Saving a CHEWED coral

[Makara23]

Something happened last night, and I'm not sure if my prized JF Favia spontaneously melted away or if something is eating it. I have a few dozen corals and this is the first time. I'm leaning towards something hungry eating the flesh, because I see remnants of fluorescence flesh still on the skeleton. Also if you look closely, there are still "stringy guts" on the skeleton, which tells me its been freshly eaten and not a slow deteriorating.

It seems like ALL the mouth/eye has been devoured, so without any feeding mouths, does this favia have a chance of survival, and how can I save it? It's on a frag rack so the only possible thing that could get to it at night are shrimps (skunk, fire shrimp, or peppermint), or a known polyclad flatworm.

 

[Stonefortheday]

Commenting to see the answer. Good Luck!

 

[Makara23]

For reference, here is a picture of it 2 months ago when it was first introduced. It has since doubled in size until this happened.

 

[fodsod]

Wow, that looks pretty bad. I had a Favia that got picked at by one of my fish. I dipped it in Iodine for 10 minutes. It's still recovering and not 100% but does look better.

That is a beautiful coral, it'll be shame if you lose it.

 

[mtraylor]

What fish do you have?

 

[mtraylor]

Did you dip it when you got it 2 months ago? Could use a dip now in lugols and possibly pest dip. Could if have gotten knocked off the rack for a few days then someone put back on frag rack for you without you knowing?

 

[Makara23]

What fish do you have?

Nothing that would pick on corals. They all go to sleep at night, but here is the list:

• Royal Gramma
• 2x clownfish pair
• firefish
• chromis
• damsel

I have various snails, shrimps, and hermit crabs. It was on a frag rack so I know hermits can't get to it. I don't think snails would do this, so I think the perpetrator might be peppermint shrimp or at least 1 polyclad worm. Can worms eat corals this quickly, and in this pattern?

 

[Graemesreef]

+ 1 on lugols asap, probably be wise to keep on hand for the future as well.

 

[mtraylor]

Well it sounds like you are sure it was over night. If that was the case. I would vote maybe crab. I have a few crabs that climb my back wall. So I think they could get there.

 

[Tired]

Any chance another coral stung it? Some corals can evert their digestive filaments to digest competition. What is it next to, and how close it is?

Should be fine. LPS are good at recovering from tissue damage. They'll come back from scraps of flesh, let alone what looks to be at least one or two relatively intact frags. Gentle iodine dip might be a good idea, then feed it (making sure to keep the shrimp away) if/when it'll eat, and it should do fine.

 

[Makara23]

+ 1 on lugols asap, probably be wise to keep on hand for the future as well.

I don't have any iodine, as this is the first time it happened. But I'll order some ASAP and hope it can come in time and be the treatment to healing this favia

But my initial question still stands: with all the center mouths eaten, does it have a chance at living? Can it still regrow from photosynthesis and phosphate/nitrate from the remaining flesh?

 

[fodsod]

I don't have any iodine, as this is the first time it happened. But I'll order some ASAP and hope it can come in time and be the treatment to healing this favia

But my initial question still stands: with all the center mouths eaten, does it have a chance at living? Can it still regrow from photosynthesis and phosphate/nitrate from the remaining flesh?

Yes, you don't actually have to feed Favia. My first one took over an entire rock in 3 months and I never fed it a thing.

Just keep it away from whatever you think attacked it the first time, keep the light and flow low and do an Iodine dip to help it recover.

 

[mtraylor]

Looks like it will recover with no issues to me

 

[Makara23]

After iodine dip, would it be wise to frag the largest intact flesh from the remaining micro "island" flesh? I don't want to risk a bacteria infection to the rest of my tank if the tiny bits starts rotting.

 

[fodsod]

After iodine dip, would it be wise to frag the largest intact flesh from the remaining micro "island" flesh? I don't want to risk a bacteria infection to the rest of my tank if the tiny bits starts rotting.

IMO I'd take a wait and see approach after doing all of the previously listed steps. The Iodine dip should help prevent infection and promote healing (you may need to dip more than once) over a period of time. If you start cutting on it the stress may be what ends up killing it. As with every frustrating thing in this hobby, noting good happens fast.

Hopefully one of the pros will be by shortly to chime in.

 

[twentyleagues]

Like others have said dip it keep it out of direct flow. You could frag it but those scraps could regenerate also. I had a plate coral get obliterated in a rock disaster in one of my old tanks. It healed from a few strips of flesh left on it. It was all my fault I dropped a rock on it while I was trying to catch a fish (stupid) and then forgot about it for the rest of the day.

 

[Stephen Glover]

Peppermint shrimp damaged some of my corals in the past. Caught them in the middle of the night.

 

[twentyleagues]

Peppermint shrimp damaged some of my corals in the past. Caught them in the middle of the night.

never trust a shrimp.

 

[Graemesreef]

Like said above keep in a low flow area, but it wont hurt to give it a shake once or twice a day to let dead tissue fall off until the iodine gets there. Just remember if you decide to frag it after the dip you should dip it again. I'm pretty confident the first dip will heal it up might be a little ***** for a minute but will regain its shape in time. Do the math and follow the directions on the back of the lugols carefully and you'll be fine. Good luck with him.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I don't have any iodine, as this is the first time it happened. But I'll order some ASAP and hope it can come in time and be the treatment to healing this favia

But my initial question still stands: with all the center mouths eaten, does it have a chance at living? Can it still regrow from photosynthesis and phosphate/nitrate from the remaining flesh?

Go to the grocery store and buy generic iodine. Absolutely no need to spend extra $$ for the name.