Antibiotic options for treating relentless STN/BJD

[Hypnotoad]

Gave the Duncan a bath last night and treated the whole tank a dose at .250 mg/L

No goo on the duncan this morning. The brown on those branches is apparently just what color they are now, because nothing is flowing in the water, and I can't blow it off. Looks like a few of the heads that were just hanging on are gone now.

Unfortunately, I also noticed my Scolymia is losing some tissue and its mouth is open.

Duncan and Scoly both got another dip this afternoon, and I'll treat the tank again tonight.

I'll keep y'all posted.

 

[Hypnotoad]

Duncan heads that were on their way out are still on their way out. Some small amounts of goo are visible, but they could just be dying tissue and mucus, because I'm not seeing nearly as much nasty brown stuff as I was before.

Scoly still deflated. Mouth is open but not as wide, and it continues to lose some tissue. It's really going to sting if I lose this guy.

 

[68 Stang]

How many times did you dose?

 

[Hypnotoad]

2 nights so far.

2 baths for the Duncan and one for the Scoly

 

[KrisReef]

2 nights so far.

2 baths for the Duncan and one for the Scoly

For the record, 2 baths in what antibiotic (s)?

THanks. I do my second FT Cipro treatment tomorrow, similar pathogen.

 

[Hypnotoad]

2 baths in cipro

 

[LRT]

I have no experience with Duncans.
Would it be possible to remove the super infected parts that are dead and gone and keep the healthy or fighting parts present?

 

[Hypnotoad]

I’ve been thinking about it.

I might try, but the colony is really interconnected and the skeleton is really thick and hard to cut.

I’ll probably try so I don’t have to look at so much dead skeleton.

 

[LRT]

I’ve been thinking about it.

I might try, but the colony is really interconnected and the skeleton is really thick and hard to cut.

I’ll probably try so I don’t have to look at so much dead skeleton.

Thinking it may possibly help reduce pathogens in water and around the coral and give antibiotic better chance of defeating it. Probably help the coral getting rid of super infected parts as well.

 

[Hypnotoad]

Did another bath yesterday then cut as much death away from the duncan as I could.
I also upped the dose considerably last night. In reference to Eagle Steve's statement here and in some other threads(where he dosed 500 mg to 120 gal several days in a row), I dosed 110mg of cipro to my 27G water volume (29 gal tank with 10g sump. I measured the water volume when I initially filled it last year). No adverse effects so far.


I'm gonna keep going with the increased. @Eagle_Steve don't worry, I take full responsibility for what I'm doing and don't have a ton to lose at this point.

Here's the Duncan this morning:

I ended up with a couple frags...

Also, check out the happy polyps on the Cyphastrea in the foreground. That thing has been all closed up for months.
Maybe it's a coincidence, but It's also possible it's been stressed fighting nasty bugs.

Here's the Scoly this morning continuing to make me sad:

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Did another bath yesterday then cut as much death away from the duncan as I could.
I also upped the dose considerably last night. In reference to Eagle Steve's statement here and in some other threads(where he dosed 500 mg to 120 gal several days in a row), I dosed 110mg of cipro to my 27G water volume (29 gal tank with 10g sump. I measured the water volume when I initially filled it last year). No adverse effects so far.


I'm gonna keep going with the increased. @Eagle_Steve don't worry, I take full responsibility for what I'm doing and don't have a ton to lose at this point.

Here's the Duncan this morning:

I ended up with a couple frags...

Also, check out the happy polyps on the Cyphastrea in the foreground. That thing has been all closed up for months.
Maybe it's a coincidence, but It's also possible it's been stressed fighting nasty bugs.

Here's the Scoly this morning continuing to make me sad:

No worries and best of luck. I did it as a just to see, but if in the same boat, would go nuts with dosing as well. Better to try something then just watch is all melt away.

 

[Hypnotoad]

Continuing treatments and gave the infected corals a 5 hour bath Yesterday:

No major changes in the duncan colony:

One of the Duncan frags is sick:

Scolymia just looks absolutely horrific:

Right now I'm kinda wondering if there's ever going to be an end to this. Cipro seems to be helping the Duncan colony somewhat, but I'm not sure it's sustainable.

 

[Hypnotoad]

ugh....

 

[Hypnotoad]

Scoly is dead.

cut some more death and suspect heads off the Duncan. Can’t really frag it anymore at this point without a saw. Also lost one of the Duncan frags.

Gonna do some water changes and vac some sand.

maybe I can stir around some bacteria and mess with the biome a bit.

nothing else is showing signs of infection at this point, so maybe the cipro helped the tank if not the dying corals.

wait and see mode now I guess...

 

[Hypnotoad]

Things are still stable.

Duncan colony looks unchanged for the 3rd day in a row. I’m convinced the Duncan would be dead by now if I hadn’t intervened, the evil was spreading really quickly.

Still bummed about the Scoly. Priciest coral I’ve ever sprung for. Beautiful and fun to feed.... oh well

No new sick corals and most things look puffier and happier than they did prior to treatment.

hopefully the trend continues.

thanks to everyone for the help.

 

[LRT]

Sorry about the scoly. Hopefully everything else recovers for you. Id keep doing what your doing it seems to be helping. I know the feeling losing high end expensive corals and absoloutely nothing you can do to help. Sometimes you lose some I guess. It is horrible though.

 

[ryanuy]

This sounds exactly what happened to my tank before i restarted everything 2 years ago. Seems to be creeping up on my tank again starting with some chalices. I wll try treating everything in my tank as well and hope that it helps.

 

[stacksoner]

How's your tank doing? What are your thoughts on the Cipro treatment in hindsight?

 

[TheDragonsReef]

Sorry to hear about the scoly, the most expensive corals always get affected first . So did you save the Duncan?

 

[Hypnotoad]

Thanks for the continued interest, friends.

Just got back from a Memorial Day getaway and the Duncan is still holding on.

2 weeks ago I saw some more sickness on the Duncan and threw it in a 10g hospital tank that I dosed with 500mg amoxicillin daily.

Thought I’d try the amoxicillin since that article has been going around about biologists using it to treat corals in the wild.

A week in that hospital tank knocked back all the nastiness.

the Duncan is hanging on but I’m still giving it 50-50. Just going to wait and see at this point.

upon returning from vacation I did see a pronounced bloom of ugly organisms... Some mix of diatoms, cyano, and hair algae.
It’s nothing unmanageable, but I definitely think the heavy cipro dosing messed with the bio filter enough to kick off a second ugly phase.

I think I’d recommend the hospital tank approach if one can swing it, but I know corals can’t always be easily pulled.

that said, several corals perked up noticeably after the whole tank treatment.