PAGODA in trouble

emonemo

emonemo

Member
Ive got a 20g reef
lots of corals, and strong lighting. 175w MH, 65w Actinic PC
water:
temp :79.8 - 81.2
amonia 0
ites 0
ates 15
ph 8.2
calcium 470
i use iodine, coralvite, liquid calcium, and strontium/molybdenum as supplements.
The problems im having is that my pagoda has a "burn" spot in the middle and its growing. all the polyps are healthy looking but the skin is receding in the middle.
see pics, let me know if you have any idea on whats going on...


 
reefforbrains

reefforbrains

Active Member
Something drop on it? Could be a wound from a chem burn. Almost looks fungal...and if it IS fungal then its only a matter of time.
If its just a wound, then suck off the damage with a turkey baster and get it more flow. It should recover in a few months.
 
reefforbrains

reefforbrains

Active Member
Only if its fungal. But yes fungal infections suck, you get to helplessly watch the coral erode.
There are some dip treatments for fungal infection on corals but save the money. They are expensive and rarley work worth beans.
Hopefully you can use the turkey baster and suck off the decay portion and it is just a wound of some sort. Rock fall or bruise from something. Completley fixable in time.
 
trainfever

trainfever

Active Member
I'm having the same problem. Debris keeps settling on my Pagoda. I am constantly using the turkey baster to blow the debris off of it. I havent done it in about a week or so and yesterday I blew the debris off only to find that the Pagoa wa white unerneath. It looks like a calcium skeleton. I hope it will be OK, but I dont think so.
 
emonemo

emonemo

Member
yup thats what im seeing, the white calcium inside. i had a wound before but that was due to a bio crash over my vacation. since then the pagoda almost fully healed up and now out of nowhere this wound just grew.
could it be too much light????
i have a 175mh and a 65actinic over my 20 gallon. that should be fine right?
 
emonemo

emonemo

Member
UPDATE:
so i used a baster to wash off the decaying part the other day, and left it in the tank thinking it would heal.
This is where is is now...
So what I need to know is. Do i take it out of the tank cuz there isnt a hope for it. Im not really wanting to go buy a bunch of expensive dips that may or may not work. besides the damage is about 2 inch diameter and growing.
I really dont want to have the decaying matter spike or crash my tank. 20g cant handle big changes like this. and i have lots of lps some sps and tons of zoa.
what do you guys think...
Take it out, bake it in the sun. scrub it down and use it as a platform for future frags?
 
sharkbait9

sharkbait9

Active Member
You can try a trick I did that worked and save my pagoda.
Take a clean brand new razor blade and soak it in lugals then cut around the infection *cutting a little bit of the healthy flesh away too) and remove the cut out part.
It was explained to me that the fungus is equated to a flesh eating bacteria or that of a bite from a recluse spider in humans (Google recluse spider bites to see pics of wound). The bacteria gets inside the flesh of the coral and start to eat the flesh, wound site outward.
By cutting away some of the good flesh with polyps before the rotten flesh you are basically making a infection site break. The bacteria slowly eats its way thru the coral. Once you have made the cut around the entire infection site you quickly suck the cut away flesh up in a baster. you can save the coral.
If you can remove the coral do it out side the tank and after the cutting dip it in a coral dip solution.
 
reefforbrains

reefforbrains

Active Member
Sharkbait9 nailed it, that method should work, it will be a little of an eyesore till it heals but cutting a bit of clean flesh to be sure you have the whole fungal portion could work.
I never give up on corals. Worst case just use a hole saw, put the entire coral on a acrylic rod that fills the hole.....People will think its intentional instead of asking OMG what happened to that poor pagota.
 
emonemo

emonemo

Member
Hey guys. I was JUST ABOUT to dive in and take your advice when i saw two more patches that had just sprung out of nowhere. THis stuff spreads so fast. OMG
Anyways, there was one edge that was starting to move from the outside towards the spot in the middle, and another hole appeared 2 inches below the one you guys saw...
if i were to start cutting there would have been nothing left.
This pagoda's end will soon bring a magnificent "combo plate" the middle will be a large "hairy mushroom" (2.5 inches) and the rest will be yellow frilly polyps, assorted zoas, some neon mushrooms...
Im going to go frag crazy on this thing.
Im going to go dry it out and then cure it in tank change water for a while. (my tank change water is always at like 15 nitrate anyways). and Ill start a new post about the progress of this project.
 
reefforbrains

reefforbrains

Active Member
Awe, sorry.
I hate seeing coral deliberatley killed but fungal infections are indeed quick and usually dont stop untill the whole specimen is destroyed.
Crap, just keep us posted with pics.
Your totally against breaking the plate into healthy smaller frags? It grows at a decent rate. size of a quarter into a half dollar, into a silver dollar then tea saucer in under about a year in good conditions
 
emonemo

emonemo

Member
crap... i hadnt even thogh of that.
. ive moved this ordeal into another thread.
Super Combo Plate Project.
 
emonemo

emonemo

Member
hahaha. oh man, i have a feeling that name is gonna stick with me for a while...
UNTIL. the end result is seen. I shall redeem!!!!
 
S

scoobs

Guest
Maybe if you had tried to frag the healthy parts when you first noticed the problem you would've been ok.. but whats done is done I hope your new project turns out well :)
 
trainfever

trainfever

Active Member
Instead of cutting, you could ust try giving it an Iodine dip in Lugols solution. I am doing that to mine and it appears to be doing better. Also keep it where there is good water movement.
 
grumpygils

grumpygils

Active Member
Originally Posted by EmoNemo
yup thats what im seeing, the white calcium inside. i had a wound before but that was due to a bio crash over my vacation. since then the pagoda almost fully healed up and now out of nowhere this wound just grew.
could it be too much light????
i have a 175mh and a 65actinic over my 20 gallon. that should be fine right?
I have a large cup pagoda that that bleached out about 20% and then stopped. It has been over a year and it is now ok. I was right at the brink of cutting it up and then the bleaching stopped. I have a PH pointed at it so the polyps stay clean.
Mc
 
sharkbait9

sharkbait9

Active Member
One thing that should be remembered by any pagoda keeper is their flesh is very delicate to infections, for some reason.
I noticed that every time waste landed and stayed on the coral, the coral flesh would soon suffer necrosis at the site where waste landed and stayed
I resituated my pagoda in higher flow area and that was the end of the necrosis on the pagoda.
 
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