Please help-Palau leather

[amccausl]

Dr. Ron,

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a question bout my palau leather with tissue necrosis. It was on the base stalk, where 2 branches devide.As per your directions, I cut the infected tissue out. After a couple of days, it seemed to recover,and regain full polyp extension. Within the last couple of days, it has started to close up again. I looked at the coral, and noticed that the tissue had begun to necrotise again, at the same spot, except this time, there is a much larger hole.It appears that the entire base is hollow, and filled with brown necrotic tissue, and what appears to be little white slivers.I directed a bit of current over the infected area, to remove some of the debris, and that is what came out of it. It is like a tree with a hollow trunk .I have checked for any signs of parasitic snails etc.., but could not see any.I think, that whatever is causing this, may be spreading to other soft corals in my tank. I noticed that one of my sarcophytons, now has a couple of holes in it's lobe, and my tree coral has a small amount of necrotic tissue on one of it's stalks. Could you please help me, I'm worried that it may wipe out my entire tank.

Any help that you could provide, would be greatly appreciated.

[rshimek]

Hi,

I recall your original post. This is decidedly NOT a good set of events. I tend to think one of two things is occurring, neither of them good.

1) Some sort of bacterial infection that is attacking and killing the corals. I don't really think it is this.

2) Some internal parasite or predator. These could be small crustaceans or snails.

I think my prognosis is not good. I can not tell you what to do here. That is up to you.

If it were me....

I would take the orginal leather completely out of the tank move it to a large bowl and dissect it. I suspect it is going to totally go to the great-reef-in-the-sky anyway. Save the tips of branches or other more-or-less intact fragments. You can probably get viable cuttings from them.

In the rest of it...

The white slivers are skeletal spicules of the coral. They are normal. The brown necrotic area isn't. I would suggest searching this whole animal are very carefull for small snails or bugs. Check both the necrotic and the NON necrotic area. Check elsewhere in the animal for some larger snails. The ones that really whack leathers get about the size of a golf ball.

It sounds like one of those larger ones just reproduced, or some other parasite reproduced.

If this is the case, my only suggestion - and what I would do in my system would be to search out the leaters with holes and cut out the tissue with the hole in it, and hope that I got the infective stage.

Practically, there isn't a lot you can otherwise do.

Good luck. :(

[amccausl]

Thanks for the reply.

I was afraid that was the case. This is really unfortunate. This leather is/was my favourite coral.I will try to salvage it. :( Since it's probably a goner anyway, do you think a dip in lugol's solution might help?I know you don't normally recommend this, but it's a last ditch attempt.

[rshimek]

Hi,

No, I don't think a Lugol's dip would help.