TSA Bill Murray RTN

Jcascioli · May 15, 2020

Guys/Gals
I just purchased a few frags from the TSA live sale last week. In my order I picked up what I thought was a nice encrusting BM frag. 2 days after arrival it began showing RTN around the base.
I need help as to what if anything I can do to save the frag!? It’s so tiny and the RTN is around 20% of the total frag which doesn’t leave me with a lot to work with! Any ideas would be really appreciated!!

tsouth · May 15, 2020

hey Jcascioli, pardon me as I do not have experience here with RTN, but my gut reaction would be to research cutting the frag so that the RTN is removed and the spread can be stopped. Then salvage the rest with high hopes and fingers crossed.

All my best to you!

SCReef'n · May 15, 2020

It’s hard to tell from the pic but I don’t see much tissue loss. Any coral I’ve ever had die on me didn’t have polyp extension like that. Maybe I just can’t see it but looks good to me

Camaro Show Corals · May 15, 2020

Really hard to tell in pictures, is it from tips down? How fast did it happen?

Jcascioli · May 15, 2020

SCReef'n said:
It’s hard to tell from the pic but I don’t see much tissue loss. Any coral I’ve ever had die on me didn’t have polyp extension like that. Maybe I just can’t see it but looks good to me

I feel ya on the polyp ext but if you zoom in on the pic without LED you should be able to see the white area at the base.. I cut it out and now have fingers crossed. I’m not holding my breath that it will make it

Jcascioli · May 15, 2020

The Camaro Show said:
Really hard to tell in pictures, is it from tips down? How fast did it happen?

It’s right at the base of the stalk where it starts encrusting.. it’s all white and the “polyp holes” look empty

DivingTheWorld · May 15, 2020

How do acros usually do in your tank? Have you had issues before? Do they usually grow nicely and never rtn/stn? I ask because we may be troubleshooting a frag when we should be troubleshooting your tank.

Jcascioli · May 15, 2020

DivingTheWorld said:
How do acros usually do in your tank? Have you had issues before? Do they usually grow nicely and never rtn/stn? I ask because we may be troubleshooting a frag when we should be troubleshooting your tank.

That’s a great question!! I am somewhat new to SPS (1 year exp.) however I have had amazing results with every other stick I’ve added! In fact my buddy that got me into the reefing hobby (10+ years exp) is honestly jealous of how fast my acros and monti grow

DivingTheWorld · May 15, 2020

Jcascioli said:
That’s a great question!! I am somewhat new to SPS (1 year exp.) however I have had amazing results with every other stick I’ve added! In fact my buddy that got me into the reefing hobby (10+ years exp) is honestly jealous of how fast my acros and monti grow

If your other acros are doing well and your tank is at least a year old, that checks some significant boxes. Some acros are just a bit more sensitive than others. It’s also possible that it got shocked (mishandling, temp, dipping) between TSA and your tank. I’ve had acros that come out of my dipping process (I’m a bit harsh on them!) looking ugly, but they almost always recover in a week or two.

Jcascioli · May 15, 2020

DivingTheWorld said:
If your other acros are doing well and your tank is at least a year old, that checks some significant boxes. Some acros are just a bit more sensitive than others. It’s also possible that it got shocked (mishandling, temp, dipping) between TSA and your tank. I’ve had acros that come out of my dipping process (I’m a bit harsh on them!) looking ugly, but they almost always recover in a week or two.

I fragged it and removed the RTN, so fingers crossed it pulls through..appreciate the help

meromeroreefer · May 20, 2020

So how is Bill?

TheGreatBarrioReef · May 21, 2020

Hope it pulls through for you. Not a nice feeling to spend on expensive frags and have them decline. Best wishes bud

meromeroreefer · May 21, 2020

Ive had this happen to me after shipping adding glue to the rtn spots will also stop it in sum cases then the acro skin grows over the glue

Jcascioli · May 21, 2020

meromeroreefer said:
So how is Bill?

So I lost the “stick” but I was able to save some of the plug with the encrusted part on it. I scraped away all the dead skeletal matter and covered the freshly cut ends with glue.. so far so good. It looks like the RTN stopped at the glue but only time will tell how and if it grows back... thanks for caring lol

TheDorkLord · Jan 20, 2022

Jcascioli said:
So I lost the “stick” but I was able to save some of the plug with the encrusted part on it. I scraped away all the dead skeletal matter and covered the freshly cut ends with glue.. so far so good. It looks like the RTN stopped at the glue but only time will tell how and if it grows back... thanks for caring lol

Sorry for resing a dead thread. Just curious how things turned out?

Jcascioli · Jan 20, 2022

TheDorkLord said:
Sorry for resing a dead thread. Just curious how things turned out?

Whoa! I forgot all about this!
it actually worked out very well! I got rid of all the dead tissue area by scraping it off with a dental pick I customized. After that I glued the freshly “cut” area. It grew back into a mini colony and was looking great! However after all that I wound up losing the piece when I did my tank transfer into my new 220.. I didn’t realize how good my filtration was and I let it bottom out Nitrate and Pho’s and killed a few pieces.. since then I’ve replaced a lot and everything is doing great now that I’m dosing nitrate and phosphate! My new tank is growing like a beast