Rescue Corals

[mc-cro]

what symptoms do they have? are they just receeding, brown jelly, no expansion?

In general, I would put them in very mild flow, moderate light, and feed them blender mush of sorts

[Psirex]

Originally Posted by mc-cro

what symptoms do they have? are they just receeding, brown jelly, no expansion?

In general, I would put them in very mild flow, moderate light, and feed them blender mush of sorts

On the Torch sections are turning to grey mush, Trumpets are receding to the point of show skeleton. I only have a my MJ1200 pro running right now. The full lights are only on for about 6hrs a day with full lights on its 20K of white is that too much?

[mc-cro]

outlook does not look good.

you may try and frag off the dying parts and dip in revive or something. You need to verify all your parameters. I lost a large hammer to what I think was a nitrate problem. never found out for sure though

[Psirex]

The nitrates were high but have since return to minimal levels (a 3/4 of total volumn water change over a 3 day period) after an anemone died my nitrates went through the roof! I will QT them and see how it goes... F#&K!

[sjwitt]

So here's my rescue. What happened was we went on vacation back before I had ATO setup. When we got back, my bubble coral (near the top of the tank) looked worse than the first picture. There was nothing more than two dots of tissue left ... if that (I couldn't find a picture of that stage), evaporation had increased salinity and being near the top it was barely underwater and water temp was high. I very nearly threw it out but decided to wait a while and see.

The first picture is several months after disaster. I know it's really blurry but, the dark is the skeleton of the original coral. The small white area at a the top left is about what the two dots of tissue looked like. I decided to take a picture at this stage because the one area seemed to be coming back. That picture was taken at least 2 years ago.

The next pictures are what it looks like now. Took a long time to recover but it's now doing well and starting to grow at a faster pace.

[Chrissypoo]

This is a very informative thread. I bookmarked it.

[ritter6788]

Originally Posted by ritter6788

They had this piece on the bottom of the tank with a chunk of liverock sitting on top of it. I had to give it a shot.

We are almost there!

Originally Posted by ritter6788

Before:


After:

Recent update. This may be my favorite coral in the tank. Makes it even better it was a rescue. Really glows under my leds.

[MechEng99]

Wow...sorry everyone! This thread took off again, and I had no idea!

Mike247 - Whoa...that's crazy! Absolutely awesome save!

dsmhero - Love that chalice, and that acan looked great pretty quickly!

JC - Thanks for keeping the thread updated with pics! That frogspawn has turned into quite the gem!

Ashkan - Unfortunately I lost the black sun coral in a power outage. I was feeding it my homemade seafood/algae blend. (Basically pappone with whatever else I have lying around.)

MHayes - That's a great rescue there! Overall it looks mostly healthy, and it should recover quickly with a bit of TLC. Keep it in lower lighting like it looks like you have it (sandbed is best). Since it's bleaching, it's loosing its major source of food. I would spot feed it every couple days until it recovers more.

sjwitt - Sorry to hear about your bubble disaster, but now I can't even tell.

Ritter - that first coral is amazing!! Great save!! Those acans colored up nicely as well!

Psirex - It's hard to say without tank parameters and photos. Please post up your chem levels (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, salinity, temp, alk, mag, ca, and phosphate.) I'd also post pics of the corals, pics of the tank, etc. (May be best to start a new thread if you haven't already so you have dedicated attention to your problem.)

[MechEng99]

Sooo...I've been busy rescuing too. I had a few failures, but I also had a lot of success. Here are my latest & greatest:

1/8/2012


2/6/2012 (Ok, this looks ugly, but I promise it's purple and green in person)


1/8/2012


1/10/2012 (Yup...just needed cleaning up!)


12/28/2011


2/6/2012


1/8/2012


1/10/2012

[nellecat]

Hey picked this brain coral up from my LFS. What should I do to keep it going? Need some help guys. I really want this one!
Thanks

[greech]

Low light, low flow and target feed it mysis shrimp and other small meaty foods as often as it will take it. Night time may be the best time to start feeding if it doesn't show feeders during the day.

[MechEng99]

nellecat - First off, I'd start with a good coral dip. I prefer CoralRx. The algae-covered skeleton makes me think the damage to it is rather old, so it may have stabilized. I'm concerned as I see your signature, "im a noob". Rescue corals will do best in a stable, mature aquarium. Fluctuating parameters as in new aquariums may be too much for a stressed coral. Not saying it won't work...just cautioning you. If you *really want this one*, you have a better chance...passion definitely helps!

I would place it in low light and low flow (as previously mentioned). Also, it looks slightly bleached (or the white balance may be off), so it'll need some supplemental feeding. Turn off the flow about an hour after the lights go out. Place a couple pellets of sinking fish food on its mouth (don't force it in). If it doesn't react to the food after about 30 minutes, blow the food off and turn the flow back on. Repeat daily until it is regularly extending its tentacles in anticipation.

On the first couple pages of this thread there's a decent bit of information on general "rescue coral" care. I also have a personal blog that you can find if you search for rescuing dying coral blog that details how I saved several.

[nellecat]

Well it was a joke. I started awhile back, I have a fairly good grip on what I'm doing and everything else in my aquarium looks good. I appreciate all the help and suppport, it is in the back of the tank and low flow and light. I trimmed away most of the big parts that were dead. I dipped it in coralrx when I purchased it. I haven't seen any feeder tentacles out during the day or at night. I will try the sinking pellet idea. Any brand names or types I should go buy?

[MechEng99]

Ah, ok...good to hear! I just saw the signature quote and a join date of Jan 2012...sorry!

In my experience, Formula Two gets the quickest feeding response, followed by Spectrum. I have not had good luck with the Fauna Marin pellet food. I'm not saying any of these are better for the corals...simply that the Formula Two seems to excite the corals more. I'd try whatever fish food you have on hand though (if you have the sinking pellets). Most will work just fine. Keep us posted how that goes!

[frankiep]

Love this thread

[Mhayes462]

I really need help with my lobo, fast! I posted on here when I first bought it. It was really bleached but all the flesh was still in really good shape. I feed it about 3 times a week and it eats really well. It's usually fluffed up and happy. I got home today and found this brown spot on it. There was a little dust on the sand around the spot below it. I moved it to take a better pic and that's why it's receded. The first picture is the opposite side of where the spot is and has color on that side. Could it be brown jelly disease? What should I do to prevent it from spreading? Any help would be great. I don't want to lose it!


Mike Hayes

[MechEng99]

That doesn't look like brown jelly...the third pic looks more like some cyano on it. The "dust" on the sandbed makes me think cyano as well. Does it blow off? Can you get closer photos?

Make sure you're feeding each polyp/mouth. With its condition, I'd be feeding it 2x per day in each mouth. With that much bleaching the coral isn't going to get enough energy from its zooxanthallae most likely. If it is actively eating, I'd go to some blended seafood mixed food (like Rod's or whatever).

[Mhayes462]

I don't have cyano anywhere else. I have 5 other lps and they are all very healthy. Would cyano actually turn the flesh brown and affect it? What should I do? As far as the bleaching, what are your suggestions? I have a nice rock overhang I could put it under if you think it needs more shade. My params are good: ammonia, nitrites, nitrates 0, phosphates >.25, calcium 430, alk 10.9 dkh, iodine .05. I have a 36w 10k pc, 36w actinic pc, and a marineland 21x1w led fixture. Thanks for the help


Mike Hayes

[MechEng99]

Dying corals release a lot of dying matter...that eventually fuels cyano. It's very common for my hospital tank to fill up with cyano after getting a new batch of rescues. Once they heal, the cyano goes away. This could be the case with yours, or the extra food you're feeding it could be causing an issue (or even the coral itself could cause a dead spot in flow enough for cyano to start up.)

Like I asked...are you able to blow it off? It does not look like brown jelly. Your phosphates are a bit high - I try to keep mine around 0.03. It probably doesn't need more shade with your lights...just needs time. Relax. Give it some time, and don't bother it other than with feedings. As you'll see in the previous pages, most rescues take over a month to start showing signs of health again.

This is what brown jelly looks like (I know there are better photos), and last I read, "brown jelly disease" hasn't been conclusively proven to actually be a disease.

[Mhayes462]

A tiny bit blew off, but it's almost as if the flesh is bruised. It's the actual flesh that is brown in that spot. It did stay intact when I blew on it though. I'm not sure on my phosphates as I need a better kit. The kit reads 0 then the next color is .25. I don't believe it is that high though. I have a fuge with chaeto, I vodka dose, and I ran gfo for a day without it going down to 0. So I think I need a new test kit. Thanks for your help.


Mike Hayes

[MechEng99]

Gotcha. Could it be that some of the zooxanthallae is repopulating the coral in that spot? I know some of my rescues if they are severely bleached get a bit brown nasty looking in a few spots before they fully color back up.

Brown jelly will jiggle if you blow on it, and some may slide off the coral. Cyano should blow off the coral. If whatever it is stays intact, wait on it to see what it does. Within a week you should be able to tell. If it's cyano, it'll go away or get worse. If it's brown jelly, the coral will be quickly declining, and if it's zooxanthallae repopulating, you should start to see that elsewhere on the coral.

If you get desperate, have someone with an Inland bandsaw cut that polyp off and house that polyp in a QT tank.

[Mhayes462]

Here is an updated pic. It hasn't gotten any worse, but the flesh in that spot is exposing skeleton. I think it was cyano. It would be a little stringy and I siphoned it and blew it off. Don't know why on just this one coral and spot. On the bright side, I think it is starting to color up more though. Just have to let it heal on this spot.

[FroMan]

Nice work everyone!

[MechEng99]

Wow, whatever you are feeding it, I'd double it. That coral needs some serious food, fast, or it won't last.

[sevr]

虽然相机不太好。但是生物还是很漂亮的！