Blue Stag RTN what to do

[Trever]

I bought a 2+" frag of blue staghorn last night at my (very reliable) LFS.

This is my first acro, and I'm thinking I over dipped it, meaning I thrashed it back and forth a lot in the Coral RX water. One of three "tips" on the frag plug came off when I was pulling the frag out of the water bag, and I didn't swoosh that frag back and forth in the Coral RX, it just sat in the bottom of the Coral RX water (so dipped, not vigorously thrashed back and forth in the water). That frag piece I glued separately nearby directly to my rock, and not only does it look great, it's doing fine.

I've done said thrashing with all my other corals, but I believe this hardy acro did not like it, it seems obvious from the different histories of the frag pieces. My bad.

The places where tissue is sloughing off are white. Part of the frag is ok, it's not sloughing off everywhere.

Since this is not a disease (I assume it was caused by too much thrashing in the RX water), I'm going to leave it and hope things recover. Is this a reasonable approach or do they never recover?

I have no other acros in my tank, just other beginner SPS (eg. montis, birdsnest, purple stylo).

 

[P-Dub]

Frag the portion with unaffected tissue and hope for the best.

 

[Trever]

Thanks, it's looking worse this AM. Most likely I will give up on and it just get another frag and replace the plug. I'll leave the good piece glued to the rock, of course. Tempting to just go with that piece alone, and see where it goes. I'm trying to get some branches sooner rather than later though.

Might also get a frag rack because I think I have a good place to hide one. Could stick the ailing frag in there to educate myself about how that might go over time.

 

[ScottB]

I baste corals vigorously in dip, but I find CoralRx to be one of the harsher dips. It is very good at removing bugs and worms for sure, but SOME acropora don't tolerate it well. How long did you have it in there, and what was your solution mixed to?

 

[Trever]

@ScottB I was undoubtedly too vigorous with thrashing the plug/frag back and forth in the water, in hind site.

5 minutes, the prescribed amount, though I was having to estimate and error'd on the side of too much than too little. I use the $1 packets and measured out .25 gallon sea water, but with the packets, have to estimate if less than a gallon.

Obviously next time I will be much more careful.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Leave the coral alone for a while. You never know what may live. I had a miyagi tort that had patches of skeleton showing, and it came back and looks great.

 

[Trever]

@Skynyrd how long for it to come back? Just curious. I'm seeing some "come back" already, maybe. We'll see...

 

[Tamberav]

I just got this exact same acro and I swished it hard enough in Coral RX to damage the tip. I did 5 min at 1.5ml per cup which is a bit higher then the directions. It healed up pretty quick.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

These things take a while. It could encrust over it in a week, or a month. An idea is to take a photo everyday around the same time for a couple weeks. This will give you a good idea of what’s happening. Great blue color on it.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Also just make sure you have good random moderate flow.

 

[X-37B]

@Skynyrd how long for it to come back? Just curious. I'm seeing some "come back" already, maybe. We'll see...

Just leave it and go from their.
This stag got stung by a disco mushroom about 10 days ago.
It started to stn and I was tempted to frag it but it stopped and has not increased.
I took a small frag of an affected area nut left the rest alone.

 

[Trever]

@Skynyrd Fish it is a beautiful coral, that is for sure. In fact, my first acro in my tank, and makes me think I'm going to become something I swore I never would: a stick head! Looks amazing here at home. The "good" piece on the rock is evidence enough.

It should be in a good spot. Perfect spot, I suspect.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Yep you got the stick bug. I love it.

 

[X-37B]

Their is no going back from a stick head, just so you know, lol.