Aussie lord new head development

[Reefdiculous22]

Hello everyone. I was looking at my tank and my corals and doing some cleaning. I noticed on my Aussie lord what looked like little white hairs so I pulled it out and scrubbed it off. I also noticed what looked like a little white “vein” extended from it and removed it , it was kinda hard to get off. Afterwards I noticed tentacles coming out of one of the mouths. So I was wondering was it developing a new head and I just killed that new growth? I haven’t been able to find any pictures of new growth for these corals so I was hoping some had some pics of the beginning stages of this corals development.
Unfortunately I did not get any pics because I thought it might have been some kind of hair algae or something starting to develop, as my tank is in a dire algae/bacteria bloom at the moment. Thanks for any pics/advice

 

[bruno3047]

Hello everyone. I was looking at my tank and my corals and doing some cleaning. I noticed on my Aussie lord what looked like little white hairs so I pulled it out and scrubbed it off. I also noticed what looked like a little white “vein” extended from it and removed it , it was kinda hard to get off. Afterwards I noticed tentacles coming out of one of the mouths. So I was wondering was it developing a new head and I just killed that new growth? I haven’t been able to find any pictures of new growth for these corals so I was hoping some had some pics of the beginning stages of this corals development.
Unfortunately I did not get any pics because I thought it might have been some kind of hair algae or something starting to develop, as my tank is in a dire algae/bacteria bloom at the moment. Thanks for any pics/advice

When you clean it, don’t touch the sides of the actual coral. That’s where the new head will emerge from. Stick to cleaning the frag plug or whatever rock the coral is on only. After six months I’m finally getting a new head out of a couple of my Acans. I didn’t think it would take this long.

 

[Reefdiculous22]

When you clean it, don’t touch the sides of the actual coral. That’s where the new head will emerge from. Stick to cleaning the frag plug or whatever rock the coral is on only. After six months I’m finally getting a new head out of a couple of my Acans. I didn’t think it would take this long.

That’s kind of the problem. I don’t really know the anatomy of the coral so I think I did clean the side of the coral . I cleaned the plug as well. The side was hard so I thought maybe it was part of the plug but is that just the skeleton? I’m gonna get some pics and post. It’s completely closed now since I did that.

 

[Reefdiculous22]

 

[Reefdiculous22]

Is the wedge parts under neath the flesh part of the coral or part of the plug?

 

[Tired]

The plug is only that flat disc at the bottom. Everything else is coral and coral skeleton.

Post another pic in white light. That looks like a /badly/ damaged coral, and I'm hoping that's just the lighting.

 

[bruno3047]

That’s kind of the problem. I don’t really know the anatomy of the coral so I think I did clean the side of the coral . I cleaned the plug as well. The side was hard so I thought maybe it was part of the plug but is that just the skeleton? I’m gonna get some pics and post. It’s completely closed now since I did that.

That little white thing and directly above it is the new head. Stay away from that area when you clean.

 

[Reefdiculous22]

That little white thing and directly above it is the new head. Stay away from that area when you clean.

Yeah I think I damaged the new growth.

 

[Reefdiculous22]

The plug is only that flat disc at the bottom. Everything else is coral and coral skeleton.

Post another pic in white light. That looks like a /badly/ damaged coral, and I'm hoping that's just the lighting.

The plug is only that flat disc at the bottom. Everything else is coral and coral skeleton.

Post another pic in white light. That looks like a /badly/ damaged coral, and I'm hoping that's just the lighting.

 

[Reefdiculous22]

This is what it used to look like

 

[Tired]

Ooh, geez. Yeah, what you have there is a bunch of chunks of flesh on a badly stripped skeleton. Rather brown-looking chunks. I'm not sure whether that's alive or not.

When did the damage happen? Just from the scrubbing?

 

[Reefdiculous22]

Ooh, geez. Yeah, what you have there is a bunch of chunks of flesh on a badly stripped skeleton. Rather brown-looking chunks. I'm not sure whether that's alive or not.

When did the damage happen? Just from the scrubbing?

 

[Reefdiculous22]

Yes just today after I scrubbed with a tooth brush

 

[gbru316]

Yes just today after I scrubbed with a tooth brush

Looks like you scrubbed the coral to death. Literally.

Don't touch anything sticking up from the flat surface of the frag plug. Unless it's hair algae. And even then, you might be better off using tweezers to remove it. Coral tissue is often easy to damage, it's best not to touch it at all.

 

[Tired]

Ah, that would be the problem. Never do that. Toothbrushes can be used to /very/ gently rub SPS corals or tightly closed (non-poisonous species of!) zoanthids, but should never be used on LPS. You've removed most of the flesh from the skeleton. All that white area is coral skeleton that's supposed to be covered.

LPS corals are hardy, so it should hopefully grow back, provided it's kept in good-quality water and provided with nutrients. If any mouths are intact, feed it small meals to help it regrow. It may or may not come back, depending on if there's any healthy flesh remaining.

Next time, post a picture of the weird thing BEFORE scrubbing it off. No algae in the world will reach plague proportions in the couple of days you'd need to get an ID answer, and there are a lot of weird things in reef tanks that are harmless, beneficial, or part of our corals.

 

[bruno3047]

Live and learn, dude. It’s all part of the process.

 

[Reefdiculous22]

I was just looking at it and there is still some bright red in the mouth of the other polyps. I will feed it some mysis and hope that it comes back. Thanks everyone. At least now I know.

 

[bruno3047]

I was just looking at it and there is still some bright red in the mouth of the other polyps. I will feed it some mysis and hope that it comes back. Thanks everyone. At least now I know.

Sounds like a good plan. I seriously doubt that you killed it. Probably just shocked it.

 

[Reefdiculous22]

Sounds like a good plan. I seriously doubt that you killed it. Probably just shocked it.

Sounds like a good plan. I seriously doubt that you killed it. Probably just shocked it.

It was just that one head on the back side . That’s where I scrubbed. The rest was on the plug now that I know the other part wasn’t the plug. There are still 3 healthy heads would be 4 but I must have grazed part of that one because half of it is white and the other half isn’t. So I’m hoping as well it’s stressed and will work itself out. Best case scenario is I stunted its growth for a few month?.. worse case scenario it get an infection and dies? I’m hoping for the aforementioned and not the latter. My zoas did the same as well when I scrubbed them. 6 polyps , 2 are coming back out now. I will def need to be more careful in the future. As was posted previously live and learn.

 

[Tired]

All that white is exposed skeleton that wasn't exposed before. Everywhere you see the hard white is missing flesh from damage. Toothbrushes do not belong on LPS corals.

You're right about the best and worst case scenarios. Make sure to keep your water as clean as possible, without draining the nutrients too much. If there's intact heads on the other side, feed those only, not the damaged heads.

Oh, and for zoas, a peroxide dip can remove algae without needing any scrubbing. You have to be careful with those, because some species of them are toxic, and scrubbing with a toothbrush will spray teeny-tiny particles of slime everywhere. Bad if the slime is toxic.

Hey, at least you've got a good "when I started out in the hobby, I ____" story! And it doesn't involve the suffering and/or death of an animal with a brain. You've basically severely inconvenienced a plant.