little emergency surgery

[sihaya]

My LFS just gave me this big, beautiful tongue coral for FREE. The young man there insisted that it was doomed... completely unsalvagable... because it had a little brown jelly infection. I think someone needs to introduce this kid to a Dremel saw. lol

And this is how I ID-ed the coral (Polyphyllia talpina). It's the bit of dead skeleton I cut out:

 

[sihaya]

And yes, it is in a salad bowl in the top pic... well, I was in a hurry!! lol

 

[Herefishyfishy]

great job !

 

[sihaya]

Thanks.

And it made a fabulous mess of our dinner table... lol

 

[morgan]

cool man bonsia coral

 

[plack]

Nice work! I'd like to see it in a month or so to see how the tissue healed over !



Paul

 

[CarlaW]

Good job Sara, we'd like to see some weekly progress pics if you could. It will be interesting to watch.

Nice salad bowl

 

[sihaya]

Haha... thanks. I will keep you all updated for sure!

YOu know, I could turn the thing around so that the "wound" isn't visible from the front of the tank. But I'm keeping it, wound-side front so I can watch it recover (assuming it will). I think that should go on the list of "proof you're truly a reef geek." lol

I was also thinking about what to feed this thing. It's not like your typical Fungiidae. It has hundreds of polyps all with tiny little mouths. I thought about cyclopeeze, but then I found this "new" food by BSD called "Reef Plankton." It's probably been out forever and I just never noticed, but I think it's about the perfect size.

 

[idgy]

Looks great! I have a question, how old is your tank and how do you keep your sand so clean.

 

[CarlaW]

I used to cover mine and feed it mysis Sara. Scarfed it down like crazy.

 

[sihaya]

I used to cover mine and feed it mysis Sara. Scarfed it down like crazy.

Oh, it's funny you say that... I was just about to post that I tried feeding it mysis and couldn't believe it actually consumed one of them whole! The only problem is that my banner fish kept stealing the mysis before the coral had a chance. I must have put 2 cubes of mysis in the tank, but the coral only got one (thanks to my greedy fish).

I tried put an inverted tuberwear container over the coral, but that didn't really work. Any ideas?

idgy- my tank is 2 years and 3 months old. I'm not sure what specifically I might be doing that is keeping the sand clean. I do siphon (very lightly) the sand when I do water changes. In fact, I know I'm due for a water change when the sand starts looking a little gross.

 

[CarlaW]

You could try one of those containers that they sell strawberries in, or cut the top off of a liter bottle of pepsi, preferably after you drink the pepsi,, and use that to set it over the little guy.

 

[sihaya]

The problem is that the "little guy" isn't so little. He wouldn't fit under the top of a liter coke bottle or one of those strawberry things. It might not look it in the photo, but it's ~8in across the longest part and ~4in wide. The only thing I have that's big enough (that still fits in the tank) is this tuberware container.

The problem isn't the container though. I can't seem to get the mysis to sink and land on the coral. They either fall off or float out of the container before I can get it down there. Is there any trick to doing this? Should I soak the mysis shrimp first?

Thanks

 

[CarlaW]

The problem is that the "little guy" isn't so little. He wouldn't fit under the top of a liter coke bottle or one of those strawberry things. It might not look it in the photo, but it's ~8in across the longest part and ~4in wide. The only thing I have that's big enough (that still fits in the tank) is this tuberware container.

The problem isn't the container though. I can't seem to get the mysis to sink and land on the coral. They either fall off or float out of the container before I can get it down there. Is there any trick to doing this? Should I soak the mysis shrimp first?

Thanks

Turkey baster

What about the top of one of those 2.5 gallon store bought water jugs?

 

[sihaya]

Ugh, I tried using the baster and I kept squirting air bubbles up under the container. It was so frustrating. Not to mention, everytime I squirted inside the container I kicked up a bunch of sand onto the coral.

I think what I'm going to try to do is cut a whole in the container and put the lid underneath the coral. Then maybe I could use the turkey baster without worrying about air or kicking up sand.

Seriously, I'm starting to feel really dumb. I mean, this really shouldn't be that hard... lol

 

[CarlaW]

Your second idea is good, try using a little less squeeze and a little less water in the baster. Try to suck up just the food. You'll get it down, it just takes a bunch of tries.

 

[fairlan]

I use a 10 ml syringe with plastic tube attached put the mysis shrimp in container with tank water. Draw it up and you won't have air bubbles then shoot it where ever you want it

 

[sihaya]

Hmm... that's a good idea too. But I still have my kids (the fish) to deal with. And since the coral isn't in the best shape, it doesn't hold onto them well and they fall off. We'll see how things go tomorrow...

 

[wizbang]

careful with adding the lid under it. Don't fix the bowl to the lid "permanently". You don't want to restrict water flow while it's healing.

Unless, of course you were going to take to tupperware bowl out after each feeding.... then - nevermind!


Just a guess -

Don

 

[sihaya]

Oh, definitely, I only use the container temporarily while feeding it.