My Coral Rehabilitation Project

[ReefdUp]

[ReefdUp]

[denis_anthony]

It's impressive to see someone with a healthy and thriving tank with different types of corals but I have a different type of appreciation for people who can do this and bring back something from seemingly "dead'. Kudos!

[roni]

I'm always so impressed by what you've been able to accomplish!  thanks for sharing

[ReefdUp]

On 3/10/2022 at 8:55 AM, denis_anthony said:

It's impressive to see someone with a healthy and thriving tank with different types of corals but I have a different type of appreciation for people who can do this and bring back something from seemingly "dead'. Kudos!

 

Thanks Denis!  It's funny you say that... my quarantine tanks overall typically *look* terrible.  Most of the corals are in various stages of recovery.  The decay and treatments lead to a ton of cyano and algae.  I'd take the ugly tanks with recovering corals any day!  

 

On 3/10/2022 at 9:02 AM, roni said:

I'm always so impressed by what you've been able to accomplish!  thanks for sharing

 

Thank you!!

[ReefdUp]

This pearl bubble has now been fragged, and both pieces are a little larger than a golf ball.  

 

[roni]

1 hour ago, ReefdUp said:

This pearl bubble has now been fragged, and both pieces are a little larger than a golf ball.  

 

Beautiful!  Let me know if you want to sell one of the frags

[ReefdUp]

On 3/12/2022 at 11:36 AM, roni said:

Beautiful!  Let me know if you want to sell one of the frags

 

I was able to make two new frags (it's nearly impossible to tell where the mouths are, so I just had to err on the side of caution.) Once they heal up, I'll let you know! This will be its second fragging.

[ReefdUp]

This one had corallivorous flatworms on it (see the bottom photo - it's on the far right of the coral, about midway up).

 

 

 

[ReefdUp]

This was one of my first rescues.  

[lowsingle]

We’re you able to save my scolymia that was on a long decline for me?

 

I hope so ?

 

Darren

 

[ReefdUp]

7 hours ago, lowsingle said:

We’re you able to save my scolymia that was on a long decline for me?

 

I hope so ?

 

Darren

 

 

Yes, it's still not perfect though (scolys can take a year or more.)

[ReefdUp]

9 hours ago, lowsingle said:

We’re you able to save my scolymia that was on a long decline for me?

 

I hope so ?

 

Darren

 

 

Here was the last update I did of the scoly (I only do mass updates to my records every six months or so, as it's quite a bit of work to photograph everything, sort, and make all the comparisons.  I'm due again.)

 

This guy has continued to struggle on the recovery, and I've had to run it through multiple antibiotic treatments.  I'm absolutely convinced (from experience only, not anything actually scientific) that corals harbor bacteria that can turn destructive (maybe opportunistic when the coral is stressed?)  When I've dealt with corals like this, it has often taken six or so treatments before the coral stopped the pattern.  This makes me think the bacteria stays within the skeleton, out of reach of treatments (so I'm experimenting with ways to address that).  It could also be that the bacteria needs a different antibiotic or medication strength, but that's beyond my capability at this point.

 

Typically it takes scolymias (now Homophyllia sp.) about a year to fully recover; however, I'm guessing it'll be longer for this one.  

 

Thanks for the opportunity, Darren!  I know it's incredibly hard to part with a Scoly.

 

[lowsingle]

8 hours ago, ReefdUp said:

 

Here was the last update I did of the scoly (I only do mass updates to my records every six months or so, as it's quite a bit of work to photograph everything, sort, and make all the comparisons.  I'm due again.)

 

This guy has continued to struggle on the recovery, and I've had to run it through multiple antibiotic treatments.  I'm absolutely convinced (from experience only, not anything actually scientific) that corals harbor bacteria that can turn destructive (maybe opportunistic when the coral is stressed?)  When I've dealt with corals like this, it has often taken six or so treatments before the coral stopped the pattern.  This makes me think the bacteria stays within the skeleton, out of reach of treatments (so I'm experimenting with ways to address that).  It could also be that the bacteria needs a different antibiotic or medication strength, but that's beyond my capability at this point.

 

Typically it takes scolymias (now Homophyllia sp.) about a year to fully recover; however, I'm guessing it'll be longer for this one.  

 

Thanks for the opportunity, Darren!  I know it's incredibly hard to part with a Scoly.

 

Keep up the good work, interesting how it appears to have changed in color from when I originally purchased it (maybe it was already stressed / sick at that time).  When I purchased it it was bright orange/ red with lime green streaks.  Now it appears more red with dark blue and muted green streaks.  It was stung by a jawbreaker and that started the downward spiral that I couldn’t get it out of….I am convinced that it would be dead if I had kept it.  Way to go!
 

Darren

[ReefdUp]

12 hours ago, lowsingle said:

Keep up the good work, interesting how it appears to have changed in color from when I originally purchased it (maybe it was already stressed / sick at that time).  When I purchased it it was bright orange/ red with lime green streaks.  Now it appears more red with dark blue and muted green streaks.  It was stung by a jawbreaker and that started the downward spiral that I couldn’t get it out of….I am convinced that it would be dead if I had kept it.  Way to go!
 

Darren

 

I don't think I've ever had a scoly *not* morph.  Every single one I've ever had, has always changed colors.  Bowerbankis also morph a lot on me (also Homophyllia sp.), so I wonder if it's just a Homophyllia thing?  (Obviously other corals morph too, but these seem much more fluid in their coloration.)  Or... is it just me?  (People pay good money for scolys, so I imagine they would be quite upset if they morphed.)

 

Here are some examples...

 

Shortly after receiving it in 2012:

 

2016:  (Excuse the bag; I was moving)

 

Here's another example:

 

 

[ReefdUp]

[ReefdUp]

This wilsoni coral (now in Australomussa)... ohhhh... it was the bane of my existence for quite some time.  I was overconfident; I could save this old-receded coral with no problem!  And then nothing happened...  for years.  It never got worse, but it never got better.  I tried all of my tricks - nothing.  Then, one day, I had an outbreak of BJD, so I treated with antibiotics.  This coral wasn't affected (at least not actively that I could see) by the BJD, but it still got a dose of the antibiotics.  Sure enough...  That was what it apparently needed.  It continues to grow well.  (Disclaimer:  I don't know that I would do anything different in the future.  Some of my corals take six months to a year to actively start regrowing.  Maybe after a year I would remove the coral and perform an antibiotic treatment separately.)

 

[ReefdUp]

[ReefdUp]

This was one of my first rescues - if not my very first.  I remember thinking that it wasn't supposed to be white, and that I could save it...  but I had no clue what I was doing!!  Back then, my camera didn't have timestamps, so all I know is that this was sometime in 2007.

 

[ReefdUp]

I feel like I have posted this one before, but it's not showing on my list (apologies if my list is wrong!)  Somehow, I can't find the original photo from when I got it, but I just saw a few glowing polyps in a LFS' tank.  Those salvaged polyps went on to be this showpiece, which ended up in a display tank at MACNA.

[ReefdUp]

I often take in corals (especially Dipsastrea and Micromussa) that have a quickly progressing line of decay, and this one was no exception.  I'm just very grateful the previous owner was willing to let me try to save it in time.  Otherwise, the coral would've been gone in probably two days.

 

[maevepotter]

Most of what I take in are the pieces truly destined for the calcium reactor, like this one.  It was completely browned out, receding, and overall not something marketable by the LFS.  Now, it's stunning, with its glowing green stripes.
 

This one is GORGEOUS. is it a favia? Can you remind me what antibiotic you use and general instructions? I think you had a post about it, but I've misplaced the link.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[ReefdUp]

On 5/7/2022 at 9:38 AM, maevepotter said:

This one is GORGEOUS. is it a favia? Can you remind me what antibiotic you use and general instructions? I think you had a post about it, but I've misplaced the link.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk
 

 

Aw, thank you!  Eh, with the huge name shake-up in the last few years, I've lost the bubble on what it probably is now.  Most of what was in "Favia" went to "Dipsastraea."  

 

I use a plethora of antibiotics (about 10 or so, including, metronidazole, doxycycline, ciprofloxacin, kanamycin), depending on what I think the root cause is (and that's not to mention anti-fungals and other treatments).  Because of the complexity of what I do (and my complete lack of actual medical training), I do not generally post my protocols (but I will help troubleshoot corals and suggest options for treatment).  You can find a lot of threads discussing cipro use for brown jelly, but this trend really worries me.  Bacterial resistance against cipro evolves fairly easily, and there seems to be a general attitude that cipro cures almost all reef problems.  I believe we'll start to see antibiotic resistance cropping up, and reefkeepers are already very limited in what is available OTC, thus potentially putting us back to square one with treatments.

[ReefdUp]

This photosynthetic Gorgonian was deteriorating in multiple areas, but with just basic good husbandry, it healed up.

 

[ReefdUp]