Acclimated corals and now white slime

[Steve1500]

I just acclimated my first corals last night and a few of them have a white slime on them. I think I made several mistakes:

1. I floated the bags in the QT tank and then put the corals in the acclimation tub. Acclimated 7 corals and there was about 1.5G of water in the tub. Drip acclimation took about 2.5 hrs. I tried to speed up the drop rate so they would not be in there so long and the temp dropped to about 72. Per instructions I dripped again for about 2 hrs. SG 1.025.

2. I then dipped them. They were exposed to the air for a second or two. I also scrubbed them lightly (only the base) w a toothbrush. My fingers may have touch some of the areas where the flesh is, but the corals were retracted. This water was about 79 degrees and I am not sure if the temp change hurt them. SG 1.025

3. I then rinsed them in fresh SW and put them in the QT tank. Temp was around 79. SG 1.025

Of course everything was retracted but then a few of them (favia, flat brain coral, candy cane) secreted this white slime. Attached is the brain coral and it has the most slime on it.

I believe this is a protective measure from the corals, but is there anything I can do or is it a sign of them dying? Also, does the flesh on this coral look normal? I know it may not be easy to see.

Please help!

Steve

 

[eatbreakfast]

They were irritated so secreted a mucus. It's nothing to worry about.

 

[MTBake]

Most corals will do this when irritated. I agree with eatbreakfast, nothing to worry about.

 

[Steve1500]

Whew! The candy cane is 90% retracted. The hammer and frogspawn are about 70% retracted. I assume this is normal after getting kicked in the face during. It has been about 12 hrs since I transferred them to the QT.

Hopefully I won't be back on this Emergency forum for a while. Thanks for calming my nerves.

Steve

 

[Steve1500]

Whew! The candy cane is 90% retracted. The hammer and frogspawn are about 70% retracted. I assume this is normal after getting kicked in the face during. It has been about 12 hrs since I transferred them to the QT.

Hopefully I won't be back on this Emergency forum for a while. Thanks for calming my nerves.

Steve

Do I need to do a water change or anything to get rid of the slime or will it go away by itself?

 

[Mattscubeofwater]

When I glued my monte cap down and pressed on the top of it it secreted the same slime. Within 2 days it was gone

 

[Steve1500]

Thanks MA, I just checked on them and my LEDs just turned on. I have the lights on an acclimation phase and ALL the corals are starting to extend their polyps. Looking much better!

 

[EddieJ]

Having a QT, excellent move there... Only thing I would say is I don't see any reason to drip acclimate corals. Check the salinity they came in, most will come in at least 1.023 if not 1.025. Corals are ok going up a bit in salinity, just not down dramatically. I would temp acclimate them, do your dipping procedure, then place in your QT tank. Some people prefer to just temp acclimate them and then put them in the QT for a week or so before dipping. Guess it's all personal experience at that point. I temp float them, check salinity, into the dip process, and then into the QT tank.

 

[Steve1500]

Yes, acclimation does seem to be stressful, especially if not done right, as in my case.

 

[EddieJ]

The only thing I ever drip acclimate are delicate inverts like shrimp. Using a QT system makes it much less stressful on fish as you just set your SG to 1.017 or so, temp float and release fish into QT. Fish can down in SG quickly as it's actually a big relief and they use less energy on osmoregulation.