splurged on a blasto colony and now I think it's dying :(

[seecrabrun]

I bought a colony of blastomussa wellsi last Saturday. When I got home and dipped them in coralRx I noticed one polyp had some tissue damage. Almost seemed like the hard spike of the skeleton under it poked a hole in the tissue.

Slowly over the next couple of days that polyp lost more and more tissue from the center out. Now it has a little rim of tissue toward the top and another bit toward the bottom, but the middle and sides are gone.

Now, the sides that are gone have a layer of white fungus/mold/too that has formed and it is starting to encroach on the polyps next to it and they are starting to show signs of tissue damage where they touch the dying/dead one.

I'm very new to coral keeping and so I'm at a loss what this is or how to treat it.

I did spot feed them all last night with some cyclopeeze and the 2 sick polyps did eat some, but didn't blow up around it like the others and seemed to just be very weak for the whole process.

I'm hoping to save the sick ones, but if nothing else, keep it from spreading to the rest of the colony.

Can anyone help?

The first two are when I noticed the tissue damage after after bringing it home and dipping it, the second is a couple days later, third is today.

 

[seecrabrun]

I contacted the store from which I bought it. This was the advice. Should I follow it?

I would advise a lugol's dip to help heal the the coral and place it in a spot in the aquarium where it isn't receiving a lot of light or flow.
Also you can add trace elements (seachem reef trace & brightwell vitamin C) to the aquarium to help the healing process.

 

[pegasus]

Lugol's Solution can be used to heal damaged corals, but I'd hold off on adding trace elements unless you think your tank needs them. Regular water changes normally replace lost elements, unless you have plenty of corals that are using them up faster than you replace them. If the damage isn't too far spread, it may be worth trying a Lugol's dip. I can't tell for sure, but in the last picture it looks like the center part is gone from the 2nd polyp from the left. If that's the skeleton showing in the middle of the polyp, then the mouth is gone... along with it's digestive system. If this is the case, the rest of the polyp will eventually wither away. I hope I'm wrong...

 

[seecrabrun]

No you are correct, that one is gone. I'm now trying to save the ones on either side as they are beginning to lose tissue from the area bordering the dying coral.

I searched all over town for lugols without any luck. I tried to get my pharmacist to order it and she called around a bunch of places and still nothing.

So I'll have to order it online and hope it gets here before the damage reaches too far on the others. And then hope that helps in general.

 

[silverado61]

It's made by Brightwells Aquatics. If you can't find it online let me know and I'll give you a link to someone who sells it. $12.99 a bottle.