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FAQs about Stony Coral Health/Disease/Pests 10
Related Articles:
Coral Pests and Disease; pests,
predators, diseases and conditions by Sara Mavinkurve,
Quarantine of
Corals and Invertebrates, LPS
Corals, True or Stony Corals, Order
Scleractinia, Propagation for Marine
Aquarium Use,
Related FAQs:
Stony Coral Disease 1,
Stony Coral Disease 2, Stony
Coral Disease 3, Stony Coral
Disease 4, Stony
Coral Disease 5,
Stony Coral Disease 6,
Stony Coral Disease 7,
Stony Coral Disease 8,
Stony Coral Disease 9,
Stony Coral Disease 11, &
Caryophyllid Disease,
Fungiid Disease,
Faviid Disease 1,
Cnidarian Disease,
Quarantining
Invertebrates,
Stony/True Coral,
Coral System Set-Up,
Coral System Lighting,
Stony Coral Selection,
Coral Placement,
Foods/Feeding/Nutrition,
Disease/Health,
Propagation,
Growing Reef Corals, Stony
Coral Identification, Stony
Coral Behavior,
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Cyano, algicides
admonition 1/13/09
Hi Crew,
I have been battling red slime for a few months and made a lot of progress but
could not get it completely. It was contained in a few spots that I would
siphon. Every once in a while it would flare up and I would have a real clean up
to do. So I decided to try a product despite the problems people have reported.
UltraLife Red Slime Control.
<Hmmm….>
My tank is just a 10 gallon and I have candycanes and some fish. Instructions
were to use one measure of the enclosed dispenser ( one flat teaspoon full) for
15 gallons. I figure I have about 8 gallons so I used half of that. I pre mixed
it with tank water until completely dissolved as instructed. And it did get rid
of it. My tank always had a reddish hue to it and now it actually looks very
clean. The fish did not seem to mind the treatment. I have a few snails and I
did not notice any adverse affects. The corals did not like it. It was nothing
major but I rarely see them with open mouths, usually just a few.
<I have seen this, a friend just wiped out his reef recently using a similar
antibiotic product.>
But during the treatment they were all open. I left it this way for 2 days. Then
I put carbon back in my filter and did some water changes and so far, after a
week, all seems well and it has not returned (yet).
<It will unless the fueling factor is addressed. These treatments are a
temporary fix and a poison to filtration. The tank inhabitants are threatened
initially by oxygen deprivation, followed by a hit to the biofiltration. See the
links below for more re this and the BGA.>
Thanks,
Sam
<Welcome, Scott V.>
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/maralgcidefaqs.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/bluegralgae.htm
Cyano Control 1/13/09
Hello Crew:
<Tom>
As Always I must say Great Site! Tons of information which I read daily
and then some.
<Great!>
My tank is a 3-1/2 year old 46 gallon bow with the following:
1-2" crushed coral (which I plan to create DSB 4-6" I have the sugar sized sand
but lack the confidence to create without killing my tank family)
<Ah, just add a bit at a time over a couple of weeks and you will be fine.>
50+ lbs of LR
Fluval 404 - took all components out and added Chemi-pure Elite and charcoal
<Redundant, save yourself some cash and use one or the other.>
Aqua C Roma w/Maxijet 1200 and drain hose (upgraded about 2 months ago from
Prizm)
<Good move!>
2 power heads for water movement
Coralife 36" compact fluorescent dual 96w (1-daylight, 1-Actinic)
Readings:
SG - 1.023
Phos 0-0.25 (color chart)
Cal - 300
KH - 7
PH - 8.2
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate -10
Temp - 80 F
2 false clowns - had almost 3 years
Yellow Tan
g - 1-1/2 years
2 cleaner shrimp - 6 months
Several various hermits
Several various snails
Frogs spawn - 2 years (had 2 heads and now has 4)
Yellow Polyp - 1-1/2 years
Green Polyp - 2 years
Several Mushrooms - 2-1/2 years
1 Ricordea - 2-1/2 years
1 leather - 1 year
2 nice size pieces of candy cane - 1 year
I believe my tank has a Cyano problem. The back of my tank ended up
covered with dark maroon color algae which I scraped off like wall paper.
But it also covered much of my LR. How do I clean the LR?
<Best to just scrub in the tank a bit, siphon off what you can with water
changes. Treating the cause is the real cure.>
Can I remove some LR to open up the tank a bit?
<You can.>
Should I be doing something different or in addition in order to remove the
Fluval 404 canister?
<Start here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/bluegralgae.htm
Continuing through all the linked files above will tell you more than you ever
wish to know about your problem!>
Thanks,
Tom
<Welcome, Scott V.>
Re: Cyano Control
1/14/09
Hello Scott:
Thank you for the information.
<Happy to help out Tom.>
I will keep reading WWM & learning.
Do you think at some point I would remove my Fluval 404 completely and relay on
my LR & skimmer?
<I would, it is of little benefit with your other filtration in place while just
providing a possible detritus trap and extra maintenance.>
Thanks,
Tom
<Welcome, Scott V.>
Re: Cyano Control... and Scler.
hlth. 01/19/09
Hello Scott:
I seem to have a
possible problem with my Candy Cane & Frogs Spawn coals.
The Candy
Cane always seemed to have plump looking heads and all of a sudden they
appear hard for at least a week. The Frogs Spawn for about 2 weeks has
not been fully out the tentacles are very close to the skeleton.
I
kept thinking that they were disrupted yet its been a while. Water has
not changed as listed in earlier email.
<Hmm... I don't know, but it
could be a reaction to the Cyano.>
Not sure whats going on.
<When
in doubt, do a water change.>
Regards,
Tom
<Best,
Sara M.>
Re: Cyano Control 01/19/09
Hello Sara:
Thanks for the response. That's exactly what I did
tonight and will keep doing them. Another thing I noticed is that my
snails are not acting right. Astraea & Margarita snails seem to have
slowed down and appear to be having trouble moving and some are
extended. Another thing I had been doing often was blowing off the LR
with a turkey baster and doing the same to the 1-2" crushed coral on the
bottom stirring it up. The reason I was doing that was to allow the
protein skimmer to clean the water. Is that ok?
<Yes, this is even
recommended. However, if your tank is not "used to" it, you might have
stirred up too much too fast. Again, the only really remedy for this is
more water changes...>
Regards,
Tom
<Best,
Sara M.
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RTN Theorizing 12/24/08
Hi Crew,
<Hello Jason. Minh at
your service.>
It's been a long time since I've had to write you with a
problem. That's good! Unfortunately, one of my beautiful and large Birdsnest
just underwent rapid tissue necrosis (RTN). It happened frighteningly fast; in
less than a day the grapefruit-sized coral went from healthy to half dead!
<I'm sorry to hear about your loss.>
While my particular cause is unknown (I
suspect encroaching mushroom corals, but unsure), I noticed something
interesting. The death progressed along the branches of the coral, not
simultaneously. In fact, it spread from base to tips (oldest to newest growth).
I understand this is a common pattern. In an attempt to save as much as
possible, I broke off branches that were still alive and discarded parts that
were totally bleached.
<Rapid Tissue Necrosis (also known as apoptosis) is a
cellular reaction in corals initiated by various stresses such as bacterial
infection, temperature, UV radiation, allelopathy, etc. In this particular case,
the encroaching mushroom is a very capable culprit.>
More interesting: the
frags that had some dead tissue still on them proceeded to degrade in the same
manner. Those that were comprised only of living tissue appear OK.
<If the
tissue on a fragment is undergoing apoptosis, it will continue to degrade until
the fragment is dead. I would suggest for you to quarantine any remaining
healthy fragments in a separate tank to isolate the cellular reaction. This
would allow for the highest survival rate of your Seriatopora guttatus while
reducing any risk of exposing other healthy SPS corals to this condition.>
This is very puzzling. If this condition was caused by a biological or chemical
agent attacking the coral flesh, one would expect that it would either be
localized (killing a small area) or all over (killing patches at different
places on the coral simultaneously). The fact that the progression moves very
predictably along the branches implies, at least to me, that it is innate
behavior of the organism, not the result of attack.
Perhaps it is an evolved
survival mechanism; a last-ditch effort to abandon the skeleton and grow anew
somewhere else on the reef more amenable to the coral's health. In our tanks, of
course, that would not happen thanks to lots of factors, but possibly on the
reef? This may explain why the frags without dead patches survive: the signal to
eject never reaches them, so they persist. Do you know of any research in this
regard? Thoughts?
<Although I have seen broadcast reproduction occur in a
similar manner, and some rare instances in captivity, the behavior of tissue
necrosis appearing in a predictable band pattern indicates a classic case of
apoptosis. This cellular reaction could be triggered by allelopathic attack from
a neighboring soft coral. Further reading on this subject is available in an
excellent article by Eric Borneman, "The Coral Health and Disease Consortium:
New Information on Coral Disease." Link:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-03/eb/index.php.>
Thanks! Happy
Holidays!
Jason
<Likewise to you and yours. Cheers, Minh.>
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Foraminiferans Irritating Corals? 11/21/2008
Hello to whomever is answering emails today :D
<Hi Miguel, Mich
here.>
I've been having an issue with what I think are Marginopora
vertebralis, which I just Id'd thanks to the handy search function on
your site.
<Looks to be so.>
For a back story, I've had issues in
the last few months with LPS peeling slowly, and every time on the
peeling flesh I find these Foraminiferans.
It seems like they're
slowly irritating the corals to death as they feed on whatever it is
that they're feeding on the live rock.
<Mmm, does not necessarily
make it causational.>
I've included a picture of what I think is them
irritating a coral.
<In researching I have not found information to
support this, but that does not mean it is not possible.>
This is how
all of the peeling LPS tissue in my tank looks like, you can see that at
12 and 6 o'clock they are digging into the flesh of the coral, and
especially at 5 o'clock you can see a smaller one digging into the coral
with a distinct peeling flesh next to it.
<This is unusual.>
At
the very bottom right of the image you can see them working into the
flesh as well, and in the top left there is a white spot on the coral
that's actually another one that has just attached.
<I see.>
I'm
not sure if these are the cause of the problem or just bystanders in
another tank issue that may be going on, but it's a bit coincidental
that they're always right at the edges of the peeling sides of the
corals.
<Some types of Foraminiferans feed on bacteria, perhaps the
Foraminiferans are feeding on areas of decay.>
One of my friends had
a microscope, so I'm attaching several highly magnified images in order
of magnification.
<Cool!>
They average about 1mm across, and in
picture 4 there is a blob of green.
<I see.>
I'm not sure what
that is but it's the only block in the Foraminiferan that had one in
there, possibly it's feeding on it?
<Is a possibility.>
Thanks
very much for your time, and I hope things are well!
<Thank you
Miguel.>
Miguel
<Cheers,
Mich>
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 Nice
pix! RMF
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Hole in my Wellsophyllia brain coral 11/09/08
Hello,
<Hi Tamika, Mich here.>
I just purchased Wellsophyllia brain coral from my local store. When we
arrived home we noticed that there are a few holes in it and they look
as though they were drilled.
<Well sort of.>
They are perfectly round.
<I see.>
One is about 3/8" diameter and the other 2 are around 1/4" diameter.
<Ok.>
I am quite concerned,
<No need.>
and the store where I bought them say they are "mouths" but we can see
the "mouths" and they are not the holes I am looking at.
<They are not mouths.>
Is this some kind of a parasite?
<No.>
Is this going to hurt the rest of my tank?
<No.>
We trust the dealer, we have brought home a few bristle worms from him,
<Again, nothing to worry about, as long as they aren't huge.>
but nothing too terrible. Thanks for your time. I am attaching a couple
of pictures.
<These are the homes/former homes of some sort of polychaete worm, ie a
feather duster or the like. Nothing to worry about. Enjoy your beautiful
brain.>
Tamika Anderson
<Mich>
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