tissue loss on green sinularia

[fishfreek]

Two days ago i bought a green sinularia, and today noticed it starting to show signs degeneration. When i brought the coral home and added it to the main tank, i noticed a small amount of what i thought was brown algae on the area in question. I removed it by gently blowing it off with a turkey baster and some tissue was removed in the prossess. The area is right at the base and is about a 1/2"x1/2". The rest of the coral looks fine,(nice green neon color) though the polyps have not come out yet. I am currently keeping it in a med/high flow area to keep detritus from accumulating near the affected area.
No other corals in my tanks have ever had degenrating tissue problems in the past and i'm not real sure what the correct treatment would be for this coral. I have never witnessed it fist hand, but is it possable the coral has a brown jelly infection? Could it have been caused by stress during shipping?
Sorry no pic.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
thanks,

 

[fishfreek]

Anyone?

 

[slowest is fastest]

The brown "jelly" on the green tree is the way a melting sinularia looks. As the tissue dies it turns brown and slimy.
What you are doing so far is correct. Keep the affected area in moderate to high water flow and provided your water quality is good it should recover.
If it continues to "melt" but still opens on top consider cutting a few branches off (do a search for propagating or fragging corals netting or rubber bands work best on sinularia) while you will be left with a smaller piece you will of at least given yourself a chance to keep part of it.
HTH
SiF

 

[fishfreek]

Thanks for the input. What you are suggesting was pretty much my plan of action. I was told by Eric Boreeman to also dip in lugol's solution, but i can't locate any at LFS. I could order some but i don't have time to wait. All i have is some Kents super iodine, not sure if i can use this for a dip or not.

 

[josh]

Hey fish,
Yes lugol's would be nice, but iodine/dide is a tricky thing to work with. Just get a chem dip....assuming it's caused by a bacteria.
Leathers are very strong, just keep up with what you are doing and it will pull through.

 

[fishfreek]

Called around locally for a chem dip tonight and no luck. I'll have to call a few other places tomorrow that were closed today. The coral has very little if any brown areas left on the base. Now what looks like a white open wound is present and what looks like tiny threads are visable. Any idea weather this is good or bad??
tkanks

 

[fishfreek]

Forgot to ask, anyone have a good pic of a jelly infection on a soft coral? Or can someone provide a link?
thanks,

 

[slowest is fastest]

I do not think your sinularia is suffering from a "brown jelly infection" the brown slimy "jelly" IME is the coral itself melting. It changes color and texture as it melts. The jelly is not causing the melt...the infection is causing the coral to turn to jelly.
As for a dip...it can be useful but as mentioned iodine (and IMHO all dips) can be tricky the white tiny threads are the inside of the coral. Seeing this usually indicates that the affected area of the coral has been cleaned and provided it stays that way, should begin to recover. Just keep the water quality as good as you can and keep the current going. At this point I do not think I would further stress it by removing and dipping.
Just my opinion,
SiF

 

[fishfreek]

I woke up this AM to find the coral flopped over and hanging on by only a 1/2" piece of its stalk, possably because of the current. I very gently blew on the base a little with the turkey baster to see if the tissue was starting to heal(stiffen up) and lots of white tissue flew off from inside the coral (not normal is it???). The polyps were extended but it looked bad so i decided to cut off the damaged area cleanly with a razor blade, (about 1" of the base). I attached it with a rubber band to an indentation in a piece of dead rock i use for fragging. Thi afternoon I got some seachem reef dip at a LFS close to work. I dipped it and it seems to be doing okay. Polyps are 1/2-3/4 extended. Now all i can do is wait.
Thanks for your help.

 

[slowest is fastest]

Sounds like it has a good chance of making it. If determination counts for anything yours will be fine.
Good Luck (and I mean that in a good way )
SiF
PS cutting it was the right thing to do