Holy Grail Scoly doing BAD! Help please...

[BottomCoastReefs]

so a brief history of this scoly... my brother bought this sweet scoly at an anniversary LFS sale (still expensive) after having it for several months he decided to part with his entire set-up due to wife nagging of the hobby consuming his life. I reeked the benefits and received everything he had (guilty smile :xd... no ive had this prize piece in my tank for about 3 months and lately its been going south. when I first put it in the tank I had it in the sand bed and it was unhappy because it kept getting buried thanks to my diamond gobies so I put it on the top of my rock work right under my Radion. after a month or so I noticed a hole forming under the mouth which looked like a cigarette burn hole and that's when I decided to start feeding it thinking it was a nutrition issue... feeding was the worst nightmare having to stand guard against my sneaky Cleaner Shrimp and macgyver Scarlet Hermit Crabs... iv since been doing the old bottle cut in half trick and covering the scoly while it eats. unfortunately it looks to be progressively getting worse little by little, any ideas tips or input on helping this thing recover would be greatly appreciated... im even considering fragging the thing down the middle if it looks like a lost hope since im facing the odds of losing it anyways.. the first pick is from November 4 2013 and the grey mass on the top right of it was food not flesh and the following pics are from today showing the decline in health in about a months time...

 

[Squishie89]

Is it still under the intense light? And what have you been feeding it?

 

[_Alex_]

Low light low flow. These don't do well under direct lighting like that. You IMO are basically burning be flesh. Move it down lower in the rock work. It would be fine on the sand if was by getting covered in sand like you said.

When we got or scoly it was missing over 50% of its flesh. And was going down hill. This was close to 3 years ago. And it healed back in about 2-3 months time to a beautiful scoly. Here is a pic

-Alex-

 

[BottomCoastReefs]

not under intense lighting anymore, my radion is pretty direct so I moved it to the farthest possible location from the light where even my zoas starve for light but my candy canes love it there, im feeding it the frozen food that I feed my fish called LRS "herbivore frenzy" which I was told is similar to Rod's... not sure if this food is the best for it or not but I don't know what else to feed it.

 

[BottomCoastReefs]

Low light low flow. These don't do well under direct lighting like that. You IMO are basically burning be flesh. Move it down lower in the rock work. It would be fine on the sand if was by getting covered in sand like you said.

When we got or scoly it was missing over 50% of its flesh. And was going down hill. This was close to 3 years ago. And it healed back in about 2-3 months time to a beautiful scoly. Here is a pic

-Alex-

did you feed anything special to help it recuperate better? that's a beautiful piece by the way!

 

[BottomCoastReefs]

not under intense lighting anymore, my radion is pretty direct so I moved it to the farthest possible location from the light where even my zoas starve for light but my candy canes love it there, im feeding it the frozen food that I feed my fish called LRS "herbivore frenzy" which I was told is similar to Rod's... not sure if this food is the best for it or not but I don't know what else to feed it.

in reply to Squishie89, thought I hit the reply with quote button...

 

[miyags]

I feed mine 1/4 in. or less chunks of raw scallops, and I feed my cleaner shrimp a chunk first. If it will not eat don't force it. I had salt creep fall on one and it burned the flesh like that. Also check Ph and Alk.

 

[whixley101]

I would do a lugols dip just to be safe then place it in a far corner of the tank on the sand bed. I would also hold off on direct feeding until you see it's flesh returning. I would also monitor it after lights out to make sure nothing is bothering it. I have seen shrimp constantly picking on a coral, looking for food, until STN took over. Just my two cents. Hope this helps.

 

[kuansreef]

Look like it got some bacteria related infections.

 

[Darren]

Low light and medium flow in the sand. Hope for the best.

 

[BottomCoastReefs]

Thank you everyone for your input I greatly appreciate it, I'm going to do a lugols dip today and I'm going to relocate my shrimp to my frag tank for now just to remove the possibility of messing wwith the scoly till it gets better... ill keep you posted on condition in a week. But if you have any more suggestions feel free to post

 

[BottomCoastReefs]

So I just bought some Lugol's solution its the Brightwell Aquatics brand and I have no idea on how to go about dipping the scoly... ive never preformed a lugol's dip and I know that if not done right, things can go bad... so how much do I use and and how long do I dip for etc. could you guys give me a quick rundown on how to do this. THANKS

 

[Mr. E Wrasse]

So I just bought some Lugol's solution its the Brightwell Aquatics brand and I have no idea on how to go about dipping the scoly... ive never preformed a lugol's dip and I know that if not done right, things can go bad... so how much do I use and and how long do I dip for etc. could you guys give me a quick rundown on how to do this. THANKS

it should say on the box but my lugols is 15 drops per gallon of saltwater for 10 minutes. I think he just got burned. Mines under low light qith low flow and fat as can be. If the goby is burying it that much, you could by a little glass globe with an opening at top and put it inside

 

[Bubbles_B]

is it bleaching?

 

[_Alex_]

I didn't feed till flesh was 100% covered and feeders were coming out on a regular basis.


-Alex-

 

[BottomCoastReefs]

is it bleaching?

not necessarily just flesh ripping open as you can see in the pics

 

[BottomCoastReefs]

I didn't feed till flesh was 100% covered and feeders were coming out on a regular basis.


-Alex-

wow! Maybe ill hold back on feeding then to keep it from getting picked at... still throws out feeders though, about a quarter of them...

 

[Braves Fan]

Keep us updated on this, I would like to know how it turns out.

 

[reef. coffee & curly hair]

It's probably overfeeding or some kind of foreign indigestible material made its way in their. Usually something with an edge bc I've seen scoly's spit out sand and small rubble but seen one rot from a small piece of clam/oyster shell. These only need direct feedings maybe once every week or two only. Some can handle more. Feeders out do not mean feed me a lot. If you feed a scoly before it has had a chance to spit out the previous feeding the spent digested food will rot within the scoly hence the hole near the mouth. The entire scoly would be turning white from bleaching and the tissue would thin out and tear where it is receiving too much flow. Hope this helps and best of luck. On a side note I have heard from a couple vendors of a funky worm (this is fairly rare) that are supposed to come out late at night and disappear at first sign of light except for red lens flashlight etc. Keep hope as I have seen scoly's come back from massive tissue loss. As with anything don't over dip or move this guy constantly. Luck...!{=^>

 

[BottomCoastReefs]

It's probably overfeeding or some kind of foreign indigestible material made its way in their. Usually something with an edge bc I've seen scoly's spit out sand and small rubble but seen one rot from a small piece of clam/oyster shell. These only need direct feedings maybe once every week or two only. Some can handle more. Feeders out do not mean feed me a lot. If you feed a scoly before it has had a chance to spit out the previous feeding the spent digested food will rot within the scoly hence the hole near the mouth. The entire scoly would be turning white from bleaching and the tissue would thin out and te ar where it is receiving too much flow. Hope this helps and best of luck. On a side note I have heard from a couple vendors of a funky worm (this is fairly rare) that are supposed to come out late at night and disappear at first sign of light except for red lens flashlight etc. Keep hope as I have seen scoly's come back from massive tissue loss. As with anything don't over dip or move this guy constantly. Luck...!{=^>

holy crap I didnt realize overfeeding was so bad, I may have doomed it then because I've been power feeding it for like. A week and a half now thinking that a full tummy would give it the energy it needed to heal, but the hole started before I started feeding it so I dont think that was the cause although its not helping now ... I appreciate your help and ill keep an eye out for the worm... as far as over dipping, what do you recommend?