Something eating my rainbow monti

[Jan]

thanks for the morale support...always appreciated.

 

[krisfal]

When I had MEN (the acronym is catching on!) I first noticed what almost looked like a white salt crust along the edge where the tissue was missing from the monti. If I was to use other words to describe I might describe it as ice crystals. Only after a real close up look was I able to see the individual critters and ID them.

Jan,
As close as you are studying these corals I am fairly confident you would have seen and ID them if you actually had MEN. I hope you find the source of the problem soon.

 

[trido]

Im sorry to hear of your misfortune with the monti Jan. I had MEN once as well and if things continue to get worse for it let me know if you want a second visual opinion. I hope the STN goes away and the recovery starts right away.
I dont blame you for being paranoid about AEFWs. You have every right to be just form knowing me.

 

[Jan]

Duane, you are the trooper of all time keeping such an upbeat attitude while going through what you are...tearing down your beautiful tank and all that.

 

[Jan]

The bare crescent shaped swatch on the front of my monti is now much worse, 3 times the width. At this rate the coral will be toast before too long. 4 days ago it looked perfect and now it seems to have STN starting from the middle and working its way outward.

It's been moved from where it was so I don't see how this could be progressing if it was caused by a coral sting, and the majano is not in the picture anymore, so what now? The "do as little as possible" approach is giong to result in the death of this beautiful coral, I'm afraid.

 

[class clown]

I'd Frags it Jan and place it in different locations around the tank. thats my vote.see what other ssay though?

 

[Herefishyfishy]

I'd Frags it Jan and place it in different locations around the tank. thats my vote.see what other ssay though?

Ditto on Ben's suggestion.

As a side note, after any sting, things can progressively get worse. Had a very rare Palau green sinularia get stung badly by an RBTA, even after blowing it off, running carbon and moving it, necrosis spread for weeks before healing began. Doing great now, but never underestimate the power of coral weapons. I personally think many if not most RTNs start with chemical or biological warfare.

 

[Jan]

It helps to understand what's happening, so I appreciate hearing your experience Mike.

As an alternative to fragging what do you think about covering the dead spot with superglue?

 

[Herefishyfishy]

I have had good luck with this, but have a mentor friend who only uses putty saying superglue is bad for coral.

Give it a shot, can't make it much worse. Be sure to blow the hole off really well before doing anything. If it does continue, frag it.
My large purple encrusting Monti got a majano that landed on the backside away from view and ate a hole into it. (coral died back away from it) The hole grew until noticable. I Joes Juiced it about 2-4 weeks ago, and the hole has since filled back in. Sorry I didnt take pictures.

Here is the thread about the necrosis on the sinularia with pics. Note the blackened rot that spread like wildfire for over a week:
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20585&highlight=necrosis

 

[Jan]

Well, either the die-off continues or you're mentor friend is right about superglue as the dead part continues to spread. Tonight it is frag time.

On your thread, Mike, for some reason I couldn't make out the dead tissue very well on your coral from those two pics. Oh well, it was still an informative read and I'm glad you managed to save the rest of it.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

If you look at the green softy you will notice gray and black areas all over it, especially in the bottom right corner of the pic. Those were dead and spreading dead tissue areas

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=17916&d=1164653734

Looks like time for fragging your injured rainbow. Not that it is any consolation, injuring corals is too common place in my overcrowded and not all glued down tank. Some of my worst injured, healed and grew to some of my favorites. In a good tank, time heals most all...

 

[Jan]

thanks, that does help actually. I'm still a noob and this is the first time I've been aware of an injury scenario. I did lose a samoensis frag that wasn't too far away from the rainbow's original position. It also developed a dead spot in the middle of it (V-shaped) which ended up killing the whole thing over time. Fragging didn't save it. It may have been a similar scenario and I didn't realize it. It just seemed like a mystery-death.

 

[class clown]

Well, either the die-off continues or you're mentor friend is right about superglue as the dead part continues to spread. Tonight it is frag time.

On your thread, Mike, for some reason I couldn't make out the dead tissue very well on your coral from those two pics. Oh well, it was still an informative read and I'm glad you managed to save the rest of it.

As tough as it is, I think you're officially in damage control mode now. they say you're supposed to frag about 1/4" or more away from white STN part, which is tough, but I've found the best results when I frag off more than I think I should have to and then move the best pieces far away from the others. Sorry Jan - it's hard I know and I've been there, but I hope at least you can stop it in time.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Do you have any kind of Hydnopora, pavona, Blasto, torch/hammer/frogspawn, acan, ichino, galaxia, or other LPS corals upstream from that spot or anywhere in the tank?

 

[Jan]

My tank is 60" long and I have 4 tunze nanostreams, 2 at each end, pointing towards the middle of the tank.

The rainbow and the samoensis were in the right side of the tank, ~18-20" from the right end, and 3/4 of the way up from the bottom.

I have a frogspawn on the sandbed at the right end of the tank.

I have a challice frag and an acan colony in the middle of the tank, 1/3 - 1/2 of the way up from the bottom.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Have either of the injured corals ever falled on the acan or had any frogspawn blow over them?

If you get a chance to post a picture of the rainbow and it's injury, that might help as well as an overall tank shot.

 

[Jan]

Have either of the injured corals ever falled on the acan or had any frogspawn blow over them?

Nope.

I'll work on posting some pics tonight.

 

[Jan]

Update:

Well, I'm almost afraid to jinx myself by reporting this, but it seems as though the necrosis has not spread any since yesterday morning. It increased a bit after putting on the superglue Wednesday night, and then stopped. This "bandage" may have done the trick.

keeping my fingers crossed anyway, as it would be nice not to have to frag it up. And maybe tissue will eventually grow over the glue.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

GREAT NEWS!
Injury and destruction happens VERY fast, healing and curing typically takes a time. By next month, you will not even be able to seewhere the sting was.
Mike

 

[Jan]

yeah--I was really surprised how fast the dying tissue progressed. If new tissue grows over the scar within 3 months I will be a happy camper.

Thanks again for all your help.