Any Success Stopping STN? Please post up!

[ReefMadScientist]

Hey guys,

Anyone have any success with Slow Tissue Necrosis?

I have STN on two of my nice colonies due to a recent issue of low salinity (refractometer was off).

My acro's have grown onto the LR so I was thinking maybe to break it off from the crest and cut off the dead areas?

Please vote:

Lugol's Solution onto the affected areas via swab?

Drain water down and apply SuperGlue to affected areas?

Break and frag off the good areas?

 

[H2O]

I always Frag em let some local feeder hold a back up Frag because ones they start bleaching they whole colonie goes most of the time and the glue trick works 50/50

 

[Defect]

My first SPS frags I bought were STNing and at that time I didnt know what it even was. LFS told me it would be fine and they were 10 bucks each so I grabbed them. After reading more I found out it was STN. I used super glue at the areas and now these pieces are still alive and grown over the glue and fully encrusted.

 

[ReefMadScientist]

My first SPS frags I bought were STNing and at that time I didnt know what it even was. LFS told me it would be fine and they were 10 bucks each so I grabbed them. After reading more I found out it was STN. I used super glue at the areas and now these pieces are still alive and grown over the glue and fully encrusted.

Thanks! I will be definitely doing this.
If it continues, I will frag.

 

[jservedio]

I generally try and keep a backup frag of things just in case the worst happens, but I much prefer to let nature take it's course up to a point as long as the underlying problem is known and can be corrected. If things progress past the "halfway" point of recession (half the colony gone), I will frag it to try and save it. To be honest, I've only ever saved one small colony by fragging it during an STN event, however, "doing nothing" and just ensuring there were no problems with conditions and giving them a little extra flow has been by far the most successful.

Take a look at this very small bonsai colony that receded about 50% of it's flesh and was on the verge of having me frag it . There were no good cutting spots so I just let nature run it's course and one day out of the blue, it stopped receding. This picture is about 6-8 months after it's "low point" - you can see where it receded and regrew over itself (sometimes more than once) leaving hollows and crazy multi-level plates. Pardon the color of the colony - this picture was taken at night under white light only so it looks really strange and it hasn't really ever "glowed" purple and green like I have seen on other bonsai colonies:

When I dealt with AEFW last year, I had several colonies STN on me and not a single one that STNed had to be fragged and not a single one died. Allowing them to naturally recover worked for every one. However, that was a known stressor that caused the STN, so it was easily corrected (namely pest removed, stopped dipping). If you can't correct the reason for the STN (alk swings, pest, temp swing, etc.) and let it naturally recover, fragging or superglue may be the only option. However, even if you frag or superglue it, if you can't correct the underlying problem (infection, unknown pest, etc.), the colony is going to die anyway.

 

[Stoneyman]

Turn off your skimmer for a day or two and add another powerhead or point existing fixtures more in direction of the dying animals. I speak only from personal experience. It worked for me

 

[ReefMadScientist]

I generally try and keep a backup frag of things just in case the worst happens, but I much prefer to let nature take it's course up to a point as long as the underlying problem is known and can be corrected. If things progress past the "halfway" point of recession (half the colony gone), I will frag it to try and save it. To be honest, I've only ever saved one small colony by fragging it during an STN event, however, "doing nothing" and just ensuring there were no problems with conditions and giving them a little extra flow has been by far the most successful.

Take a look at this very small bonsai colony that receded about 50% of it's flesh and was on the verge of having me frag it . There were no good cutting spots so I just let nature run it's course and one day out of the blue, it stopped receding. This picture is about 6-8 months after it's "low point" - you can see where it receded and regrew over itself (sometimes more than once) leaving hollows and crazy multi-level plates. Pardon the color of the colony - this picture was taken at night under white light only so it looks really strange and it hasn't really ever "glowed" purple and green like I have seen on other bonsai colonies:



When I dealt with AEFW last year, I had several colonies STN on me and not a single one that STNed had to be fragged and not a single one died. Allowing them to naturally recover worked for every one. However, that was a known stressor that caused the STN, so it was easily corrected (namely pest removed, stopped dipping). If you can't correct the reason for the STN (alk swings, pest, temp swing, etc.) and let it naturally recover, fragging or superglue may be the only option. However, even if you frag or superglue it, if you can't correct the underlying problem (infection, unknown pest, etc.), the colony is going to die anyway.

Hello. Thanks for taking the time to post up! Yeah, my known stressor was a refractometer off by 7 points. So now that my water has been corrected, a weeks time, I ended up doing another nice water change. I applied super glue to the affected areas to see how it goes. If it gets about 50% or more, I will frag.

Turn off your skimmer for a day or two and add another powerhead or point existing fixtures more in direction of the dying animals. I speak only from personal experience. It worked for me

Why the skimmer?

 

[Oldude]

STN is a pretty natural occurance and in nature is pretty much the way reefs are built. That said it needs to stop at some point or you may loose the colony (stating the obvious) so I generally will cut an insurance frag and hope the STN in the colony stops - usually it does just by letting nature take it's course. (again that depends on the root cause of the event which is usually the hardest part of the equation to figure out. What did I do ten days ago that is causing this to happen today?)
With stags STN can sometimes be a blessing because in my experience if the base died off from STN and you have good branches left growing from it they are afterwards like individual colonies so if a branch decides to RTN it usually won't spread to the other branches - almost like they can't receive the "die" communication being sent out because it can't get through the dead skeletal mass or something.:nono: At least that has been my experience over the years.

 

[ReefMadScientist]

STN is a pretty natural occurance and in nature is pretty much the way reefs are built. That said it needs to stop at some point or you may loose the colony (stating the obvious) so I generally will cut an insurance frag and hope the STN in the colony stops - usually it does just by letting nature take it's course. (again that depends on the root cause of the event which is usually the hardest part of the equation to figure out. What did I do ten days ago that is causing this to happen today?)
With stags STN can sometimes be a blessing because in my experience if the base died off from STN and you have good branches left growing from it they are afterwards like individual colonies so if a branch decides to RTN it usually won't spread to the other branches - almost like they can't receive the "die" communication being sent out because it can't get through the dead skeletal mass or something.:nono: At least that has been my experience over the years.

Yeah I tried the superglue method but it appears the receding has continued. I glued a nice portion of the healthy areas around the STN to help stop it but no avail. I will definitely do an insurance frag and just let the colony be.

As mentioned in the OP, my refractometer was off which caused this STN. I have since fixed the issue so hopefully my SPS will forgive me.

 

[Stoneyman]

Hello. Thanks for taking the time to post up! Yeah, my known stressor was a refractometer off by 7 points. So now that my water has been corrected, a weeks time, I ended up doing another nice water change. I applied super glue to the affected areas to see how it goes. If it gets about 50% or more, I will frag.



Why the skimmer?

If your not infested with any kind of parasite, lack of nutrients is strongly associated with STN. Add some fish, increase feeding, have skimmer-free periods. All in moderation of course. This is based on my personal trials and hours and hours of googling and sifting thru forums and IMing some of the big dogs on the block and getting some great info. Good luk!

 

[ReefMadScientist]

Update.

My SPS are growing over their previous dead tissue. The safety frags I cut are getting massive and the clippings off the colonies are already healed.

Overall, do not try the superglue method and don't panic with your clippers. Just fix your problem and let your corals heal.

Hope this thread helps someone.

 

[pwhitby]

Superglue has always worked well for me, plus the tissue grows back over the glued area

 

[coralcruze]

cut dead branches to withing 1/8"... super glue the tip only... then dip or lugols if you prefer. its always a good idea to take a frag just in case it keeps RTN... finding the cause is the hard part and solving that is key.