Blue Acro Pics... Help??? (Horge)

cyberchef · 04-20-2002, 01:08 PM

I just purchased a Blue Acro coral about 11 days ago. Approximately a week after I got it, it started "shedding" a very thin layer of something. I've been told that Acro's don't shed and that it might not be doing well and might not make it. It was a brownish green when I got it and the color now is more a bright green with a few patches of the darker color here and there. It does not seem to be "shedding" anymore, I tried blowing water across it to see if any more will come off and none did.

My tank is a 55G with #130 LR and a 5" DSB (4" with a 1" plenum). I have 390W of PC "smart Lights" 50/50 10,000K/blue actinic . The Acro is about 8" below the surface of the water and unfortunately there is no place higher in the tank to move it to.

I aclimated it by putting the frag, in the bag, with it's original water in the tank for 45 minutes to let the temp adjust. I then slowly added water from my tank to the bag over the next 1 1/2 hours, removing water as needed, until I felt it was all tank water (for all practical purposes)and then removed it from the bag and placed it in the tank.

I've never seen any polyp extension on it since I got it. I'm going to check tonight since someone said some of thier acro's don't extend thier polyps uintil after dark (lights out). I'll post pics below.

cyberchef · 04-20-2002, 01:09 PM

Pic 2

cyberchef · 04-20-2002, 01:10 PM

last one...

Jimbo · 04-20-2002, 03:06 PM

Hi, waited awhile to see if someone else to post on this. But I have lost a couple of acro's due to the skin falling off syndrome. I would say if your at that stage (BUMMER)

I don't know why it happened. But two of them were white with blue/purple tips and one was bright green.

I think the zooanthele(sp) died. Possibly do to poor circulation or wrong spectrum type for this critter. I believe I was able to save a couple others by moving them to a lower light part of the tank and then slowly acclimating them to the brighter areas.

Like I said, I don't know much about this never had it happen before in my 55g the things just grew like weeds. Hopefully some others will comment.

PS I was really sick for a couple of days and left the big 400watter on overnight. Skin was falling off one of the acros the next day.

naser · 04-20-2002, 06:45 PM

that looks dead and dyed...

DennisW · 04-21-2002, 12:41 AM

I agree with naser. If the tissue is obviously "falling off" then it should expose a white skeleton.....not bright green. Depending on how fast the tissure recession is occuring, there may be a little algae growing on the WHITE skeleton. If the skeleton is green....its dyed and its probably the dye that did it in.

I have read that sometimes when corals bleech, they leave behind some rather intense colored uv protecting pigments. I would think though if that were the case, you wouldnt see the skin falling off.

Dennis

cyberchef · 04-21-2002, 01:16 AM

The "shedding" occured over a period of about 2 days. That green color is the color of what is underneith (the skeleton). It was a wild colony that the previous owner had bought. I don't see how the skeleton could have been dyed as it would have had to have been dyed while it was still alive but since I'm not a marine biologist I obviously don't know for sure. When I got it it was completely covered in the darker colored "skin" that you can still see in a few places on the coral.

Jerel, can you shed some light on this?

tdwyatt · 04-21-2002, 11:11 PM

Cyber,

I have to admit that the pix look like the dead skeleton with shreds of coral tissue falling off. I can't give you any reason for the skeleton to have that color, most acroporids, in fact almost all stony corals I know of except a very few (Blue corals a notable exception) have white skeletons. The colony is obviously dead, you may start to see nuisance algae colonizing the skeleton soon. I have no idea why the skeleton is that bright green unless it was died by some unscrupulous collector, wholesaler, Retailer, or some individual to make a buck. If you don't mind, would you mail me a 3 cm piece of the skeleton? I will use two different keys to positively ID the coral and send you the results with the appropriate key info. I will also test it for the presence of artificial dyestuffs.

You might try to frag any remaining pieces of the skeleton that still have live tissue at least from the axial corallite tip down. Use an iodine dip for 5 min. The coral dip procedure to kill surface disease is 20 minutes in 1 liter of 100% captive reef water that has 10 drops of 5% Lugol's solution (or 20 drops of the tincture of iodine found at local drug stores which is typically a 2.2% solution). You can then place the coral or fragment into your tank in a moderately lighted location with low to moderate laminar current where it won't be knocked over or off the rock by fish or snails. It is best for this type of mount to use the stick-type epoxy as it will form some protection around the cut surface of the coral fragment. Allow for 48 hours, then redip the coral frag to cover any possible bacterial growth that has occurred in the tissue that dies from the cut and mount process. I would cut up any of the remaining branches that have tissue from the tip down to within 2 to 3 mm of the exposed skeleton. These frags will then have the best opportunity to grow and morph to whatever the prevailing conditions are in your tank. After the initial period of adjustment, gradually move the frags to thwithin 3 to 5 cm of the surface as their tolerance builds over a 2 to 3 week period. They should begin to encrust the base within 2 or 3 weeks, and have polyp extension within that time period. I hope this is not too little too late for you, but here's to hoping this helps. Discard and/or sterilize the remaining base skeleton.

Hope this helps.

cyberchef · 04-22-2002, 12:26 AM

Thanks tom, I'll try and get this done on Tuesday, my day off for the week. Email me your addy and I'll send you a good sample of the skeleton to test. Let me know how you want the sample packaged. No more of the tissue seems to be coming off, not that there's much left, but I'll try and frag what is there.

Thanks.

dark horge · 04-22-2002, 10:07 AM

I would have to concur with the assessment that tissue has sloughed off to reveal a green-hued(!!!) skeleton. Now, unless there was a serious infiltration of Ostreobium alga going on, that is a sign of dye.

Sorry

You will have to look into the possibility that the dye had nothing to do with the coral's decline, and that it had more to do with differences in LFS conditions and those of your tank, producing environmental shock.

FWIW, I've seen more heavily-denuded Acro colonies persist, and through fragging of branches with live tissue left on them (as Tom has dwelt on) go on to provide mother colonies that themselves yield a regular harvest of frags.