to get at food. Bad idea....

5. Sick corals need to go into the most stable, healthy environments. A new tank is far from stable and healthy. Once you can successfully grow SPS in a tank, then it's probably acceptable for a rescue coral.

Sorry to be so negative, but I want to make sure that the people rescuing coral are doing it for the right reasons...not to get a cheap coral. Plus, there's no need in you wasting money for it to just die.

[MechEng99]

Originally Posted by SeabassSA

@MechEng99
Hi, been reading the rescue thread, its great, just wondering about "See my homepage for more information on rescuing coral!" What is your homepage, do you have a website? Thanks

Hi! You have a PM.

Also, you can click my screenname, and a drop-down menu will appear with a link to my homepage, "Visit MechEng99's Homepage".

Side note...love the saves! I especially love the acan echinata...beautiful color!

[MechEng99]

Originally Posted by greg1786

Thanks, its def got some coloring up to do but compared to how it looked in that post from march its so much better. The mouths are no longer open and its regained all of its feeding tentacle and a good bit of its color and flesh.

What did you do on the trach?

[greg1786]

Originally Posted by MechEng99

What did you do on the trach?

Originally Posted by MechEng99

What did you do on the trach?

Well my brother had neglected his tank for quite some time and he practically all but killed his wellso brain coral. After quite a few weeks of pleading with him to let me have it he finally caved. This was its state in the last week or two of march . When i got it i dipped it in some revive and placed it in the sandbed in a pretty low light and low flow area. After a few days i used a pieve of airline tubing to direct nls pellets over its mouth to feed it with now success as it had no reaction. After anothe week went by i tried again once the mouths had closed and this time i had some success, however because it had no feeding temtacles left, it could only get the pieces that fell directly on its mouth. I did this every other day for two weeks. Once i noticed a significant improvement i gave it a spot with more light but same flow. At this point i began seeing feeding tentacles and so i switched to brine. I fed it spirinula enriched brine every day for one week. I then moved it(still on sandbed) directly under my light fixture and to an area with a little more gentle flow. I reduced its feeding to every other day and now to every third day. Here is the result after a little over a month, well actually about a month and half.. I figure maybe another month or two and itll be full strength. In the mean time ive got some others im reviving that ill share soon

[Riona]

Thanks for the advise. I do really love the open brains, but if it would be a lost case, I will most definitely pass.

[MechEng99]

Originally Posted by Riona

Thanks for the advise. I do really love the open brains, but if it would be a lost case, I will most definitely pass.

It may not be a lost cause, but the risk is not worth the potential reward in my opinion. I would use this time to learn all you can while your system stabilizes. Unfortunately, there's no shortage of dying coral. When you're ready, I'm sure there will be one around.

[MechEng99]

Just picked up about 50 rescues... yikes. This is going to be a long night!

[Charley Diesing]

Originally Posted by MechEng99

Just picked up about 50 rescues... yikes. This is going to be a long night!

pics!

[MechEng99]

Originally Posted by Charley Diesing

pics!

Ugh...I just finished dipping and got everything into the QT. A lot were really, really bad. If there's hope for a few, I'll post up pics.

[DLANDINO]

Awesome thread! I have been into this lately as well. Here is a link to my rescue posts on my local forum.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2290884

[MechEng99]

DLANDINO - that's phenomenal! It looked like there was a drastic improvement after iron additions. Did you notice that as well? How much were you dosing and what brand? Love the color on that goni!

[Michigan Mike]

Ill have try that super glue trick if I ever have an issue like that. ...again.

Poor welso.

[DLANDINO]

Originally Posted by MechEng99

DLANDINO - that's phenomenal! It looked like there was a drastic improvement after iron additions. Did you notice that as well? How much were you dosing and what brand? Love the color on that goni!

Thanks for the kind words! I am dosing KENT MARINE IRON & MANGANESE. It was like $10 at a local pet store and I am using the recommended 8 drops per day for a 50 gallon tank. I did notice an immediate increase in PE about 10 minutes after the first dose. However, this was about 6 days into my rehabilitating this coral. I can't say definitively that the iron addition is the cause of the turn around.

[Charley Diesing]

Can't wait to see more!

[MechEng99]

Originally Posted by MechEng99

Ugh...I just finished dipping and got everything into the QT. A lot were really, really bad. If there's hope for a few, I'll post up pics.

They were really, really, really bad. I'm pretty sure most were dead when I got them, but just had tissue remaining (seemed like most mouths were gone.) Sad....

[thabizness]

How often would you dip in a revive or seachem reef dip solution?

[MechEng99]

Originally Posted by thabizness

How often would you dip in a revive or seachem reef dip solution?

For me, it depends on what is going on with the coral (but I haven't ever used Revive). Generally, I dip as soon as I get the coral in Coral Rx, a hydrogen peroxide solution dip, and a Bayer Insecticide dip. I'll watch the coral for a month, and if I see an issue, I'll dip it again. Usually, I don't have to dip it again until it moves from my quarantine tank to my hospital tank or to my main display.

Long story short...initially, and whenever I move it into a new tank.

[ssscuz]

Great thread, some amazing saves!! Keep the pics coming

[jason angel]

I been meaning top update my scolly pic soon nath its recovering well

[mike nickerson]

Before. This looks better then when I bought it. Mouths were gaping open and skeleton was showing bad
http://s1233.photobucket.com/user/mi...l?sort=3&o=439

After
http://s1233.photobucket.com/user/mi...tml?sort=3&o=7

[DLANDINO]

Originally Posted by mike nickerson

Before
http://s1233.photobucket.com/user/mi...l?sort=3&o=439

After
http://s1233.photobucket.com/user/mi...tml?sort=3&o=7

great work!