Super Combo Plate PROJECT

[emonemo]

So my Pagoda was taken over by what some of you have identified as a flesh eating bacteria. It's rather sad really, not only was it costly but it was also a larger display part of my small 20g tank. Im not going to just chunk it though. Im going to allow this thing to come back to life as it would in the wild. Meaning, bacteria eats away at the flesh leaving the calcium skeleton (live rock) to host a base for any number of corals out there.
Im going to do a step by step, of my little re-seeding project.
If any of you have suggestions, ideas, procedures ill be glad to hear them out.
Ill be posting pics and commentary as the growth progresses.

 

[emonemo]

So first i pulled out the plate.
and took some pics to show you what i was dealing with.
a big nasty

[hr]
spot in the middle and some more infection on the sides.
I put it in the oven at 200* to remove ALL life from this piece. I want all traces of the bacteria to be gone. I will then scrub it down with a toothbrush to remove any dried bio material still on it.

 

[scoobs]

Boil the crap out of it imo.. should turn the entire thing bright white.

 

[reefkprz]

Oh my thats sad to hear. did you frag off any pieces that looked healthy to save some of it?

 

[team2jndd]

Originally Posted by reefkprZ
Oh my thats sad to hear. did you frag off any pieces that looked healthy to save some of it?
I was hoping the same thing. The majority of it looked good.

 

[fishgeek01]

i am hoping so too... that thing was still 75% good, he would have had a nice batch of frags

 

[farslayer]

Sorry for your loss Boiling is the better approach as you will get the hot water in the various crevices in the skeleton, baking isn't guaranteed (ever get bread still gooey in the middle?).

 

[team2jndd]

If you didnt frag, put it in warm water with bleach. After about a 5-10 minutes, put in... shoot somebody help me what nutralizes the bleach? Its a small light blue chemical very cheap its used for fresh water tanks. Im sorry, it completely slipped my mind. Somebody will know. That will kill everything though.

 

[team2jndd]

stress coat lol. Thats the stuff. Make sure you dont leave it too long otherwise the bleach can soak into the calcium of the skeleton.

 

[emonemo]

So i baked it to dry it out last night.
Then I boiled it and washed off the rest under the faucet. Im letting it dry and then ill do that process again.
Everything is cooked. It boiled for like 30 minutes last night.
Im going to try and cure it like regular life rock in a seperate container in a few days.
After that Im going to start FRAGIN from all sorts of stuff in my tank.
I might attach a birdsnest coral in the middle and see what grows. an surround it with zoas mushrooms and other softies.

 

[emonemo]

Hey guys sorry for the long pause in the project. The plate is now curing and should be ready for seeding soon. ALso I needed to give all the live in my tank to grow some more before i started chopping stuff for frags. ive been practicing with polyps, and mushrooms. and They are growing like wildfire.
stay tuned.