Help with plate coral

[Yachaq]

Hi all,

I have a plate coral that has not been doing well for a few weeks. I believe that it got initially damaged by an aggressive emerald crab trying to steal food from it. I since moved it to a QT (10g AIO) where I keep other 2 frags at the moment (Favite and Micromusa), which are doing well and growing. The plate coral shows the skeleton in the periphery and has receded significantly. The recession of tissue seems to have slowed, but want to see if there is anything else I need to do to help in its recovery. I also had a small bout of cyanobacteria in the QT that is now almost completely gone.

All other frags in the QT are doing very well. Parameters are within expected values (SG 1.026, ph 8.0, NO3 2, PO4 0.02, Alk 7.2, Ca 440)

I remember some of the advice given by @ReefdUp during her presentation, but not sure if I remember those well or there is something I am missing (I should have taken notes!!!).

I have done a 10% H2O2 dip for 20secs and I am planning to cut the exposed skeleton, applying cyanoacrylate gel to the edges right after.

Anything else you would recommend?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Jon Lazar]

The coral looks stabilized in this picture.  The tissue is inflated and there's no white margin from recent tissue loss.  I would leave it alone except to feed it small amount of meaty food daily.  Don't give it large pieces that it can't digest.  Nothing larger than a mysid shrimp, although you can feed more than one mysid.

 

Make sure the fungia is upstream from the other corals.  Favia can put out long sweeper tentacles at night and sting the heck out of other corals.

 

Watch for algae growth that will inhibit recovery.

 

Good luck!  It's very satisfying to restore a coral from the brink of death.

[ReefdUp]

Hey, NICE SAVE!!  I agree with Jon - it looks great.

 

If you haven't yet, don't cut the exposed skeleton.  Plate corals are probably the only ones I'd say that about.  I've seen visibly-dead skeletons regrow babies up to 18 months after bleach-white conditions.  You might get babies off the dead portions.  But, if you already cut it off, no worries - the center portion looks like it is well on its way to recovery!!  

[Yachaq]

Thank you for the advice.

Plate coral still doing well and seems to be slowly growing. I have not cut the skeleton so we'll see what happens with it.

I will post new pictures in a few weeks.

[Yachaq]

Thought I would provide an update on this little fella. It is recovering nicely since the last post.

 

 

[Jon Lazar]

Keep up the great work and thanks for the update!  Tell us what sorts of things you've been doing to help the little fella along?  Target feeding?  Ensuring there's sufficient nitrate/phosphate/alkalinity for growth?  Just leaving it alone to recover in peace?

[Yachaq]

Thank you!

 

Here is what I did, and continue doing for the little plate:

1. Transferred it to a coral QT tank. Basically an IM 10g AIO lighted with an AI Prime and a Jebao PH. The tank has bio-filter media with no sand, and gets 1g WC weekly (~14%, Total tank volume 7g, Salt: TM Pro). No ALK or Ca supplements added.

2. On day 3 took the coral out and used a Qtip to paint the exposed skeleton covered in cyano and algae with 3% H2O2, being extremely careful not to touch the coral tissue. Placed the piece back into the QT.

3. On day 4, started target feeding 1 missis shrimp every day.

4. Recently (around a week ago) I started adding Acropower to the QT.