Frags Look Bad

[CarmieJo]

I got a bunch of frags on Saturday at a frag swap. They are in a Rubbermaid Tote with about 5 gallons of water, a 100 gph powerhead aimed into a corner, heater and strip light. All of my params look good but my frags don't. I've been doing 20-25% water changes daily. None of the SPS have significant polyp extension and the rics and mushrooms look "floppy". The leathers and yellow polyps look halfway decent. I am not sure where to go. Bigger water changes? More flow? Pull the corals out, freshwater dip them and put them in my DT? I really don't like this idea, the frags came from 8-10 different people and I didn't know most of them.

[PSH]

Maybe some toxin from the leathers? Are you running carbon?

[CarmieJo]

Not in the QT. I'll pull the carbon out of my DT and drop it in here to see if that makes a difference.

[lReef lKeeper]

i would try a "reef dip" or Lugols dip NOT a FW on them. i say "dip them and add them to the display tank".

"Reef Dip contains elemental iodine (same as Lugols) complexed to a protective slime coat for safely and gently disinfecting corals. it is effective agaist bacteria, fungus, and protozoans. it may be used prophalacticly (without evidence of disease) or to remedy diseased specimans and is safe to use with soft AND stoney corals. it is also safe for anemonies and polyps."

"USE ONLY IN A DIP CONTAINER AND NOT IN AN AQUARIUM" !!

[tim]

I agree I would do a coral dip aswell. I would move the leathers to another q tank IMO.

[CarmieJo]

OK, its too late to get it tonight so I'll pick up some tomorrow, dip them and stick them my tanks. I'm not sure what to do with the leathers. I have another tote but I am all out of pumps and heaters. I did drop my carbon in the QT and move the leathers so the flow should go from them to the carbon and then to the rest of the tank.

[tim]

good luck. just keep the water good and hopefully they will be ok. also why would you have a heater?? A strip lite mite not be good for them either.

[Mr. Tang]

Thats so sad to hear I hope they make it thru the drama. Keep us informed on your progress.
By the way, what type leathers did you get? Could they be shedding?

[CarmieJo]

The water would only be about 75* without a heater. I think the striplight has the intensity for corals for a short time considering the few inches of water that it has to penetrate.

[CarmieJo]

One is a green finger leather and the other is a pineapple leather.

[Mr. Tang]

Carmie

Could you take a pic of the green finger? I brought 5 to the swap and if its one of mine, than it bet it needs more light.
If it dies, let me know and I can get another for you in your interested.

Mike

[Seahorsedreams]

Carmie, do you know how long the frags were "made" before you acquired them?

[Mr. Tang]

If the green finger is from me it depends on how old it is. Some were attached to rock and some were not. The attached frags of course are a couple months old. The unattached frags were about one to two weeks cut from parent colony. They were looking good in my grow out tank when I pulled them out Sat. morning.

[lReef lKeeper]

any updates for us Carmie ??

[CarmieJo]

Mike,
I got the green finger from the Australian (I think that is his accent) guy. His name may have been Alec. It is attached to a shell and looks pretty good. The other leather (I don't remember who I got it from) looks OK too as do the yellow polyps and GSP.

Here is what I did. The LFS didn't have Lugol's so I got Tech D which has iodine and potassium iodide like Lugol's plus potassium bromide and a proprietary bromine compound. I dipped the pocillopora, mushrooms, ricordias, and monti cap and put them in my corner tank. Since the others look OK and they are going in the nano I left them in QT for now.

The pocilloporas are extending their polyps, the ric has many its tentacles (polyps?) filled up (more every time I go down and look), I might loose one of the hairy green mushrooms as it seems to be pooping out dark brown stuff which I suppose is zooxanthellae but is still is very green and hairy, and the monti cap is half bleached.

The monti cap is encrusted all around and I don't know how I could frag off the bleached portion. Any suggestions?

[lReef lKeeper]

congrats on the save !! most of them are probably just mad right now, so give them some time to calm down, but keep an eye on them.

got a pic of the cap so we can figure out how to frag it ??

[CarmieJo]

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f198/CarmieJo/DSC_4252.jpg

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f198/CarmieJo/DSC_4251.jpg
The whole coral is bigger than a dime but smaller than a nickel. I could get a little off the back and chisel the little dark edge off in the front but it is really encrusted to the tile. The good parts are mostly the encrusted part, not the original frag.

[lReef lKeeper]

i would cut off the bleached area and have a couple of encrusted frags. they will be small, but better than no frags at all. let me know how it goes.

[CarmieJo]

Would you chisel it with a screwdriver blade?

[lReef lKeeper]

i would probably just use a razor blade knife, and cut it. they are a thick but brittle coral so cutting it should be a piece of cake. if you can not cut it ... use the chisel on it.

[CarmieJo]

OK, I was able to cut it with an Exacto knife. Some areas were tough but I found if I led with the point of the blade it would work. I have a piece that is about the same size as a pencil eraser and on the other end a thin line.

[lReef lKeeper]

let me know how they look tomorrow. they should have extended polyps by tomorrow.

[CarmieJo]

I'll keep you posted.

On the bright side everything else looks good! I'm doing the ProjectDIBS Pocillopora Breeding Challenge and I was able to get at least one more genotype. There was a guy at the frag swap who had a gorgeous Pocillopora that was bigger than a softball that he wanted $30 for. I told him it was a very fair price for a beautiful coral but it was too big for my tank and I was just looking for genotypes, not displays. A while latter he walks over to me and asks "Do you have a buck?" I was a bit bemused by his question but said "Sure" and he handed me a bag with a frag size piece of his coral. It is a brilliant lime green with very dense polyps. The other Pocillopora is a dark brown with darker polyps tipped with teal blue. I am not 100% sure that if ir P. damicornis because the branches are thinner and I've never seen one this color. On the other hand there were a couple of dead branches, like what you see on the underside where it doesn't get light not from bleaching, that I clipped off and they look exactly like P. damicornis, just thinner. Maybe not enough Ca or something?

[CarmieJo]

Well the monti cap has totally bleached. :(

[lReef lKeeper]

oh, that stinks ... did it look like this one ??

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n75/lReef_lKeeper/centertankshot.jpg

if so, you pay shipping and i can send you a piece that will be bigger than the one you had.

[CarmieJo]

Bobby, it was just like that but a whole lot smaller! :)

TR folks are the greatest! Pearson has already PM'd me and offered to send me a frag from his colony.

[lReef lKeeper]

let me know if his does not make it ... i have one too.

[CarmieJo]

If I kill another one I may have to start to take it personal!

[CarmieJo]

Here is a picture of the ricordia with an inquisitive crab.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f198/CarmieJo/DSC_4264.jpg
This is one genotype of Pocillopora. The color did not photograph true no matter what I did. The polyps are lime green.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f198/CarmieJo/DSC_4263.jpg
This is the other genotype of Pocillopora. It is dark brown and the polyps have teal blue tips.
http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f198/CarmieJo/DSC_4258.jpg

[tim]

maybe we should have a frag swap ourselves and part of the money goes to talking reef.

[lReef lKeeper]

i would be interested Tim, but it would have to be at least six months down the road. everything that i have right now is for the LMAS frag swap in November.

[tim]

maybe rob will chime in a think its a good idea

[CarmieJo]

This is a pretty good idea and I have been really happy with the trades and purchases I have made through TR. If the idea is a swap maybe what would happen is each person would pay a dollar or two for each frag that they trade.

A GREAT way to support TR is to become a Premium Member. You can find all the details here http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/site-info-news/189-premium-membership.html#post2054 Premium Memberships start at only $3 a month and all of us can afford that. I've been a Premium Member almost since I first joined TR and I challenge each of you to do the same! And, no Rob does not pay the TR Staff. Like everyone on the board we are here because we love the hobby and want to help people be successful aquarists, enjoy the hobby and stay in it longer than the average time of around a year.

[tim]

cool I will look into the Premium Membership

[Phurst]

I agree with Carmie. I'm in my second month of TR membership. I haven't even explored the extras that come with it, but I get enough out of the site and podcast that I want to give somthing back. It's defenitely somthing people should look into.