Tissue recession on Aussie Blasto

[txmaverickmh]

hey guys,

I just got home from being out of town working for a week, and I noticed that my aussie blasto is not looking so good, it is crinkling up and you can see the "crown" of the skeleton starting to pierce through the tissue.

Some background information, I have had the same thing destroy a beautiful aussie acan that I had, see picture below, I had 8 heads now down to 1 head...

http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/ad3/txmaverickmh/EmergencyDiscussion004.jpg

The aussie blasto is my favorite coral, I dont know if this is a parasite or what, should I dip it in iodine dip? ro/di fresh dip?

Please help, I dont want to lose this guy!

http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/ad3/txmaverickmh/EmergencyDiscussion003.jpg

http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/ad3/txmaverickmh/EmergencyDiscussion002.jpg

http://i916.photobucket.com/albums/ad3/txmaverickmh/EmergencyDiscussion001.jpg

[hobogato]

mine do that sometimes when a snail climbs over them. they usually puff back up pretty soon tho. do you have a fish or invert that may be picking on it?

[txmaverickmh]

no, sometimes the shrimp walk on them...it looks like they are melting on the skeleton, should I give them an iodine dip?

[saabtech]

IMO. the first thing you need to do is not stress out, (i don't know that you are, just making a point) then step back and not overwhelm your self with large dramatic plans.
this is all just opinion from me!!!
i wouldn't think you need to dip them if its just an irritant. (i would need to see a parasite first) keep in mind the irritant could be toxic water or a large enough change in the chemical balance.
you stated that you were out of town for a week, well i would say allot may have changed in that time and you most likely need to do a water change of some reasonable amount (again don't make it stressful) and begin your normal routine and just monitor. if it seems to be getting better over time you have done your part, if it isn't, do another water change (matching Ph and temp and salinity as best as possible) and continue to monitor. if conditions do not improve, find an adoption tank from a friend or lfs to try and help it out.
good luck, most coral is durable if treated with care.

[BIGBIRD123]

Mike,
If you feel better about dipping it, I would use Brightwell's Tissue Restore. It is for damaged tissue. We use it when we frag Zoas/Palys to help heal after fragging.

[stoneroller]

Go for a little shade and lower flow area and see how it responds and... I agree with a dip, it won't hurt if done properly.

[stoneroller]

Have you fed it at all?

[txmaverickmh]

hello all, I did a water change tonight, my water parameters are perfect, nothing out of ordinary, and all my zoas, acros and other softies are doing fine. I did dip the coral with coral dip (iodine) and it is in the healing stages.

My worry is that I have lost an entire acan colony that did the same thing, polyps looked funny, then tissue recession around the crowns, then tissue recession everywhere, so much that the acan polyps popped off and were floating around the tank, now I have one polyp left of the acan...this blasto is doing the same thing, looking funny, tissue recession around the crown, skeleton starting to pop out, I think it has to be some parasite/disease that is eating these things, I guess we will see how it does tomorrow.

Any thoughts on dipping it several days in a row with the coral dip? Is that too much for the coral?

I suppose I could move it to different light flow, what are thoughts for best flow/light for aussie blastomussa?

Thanks for everyone's help!

Michael

[txg8gxp]

They looking any better today? What happened to the acans sounds very wierd, hopefully the problem can be solved soon.

[fishypets]

What is your MG levels like?

[ACE]

What is your MG levels like?

This is a very good question. In my experience with acans/blastos, MG level needs to be right, if low, you will have issues. The acan you lost, did the heads bail out? That is a good indicator of low MG level as well. I'd get a test kit if you don't have one because this does not sound like an isolated incident.