Acro Health - Regrowth

[Syoung]

Question about acropora growth and healing.

A frag I recently bought has some damage at the tip, and is prone to algae growth. Is there anything I can do to promote growth/regeneration there in addition to time and stable parameters?

• Been in tank for 3 weeks.
• Visible growth of encrusting portion
• Calcium 420
• Magnesium 1330
• Alkalinity 7 dKh

Also for fun, does anyone have a more specific classification for this acropora ("She-Hulk")?

 

[HB AL]

Break off the tiny bit that's dead

 

[jda]

IME, the branch will heal and regrow faster than it will heal over the dead area. I would cut it off as close to the top as you can. I would only do this if the coral is otherwise very healthy and growing/encrusting - if not, just wait until it is and do not risk losing/stressing the coral.

 

[Syoung]

Thanks for the input HB AL and jda. I'll give it a few more weeks to get used to the system (and to not change anything drastically before Christmas) and then break off the dead part.

 

[BoomCorals]

I've had this happen with frags on occasion, I just cut off the very tip where the algae is growing, and if the coral is healthy it will quickly grow over the area and prevent any algae growth.

 

[Chac317]

I don’t even mess with it. It will grow back over it. I wouldn’t mess with cutting it but that’s just me.

 

[Ocelaris]

Cut out the dead and diseased and start with fresh stock. I've seen it enough whether it's a bacterial infection or algae, corals just need a fresh start. If it's an algae covered tip, the coral has to grow up and OVER the algae covered skeleton which takes forever, if it even succeeds. If it's a clean bleached skeleton the coral can repopulate inside the skeleton, but if the skeleton is filled with algae it will never move back into that skeleton and usually the algae will inhibit the coral from growing up and around it. I had an event 6 months ago and lost tips off some acros. I had a Gorilla millepora which lost the tips off a 3x2" area. The areas eventually were covered in algae and things were looking bad. Eventually one of my tuxedo urchins came and ate the dead skeleton and algae clean off to healthy flesh and it healed back up and has made a stunning recovery. The areas that it didn't make a clean cut or left some algae haven't fully recovered or grown around the algae. After seeing "nature" in action I'm a believer in cutting back to healthy skeleton and letting the coral grow from there.

 

[danreefman]

Let it be. Most sps take at least 3 months to adapt to the conditions they're in.

 

[Rakie]

I prefer to cut off the dead tip. Some do, some don't. I do, because it's significantly faster than waiting for it to sting out and grow over the algae.

People dont tend to notice, but as SPS grow, they sting the area they plan to grow over. Have you ever noticed on a frag plug, a bright white ring right around the growth edge of the coral? It's waging war on everything in it's path, so it can easily grow over the new area.

Algae grows fast.. So it's a struggle for SPS to grow over that algae often times.