Brown tissue on recently purchased branching hammer coral

[Orion9]

Hello,
I received this branching hammer in the mail yesterday and noticed some brown tissue when removing it from the bag. I've had it quarantined since and wanted to ask for help identifying if this is an issue, brown jelly, or normal? The head is opening, no brown tissue or tentacles besides what is shown at the base.

Thanks!

 

[blaxsun]

Does it smell like rotting flesh?

 

[Atherial]

Brown jelly would be on the top of the coral in my experience. Also it comes off really easily.

 

[Orion9]

I removed the coral from water but did not smell anything bad or unusual.
I tried to blow on it with a pipette. the brown flesh moves but does not detach. I did see a little brown stringy mucus come out of the head after acclimation but none since then.
I was able to get a better picture:

 

[ccole]

Thats definitely receding flesh, but it doesn't look like brown jelly to me, at least not yet. Do you have any iodine you can use to dip it?

Do you see any evidence of flatworms?

 

[Orion9]

I don't see flatworms on the plug or coral stem when inspecting with a magnifying glass. After taking the first picture I dipped it using CoralRX, after it was acclimated, but did not see much come off. I will go buy iodine now, thanks for the recommendation.

Its currently in a small acclimation box, if there is no evidence of flatworms or brown jelly, would it be a good idea to put into the DT so it has water flow? I'm currently replacing the water manually in the acclimation box a few times per day.

 

[ccole]

I don't see flatworms on the plug or coral stem when inspecting with a magnifying glass. After taking the first picture I dipped it using CoralRX, after it was acclimated, but did not see much come off. I will go buy iodine now, thanks for the recommendation.

It’s currently in a small acclimation box, if there is no evidence of flatworms or brown jelly, would it be a good idea to put into the DT so it has water flow? I'm currently replacing the water manually in the acclimation box a few times per day.

Is it currently floating in a small acclimation box with no flow in the DT? Not a quarantine tank?

 

[Orion9]

Correct, my QT is being used to treat fish for ich, DT is follow, and no frag tank. This coral was delivered yesterday.
I just returned from my LFS with Lugol's Solution and plan to mix a few drops into the acclimation box.

 

[MischiefReef]

Correct, my QT is being used to treat fish for ich, DT is follow, and no frag tank.
I just returned from my LFS with Lugol's Solution and plan to mix a few drops into the acclimation box.

The first pic looks fine, the flesh on the skeleton stalk is just the color of coral flesh under certain lighting, and the flesh extension down the skeleton looks good. I have tons of healthy euphyllia that looks the same. The condition of the flesh on the skeleton of the right branch in the second picture does look a little damaged. Half of the flesh on the branch below the right polyp seems to be retracted or detached. This can happen from shipping/handling. This is by no means a death sentence for the coral. As others have mentioned an iodine dip will help. Also in case you’re still concerned about BJD, I have had great success combatting BJD numerous times using chemi clean. In the States you have even more treatment options like cipro but up here in Canada we are limited to chemiclean. I used chemiclean in the mixed reef DT according to the box dosage and also have used it as a dip at a concentration of 1 scoop per 1/4gallon for a duration of 15 up to 30 minutes.

 

[ccole]

Correct, my QT is being used to treat fish for ich, DT is follow, and no frag tank. This coral was delivered yesterday.
I just returned from my LFS with Lugol's Solution and plan to mix a few drops into the acclimation box.

In that case I would add to the tank. It won’t do well in the box long term. Since it is a bit damaged, I’d tried to keep it away from your other euphyllia for now.

Keep an eye on it and prepare to seperate it again and dip if brown jelly pops up. The flesh being brown is normal, but if you see a puffy brown cloud that’s not a good sign.

Not the point of the post, but your tank looks really nice. Love that frogspawn.

 

[Orion9]

Thanks to all for your help, suggestions, and the tank compliment! Shortly after posting I suffered a power outage and have been troubleshooting an unresponsive EB832 since, but the coral has been moved into the DT and is look good today.