Help! Scoly detached from its skeleton!

emerald525 · Jan 18, 2012

Need advice from a scoly expert! A friend of mine who got a scoly from me a while ago is having the following issue! I will post pics if I can get them. Any thoughts? She posted this in our local forum and I am reposting here.

We have a beautiful bleeding apple scoly that we got a little over a year ago. Fat and happy. Until I moved him into an area that had too much flow. And he blew right off his base!

This was two days ago. We knew he had to be in the tank somewhere, so we just about dismantled the rockscape looking for him. No scoly.

Sorrow and lamenting ensued. I got up in the middle of the night, dismantled the blue LED moonlights, and shone them all over the tank, looking for a hint of glowing green. No scoly.

When we got home from work yesterday- there he was! Behind the rocks! Looking ****** off, but pretty good, considering! The rocks were dismantled a second time, and scoly was gently retrieved. We glued him back on his base, and we made a scoly hospital in the tank: small glass bowl with a little sand, top covered by netting so he can't float off again. We nestled the bowl in the quietest corner of the tank and gave him a snack. He was looking better. He likes Oyster Feast.

But now he's detached again. He's sitting up next to his base in the scoly hospital, kind of at an angle. Should we try to glue him a second time? Should we let him just sit directly on the sand in the little bowl? I have been told that the base is formed from waste products, and that in theory, he should form a new base. How do we make him comfortable in the meantime so he can recover from his ordeal?

We need advice from the scoly whisperer.

emerald525 · Jan 18, 2012

Anyone have any ideas?

Troylee · Jan 18, 2012

Wow that's a first for me... Never heard of that or saw it, much less thought it was possible lol...

KLR · Jan 18, 2012

Usually with LPS, when they detach that is kinda the final straw...IME

I think a picture will help alot, I might be mentally seeing it wrong.

If it is accepting food,that is a good sign.

I am interested to see if there is a solution aswell.

emerald525 · Jan 19, 2012

Here's a cell phone picture she sent me. Weird huh? I have never seen anything like it.

Ninjapotamus · Jan 19, 2012

Thats crazy. Best bet would be to take out the skeleton, slather it with glue and reapply the tissue

emerald525 · Jan 19, 2012

That's what I was thinking. They tried to glue it once and it detached again. You don't think the glue would kill it?

Ninjapotamus · Jan 19, 2012

The slime is probably keeping it from sticking. You should take it out and lay the flesh flat on a paper towel to get rid of some of the slime. I do it all the time with extra slimy protopalys to help them stick. Never tried it with LPS like this, but it should help it stick. Make sure the skeleton is also dried off. thick gel ecotech or icgel would be best for this situation.

after that low flow and a bit of luck

emerald525 · Jan 19, 2012

Ninjapotamus said:
The slime is probably keeping it from sticking. You should take it out and lay the flesh flat on a paper towel to get rid of some of the slime. I do it all the time with extra slimy protopalys to help them stick. Never tried it with LPS like this, but it should help it stick. Make sure the skeleton is also dried off. thick gel ecotech or icgel would be best for this situation.

after that low flow and a bit of luck

Okay I will pass it along. I have just never seen this happen. You don't think all the glue is going to kill it?

Ninjapotamus · Jan 19, 2012

I don't think the glue will hurt it. Its not likely to survive as a freefloating blob for very long. Surival chances are probably slim, but its worth a shot.

bkoppes · Jan 19, 2012

Glue could kill it, but as long as you don't glue the mouth shut it should be ok. I wonder if you put it in a smaller container with the skeleton so it rests on the skeleton if it will maybe slowly re-attach?? If you do glue it I would do as those above said. Some luck would help!

el richie · Jan 19, 2012

Wow I've never heard of anything like this before, good luck and keep us posted

Troylee · Jan 19, 2012

That's really crazy!!! Never knew that could happen lol...

emerald525 · Jan 19, 2012

bkoppes said:
Glue could kill it, but as long as you don't glue the mouth shut it should be ok. I wonder if you put it in a smaller container with the skeleton so it rests on the skeleton if it will maybe slowly re-attach?? If you do glue it I would do as those above said. Some luck would help!

Yeah I was wondering if telling them to wrap it in mesh like you do with a ricordia would work.

MarvinsReef · Jan 19, 2012

yikes! I've owned a few Aussie scolymias before and I had one do this. I'm not sure what caused it but I didn't really try anything coz I didn't think that anything can save it since I thought LPS will need their skeleton to survive. mine kinda just was hanging in the skeleton and finally detached when there was only a small piece left. I don't really know if gluing it will work either but it's worth a shot at this point. if it keeps detaching, the method above you suggested is probably the best to see if it'll re attach itself. good luck and keep us posted.

Reefing8EZ · Jan 19, 2012

Thats crazy, I hope your friend finds a solution. It looks alive and healthy, pretty weird that it could float around with no skeleton.

emerald525 · Jan 19, 2012

MarvinsReef said:
yikes! I've owned a few Aussie scolymias before and I had one do this. I'm not sure what caused it but I didn't really try anything coz I didn't think that anything can save it since I thought LPS will need their skeleton to survive. mine kinda just was hanging in the skeleton and finally detached when there was only a small piece left. I don't really know if gluing it will work either but it's worth a shot at this point. if it keeps detaching, the method above you suggested is probably the best to see if it'll re attach itself. good luck and keep us posted.

Reefing8EZ said:
Thats crazy, I hope your friend finds a solution. It looks alive and healthy, pretty weird that it could float around with no skeleton.

Thanks for all the thoughts. I will keep everyone posted. It's a shame it's such a lovely scoly.

emerald525 · Jan 21, 2012

Updated pictures

So my friends sent me some cell phone pictures. They tried reglueing the scoly back to the skeleton again today:

What's really odd is it is in every way behaving normally and even feeding much to the Algae Blenny's jealousy!

If the scoly doesn't hold they may try wrapping it in mesh. I will keep you posted. Very strange...

oh: