Story Time: The Coral Infection That Spreads By Contact
I'm sharing this in hope it helps someone else one day. I was only able to find a few other posts showing similar issues.
It all starts with these two corals. This photo is from before the first coral attack leading to round 1 of the infection.
Round 1: 8/31/2021
I woke up in the morning and noticed that a pink mille had attacked the acro next to it. By evening the acro had tissue loss which continued to get worse. That night I cut the branch off to try and stop spreading which worked.
First photo is from 1pm.
Second photo 9pm after I cut the branch off because it was getting worse.
Third is from 9/12/2021 showing no further issues from round 1.
Round 2 "The Infection": 9/18/2021
I don't have photos from 9/18 but I woke up and once again saw the same two corals had attacked each other.
Photo from 9/19/2021 7AM the nasty brown jelly tissue is spreading. I remove infected corals.
9/19/2021 12:35PM it continues to get worse and spread.
9/19/2021 1PM these photos show how it spreads out kind of like a wildfire.
9/19/2021 7PM I pulled out as much as I could of the infected parts.
9/20/2021 10AM I'm convinced it spreads by contact and pull off the Orange Passion and "Fake" Pearlberry. The top of this rock was so over grown and everything was touching I had lost 9 corals by now. I use super glue to try and create a boarder on the corals I can't pull out and are too close to the infection.
9/20/2021 5PM a small chunk must have fallen and hit a coral below so I trim out some of those and toss anything that looks infected. Glue is added to anything I can't cut out to cover possible unseen infections
9/21/2021 12:20pm I notice a little infection on the Setosa but it's so encrusted and impossible to cover everything with glue but I try anyways. Sorry the worst photo.
9/21/2021 8PM I'm so over this and desperate. I drain out over half the water. Rip out new chunks including healthy parts to get a clear view of the Setosa. Use undiluted peroxide on anything even close to looking infected and at least a half to full inch into healthy tissue. Cover every edge with super glue and refill.
While it's drained I notice a baby pocillopora that had a small chunk of the infected coral fall and on it. Strong evidence this spreads by contact. None of the coral around it was infected.
Yellow outline: Tiny bit resting on the poci that fell from above the prior day.
Blue outline: Dead pocillopora.
Lesson Learned:
I wish I would have drained the tank, cut out infected parts, used peroxide and glue to create a bearer from the start. By the end I lost 9 corals and had a very stressful few days. All perimeters were stable for months prior. The infection killed Acropora, Montipora and Pocillopora very fast. If you have something happen like this act fast to stop the spreading and be careful to clean up anything that falls.
