Candycane Coral Polyp Detached

[Zakary2003]

I left for 6 days to visit family for Thanksgiving. I came back to find the fleshy part of my single polyp candycane is completely detached from the skeleton. The polyp is fully intact. Can I do anything to save it?

 

[Mikeltee]

Glue it to a rock and see what happens.

 

[Zakary2003]

Glue it to a rock and see what happens.

Apply glue directly to the flesh?

 

[littlefoxx]

Apply glue directly to the flesh?

Yeah try it, talking with a guy at my LfS earlier who knocked a whole colony of those over in one of the tanks they manage and he said he glued them back to the rock and said thats usually what he does

 

[Zakary2003]

Yeah try it, talking with a guy at my LfS earlier who knocked a whole colony of those over in one of the tanks they manage and he said he glued them back to the rock and said thats usually what he does

Idk what your LFS guy did but the glue made the situation a lot worse. The polyp shrunk up even smaller and detached from the glue leaving a good amount of tissue still attached to the glue. For anyone reading this thread in the future, I strongly advise against gluing candycane polyps directly.

 

[Zakary2003]

Yeah try it, talking with a guy at my LfS earlier who knocked a whole colony of those over in one of the tanks they manage and he said he glued them back to the rock and said thats usually what he does

Just to be clear, my polyp fell off of the skeleton and was rolling around the tank. I assume your LFS guy had skeleton fall off the rock and he glued the skeleton with the polyp back on the rock. I don't feel like I am in the same situation.

 

[Willu]

Yeah, I don’t think you can glue it, the coral will probably slime off. what you have sounds like polyp bailout, haven’t seen it myself, but from what I’ve read the coral will separate from the skeleton due to stress to “increase it’s odds of survival”. I’ve seen pictures of it happening on euphyllia/fimbriphilia & elegance corals.

I’m not sure about how successful people are in keeping these polyps alive. I would probably move it into a low flow, low light area and see how it does, and see if it’s receptive to feeding. Or you can even put it in a breeder box with some rubble.

Also check your water, make sure nothings off and maybe do a water change

 

[Zakary2003]

Water quality has been stable (higher nitrates than I would like but it has been consistent) and I did a water change when I noticed the fallen polyp. It is currently in a breeder box because I put it there after I glued it to allow the glue to cure, but obviously that didn't work out. It is not receptive to feeding but looked nice and puffy until I glued it. Now it is very small and unhappy and has ripped tissue where the glue was attached. I definitely wouldn't recommend trying glue, at least not cyanoacrylate.