Coral Surgery

[BiochemRobyn]

I have recently come across two corals, one is a scolymia and one is a bubble coral, that have come back from the 'brinks of coral heaven.'

However, they now have considerable algae growth on the receded edges of their skeletons. I have heard that corals such as this end up having a very poor prognosis simply because they can't fight off the algae.

Would it help them to grow if I were to take a pair of wire cutters and cut off the edges of their skeleton up to the flesh?

[rihanssu]

you could try taking a piece of sand paper and getting rid of the alge., i would try that first.

[tico mike]

If you can, get a high speed rotary tool and use a diamond blade to grind it off, if you can without hitting the flesh. Make sure you rinse and do a logul's dip or something. (I've done this in the past and don't think it ever "hurt" anything)

[BiochemRobyn]

logul's dip?

[Frogbone]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lugol's_iodine

[Chad Vossen]

i used a soft toothbrush on my rocks and corals last week to take off some nasty brown algae. also helped remove some green hair algae as well.

depending on the exposure of the skeleton and the algae will determine if a toothbrush is the right way to go.

[BiochemRobyn]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lugol's_iodine

So where do I buy this dip? A LFS?

[BiochemRobyn]

i used a soft toothbrush on my rocks and corals last week to take off some nasty brown algae. also helped remove some green hair algae as well.

depending on the exposure of the skeleton and the algae will determine if a toothbrush is the right way to go.

Sounds good- Do you have any idea what sort of prognosis I could expect from the corals? I have heard that the scolymia might as well be dead (unless a miracle occurs). But what about the bubble coral?

[wolmutt]

The last speaker at the Augsburg club meeting spoke of using a phosphate reactor to help corals regain algae ridden skeleton. The reactor actually makes the algae recede and the corals regrows over the skeleton. He showed pics, but his was with a sps species. Also, you could put the part of the skeleton that is showing in the shade. I think it might be more stressful for the coral to take it out of the tank and clean it, and then put it back in, but I don't know much about all that. Just my opinion.