Brown Jelly Disease

[Lorekeeper]

So, I bought a branching hammer frag about two weeks ago. Looked great in the store (and so did everything else), and I got a great deal.

Yesterday when I got home, I noticed some brown junk on the coral. I didn't worry about it (I was exhausted), but this morning it looked worse. I learned that it was probably Brown Jelly Disease from a friend on another forum, and sure enough, it is. I sucked out as much of the "Jelly" as I could, and was left with maybe 20-30 polyps, with only a few of those being healthy.

After a quick Google search, I learned that there's no treatment guide for it that's easily found. Is it uncommon, or has no one taken the time to make a solid guide? Or does it simply not need one?

Either way, I decided to do an Iodine dip followed by a peroxide dip, since those two were the most recommended out of what I read, and the coral was gonna die if I left it alone anyway. The peroxide took most of the unhealthy polyps with it, along with a TON of brown gunk. The peroxide might also have been the death of the coral, since I know it's a harsh treatment.

Either way, after a good rinse, the coral went back into the tank. I can count 4-5 polyps left on the skeleton, and don't hold high hopes.

My main question is whether or not I should treat my other LPS. I have an Aussie War Coral and a Candy Cane, and neither are showing any issues with jelly. The War has shown great growth, and the Candy Cane is looking much better after recovering from some hair algae issues. If I should pre-emptively treat, what's a gentler treatment that I can try?

Anything I can do for the hammer, other than clean water and leaving it alone? If I begin to see the last few polyps turning brown, I'll remove the frag.

Thanks.

 

[Lorekeeper]

Candy Cane had some BJD on it tonight. Did a much gentler 10:1 peroxide dip, and it doesn't seem all too happy about it. Definitely closed up tighter than it's ever been. I added more flow, to try and keep it from building up and give the poor thing a chance.

I've been reading almost all day, and I guess I've come to the conclusion that there is no cure. The only thing people seem to be doing is trying different dips and treatments to give corals a leg up and fight it off themselves. Peroxide might kill whatever is on the coral, and lift off all the jelly, but then you've weakened the coral so much that any left in the water column are just going to attack it anyway. I'd imagine Bayer's and other harsh dips would be the same way. I skipped the Iodine, since I'm not sure that it helps that much with something like this, and the less time out of water the better.

The biggest thing that I learned in my reading is that it only really effects damaged/sick corals, which makes sense. The hammer was new, and had been moved a few times and probably had some minor damage from the ride home. The candy cane had been irritated by algae for a while, despite manual removal. The only LPS that has yet to be infected is the War Coral, who's not been touched in about 3 months. New growth galore, and no sign of BJD.

 

[Lorekeeper]

I'm going to try some Bayer's. Hammer completely died, and other LPS are showing signs of BJD.

 

[BigAl07]

Man I hate to hear this. I've seen tanks full of nice fluffy LPS get this and once it starts it's tough to stop. Thank goodness it seems to only affect very specific LPS.

Good luck.

 

[Lorekeeper]

Man I hate to hear this. I've seen tanks full of nice fluffy LPS get this and once it starts it's tough to stop. Thank goodness it seems to only affect very specific LPS.

Good luck.

Thanks, bud. I'm dipping in Bayer's now.

 

[Lorekeeper]

Okay, so the War Coral has stopped releasing mucus, and has opened it's "eyes" back up. No feeder tentacles yet, but this has been my hardiest coral so far (including softies...), so I think it'll be fine.

I went ahead and dipped the Candy Cane as well. It's definitely upset, but then again, it was before I dipped it. Even if this is the nail in the coffin for that frag, I'd rather lose that frag rather than keep the disease in my tank. Hopefully, the dips will take care of it, and the corals will be strong enough to fight off the remaining... parasites? Whatever the things are that cause the disease.

 

[ellenRN]

hi! So, did your Candy Cane survive? What about the rest of your LPS corals. I think my Hammer has it :-( I am super new to this hobby, and hoping i don't lose all of the corals that we just bought. We got our Hammer a couple weeks ago. We went to an event last weekend and picked up a ton (well, a lot to me of new corals, including a beautiful torch and a couple other flowy ones that I don't know exactly what they are and also I think a Candy Cane. I hope so much these don't get it. :-( I really don't know what to do. :-( Any suggestions as to what may have worked for you I appreciate. I am just trying to figure out what to do! :-( Take care, Ellen

 

[Torture]

To my knowledge, the best way to stop it, is to cut off the ones showing the disease and hope for the best. Most of the times I have heard that working.
I touch wood, but I have never had it.