Ostreobium

[opihi]

Hi Anthony,
I have a treasured piece of SPS that looks like it's contracted Ostreobium. i have not been able to find much information about what actions i should take.

this is not the first time i've had it. it has killed another frag in a previous tank last year. i also have several frags that had had it, and have since recovered from it. (i did nothing special to these frags, as i had thought the situation was hopeless) i do treasure this particular frag, and hope there is a proactive approach that i can take.

my questions are these:

1) does fragging help? i've read opinions that it doesn't, since the algae lives under the coral's living tissue.

2) if fragging doesn't help, what effect would covering the exposed skeleton w/ crazy glue have? i'm wondering if suffocating the Ostreobium will weaken it.

3) if neither of these strategies are viable, what do you suggest?

thanks for your time,
jeff

 

[opihi]

pic attached

 

[Anthony Calfo]

no way to say if this is green boring algae from the image... but if it is truly so, its not that big of a deal.

It is very slow progressing, only embedded in the corallum (not tissue), can be controlled by nutrient control usually... and even some grazers like Diadema control it.

Fragging the healthy tissue away from the denuded skeleton is a good idea if aesthetics is no concern. In some cases the coral will spend (less) energy to grow out and away from the denuded and now colonized skeleton rather than spend (considerable) energy to reclaim it.

no worries either way

Anthony

 

[opihi]

Anthony,
thanks for the quick reply. i'm glad to hear that it's not fatal. i'll cover it up w/ some super glue once i get back to vegas... it'll be much easier than fragging it.

thanks again,
jeff