Tongue coral tissue recession.         8/3/15 Hi, I am hoping you can give me some advice about a tongue coral I recently bought. I noticed at the shop where I bought it that it had a little bit of receding tissue at one end but I thought that since the exposed bits were dark, rather than fresh white looking, that it was old damage and the coral would be ok. It is about five inches long and seems to be doing well in my tank so far, my "plan" was to feed it well several times a week to help it recover. It does eat well when I feed it Mysis and small pieces of scallop. It is on the sand in bright light and medium flow. Can you let me know what else I can do to help it along or if I made a mistake in buying it and they don't recover from tissue damage? <Mmm; yes. Have you tried a few times (over) dosing of iodide-ate? Not to worry re the initial high/er concentration... I would do this rather than a bath/dip procedure. Also... Fungiids really prefer finer substrate; even much... rather than coarse sand. Do please read what we (WWM) have archived re the husbandry of this family> I have attached the best picture I could get of the damaged end. Thanks, Chris. <Welcome. Bob Fenner

Plate coral injury - 05/16/2006 Hello, I found your site on Google and ready many of the articles on plate corals (very useful for future reference, bookmarked it) but still haven't found an answer to this: We bought a plate coral yesterday and after acclimating it we put it into out 24 gal Nano, <Fungiids are not easily kept in small volumes... too unstable> along with a small frogspawn, 2 true Percs, a 6-line wrasse, 4 hermits, 1 fire shrimp and three snails. The coral was damaged on one edge (seemed like the tissue was bumped during transport) and the tissue around this area looked dead. <Not good> The rest of the plate inflated, looked great and full and the Percs took right to 'hosting' in it. The wrasse, the two larger hermits and the shrimp, however, began to pick at the dead area and now (24 hours later) that area has been picked clean of dead tissue (and some live tissue as well I think), <... you need to remove one group or the other here... the predators or prey...> all the way down to the white skeleton. The damage was made worse by the hermits crawling across it and dragging their shells on the healthy areas as they picked at the edge of the 'tear'. So my question is a two-parter: will the coral recover from this, and if so, <Not likely if not moved> once it does will the offending creatures leave it be? <... not likely> I have placed a 4" high plastic ring around the coral (still on the sand) to keep the crabs and shrimp off of it, <Good technique, move> this is as unsightly as it sounds and I'm also hoping you have a better suggestion to keep it safe while it (hopefully) heals. The damaged area is about 1/10 of the total, like a piece of pie was cut off of the coral, all the way to the center. Thanks a lot. Alex Miller Carrboro, NC P.S. Chemistry is all good, frogspawn doing great as are all the other animals. <Mmm, well... most Fungiids have a dismal captive survival rate... and yours starting off damaged, predated, in such a small system... I'm inclined to encourage you to return it (if possible) or trade it in. Bob Fenner>

Damaged Plate Coral 2/6/03 Hi guys,  I added a Plate coral about 2 weeks ago.  On occasion, his tentacles deflate while extended.  I also noticed that his mouth is open wider than usual (picture attached) - I believe this is a sign of stress.   <correct although it does not look too severe in this image> There is also a sandy looking something covering a small(3/4" x 1/4") section of the plate (pictures attached). I was wondering what this is, and if there is anything I can do.   <a slight tear in the polyp and possible nuisance growth attacking the exposed septa> I already tried to siphon and blow the stuff off of him, but it won't move.   <understood... still a good move on your part> Please also see the pic of my substrate.  It is aragonite, but has some larger grains (pebbles) in it, I was wondering if this could be part of the problem, and if it could actually cause problems in as little as two weeks. <not too terrible. No larger though please for Fungiids> My lighting is 165 watts actinic and 165 watts 10,000K on a 90 gallon. Calcium is 360 Alk is 3.5 Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are 0 pH 8.1 Salinity 1.024 Temp 74 All fine except pH if that's a day time reading... do get it up a little higher> Branching Frogspawn is doing fine (my only other coral). <my guess if that your coral was acquired with a little bit of damage (common on fresh imports). It will likely heal or become fatally infected within mere weeks. Just keep up with good water quality, good water flow (random turbulent) and occasional feedings with fine food> Thanks again, you guys are great, Adam Karp <thanks kindly, Anthony>

Fungia illness? 6/2/04 I am concerned about my Fungia.  I have had it for a month now, and it seems to be doing fine.   <I do hope it is placed on a soft sandy bottom and not on rock (critical for long term success). Also, do feed it finely minced meaty foods of marine origin (Mysid shrimp, Pacifica plankton, etc) weekly or more often> A week or two ago I noticed a couple small brown and grey lumps around the mouth.  Now they are bigger, have a rough appearance, are still brown and grey, and seem to be forming on the skeleton, not the tissue.  I also noticed this afternoon that the tissue was retracted (tentacles in, tissue retracted) but I am not sure if this is being caused by the lumps.   <tough to say without a pic. But in the worst case scenario of denuded "skeleton", still do not give up... Fungia are remarkably regenerative and may very well at least produce buds from the stripped skeleton> Also, just to let you know, I added CALXMAX by Warner Marine today.  If you are not familiar with it part it forms these whitish clumps, and some stuck to my Fungia and he swallowed them (I saw no harm).   <yikes! chemical burn is quite possible here. Fully dissolve all supplements in water outside of the tank before adding> I also have an over-curious peppermint shrimp, but I don't think he is pestering the Fungia. <Lysmata shrimp very commonly attack large polyped stony corals. Do not rule this shrimp out either. You will find many references to such shrimp attacking coral in our WWM archives and abroad on the Internet> Thanks, Andrew <best of luck, Anthony>

Broken Polyphyllia 8/19/04 Aaaaahhh!  I've had a rockslide!  I feel terrible!  I was sure my rocks were stable, but apparently I was wrong! <Happens to the best of us!  Black plastic cable ties, underwater epoxy and plastic rods work wonders to help prevent this.> A fairly large rock that had a Montipora capricornis attached to it fell.  The Monti broke, but only in two large pieces that I reattached.  I'm pretty sure it'll be fine. <Agreed.  These are very hardy animals.  Many of my fragments have been created in such an accident!> My big emergency is that the rock fell right on top of a tongue coral (Polyphyllia sp.).  It snapped in two.   It was about four inches long, but now it's in two pieces that are three and two inches.  (It broke diagonally.) I can't find any information on what to do for this poor little guy. Will both pieces die?  What can I do? <I would give each piece a slightly better than 50/50 chance.  Do be sure that the broken edges stay open to the water and don't get buried in the sand.  I am personally not a fan of dips, etc. unless there is a specific reason.> Thank you so much for your assistance!  Though this is my first catastrophe, I have found your site to be indispensable in researching potential tank  inhabitants. Sincerely, Conni <Glad you have benefited from WWM and the crew.  Good luck!  AdamC.>