Advice needed- My first acropora

mrbacony · Jan 10, 2022

I will start off by saying this is my fault completely. I have two reef tanks and I put this Millepora in The less established tank. Also, it has been sitting in an angle for several days which may have caused it to not get enough light. I have since moved it to my more stable system.
First of all, is this salvageable? Secondly, should I try gluing it down with the dead portion, or do I need to trim it all the way to the live part?

T-J · Jan 10, 2022

I'd trim off the arms that are still good and glue them down to some plugs.

Epic Aquaculture · Jan 10, 2022

mrbacony said:
I will start off by saying this is my fault completely. I have two reef tanks and I put this Millepora in The less established tank. Also, it has been sitting in an angle for several days which may have caused it to not get enough light. I have since moved it to my more stable system.
First of all, is this salvageable? Secondly, should I try gluing it down with the dead portion, or do I need to trim it all the way to the live part?

It is salvageable but only if it is in good conditions. I would definitely either put super glue on the dead part, or glue it down on it's side with the dead part covered by the glue. Unfortunately it's probably unlikely to survive, but it is possible. The part that's dead was not killed by a lack of light though. That is RTN and lack of light would take effect over a much longer time period.

mrbacony · Jan 10, 2022

SawCJack00 said:
It is salvageable but only if it is in good conditions. I would definitely either put super glue on the dead part, or glue it down on it's side with the dead part covered by the glue. Unfortunately it's probably unlikely to survive, but it is possible. The part that's dead was not killed by a lack of light though. That is RTN and lack of light would take effect over a much longer time period.

so you would not trim any of it? Just lay it flat?
What would cause the RTN and is it contagious?

Bribo12 · Jan 10, 2022

I’d definitely trim the good parts off and cut a bit above where the dead tissue is. There’s still a good possibility the frags won’t make it but if left alone it will 100% rtn.