Favia tissue loss?

TheWB · Oct 15, 2019

Hi,

I have a Dragon Soul Favia frag that’s been in the tank since late July. I took a picture this morning of what looks like receding tissue but I’m not sure and could use some advice. The first picture below is without the tank lights this morning, just ambient room light and the flash from my iPhone. The second picture is from a little while ago under the normal tank lighting which is a Radion XR15pro gen4 running the Ecotech LPS setting which is pretty blue. The spots that looked white in the first pic are dark in the second pic. Sorry if the pictures aren’t great, I’m not a good photographer and I’ve only got the iPhone without any filters to use. I’m new to LPS so any thoughts or advice are welcome. Does that look like exposed skeleton and if so what’s the best way to help it recover. Thanks.

MJD · Oct 15, 2019

That's interesting how it died off a bit in the middle, usually if something were to die off it would slowly recede from the outside in. Not sure what it means, because otherwise the coral looks healthy to me, try an iodine dip maybe and see if any pests come off and inspect it closely, otherwise just maintain stable parameters and make sure its not getting hit by too much light maybe. It should heal up, it almost looks like those are old wounds to be honest, if they were fresh wounds you would see the bright white bone, it almost seems like the spots had some time to color up with a bit of algae.

TheWB · Oct 16, 2019

MJD said:
That's interesting how it died off a bit in the middle, usually if something were to die off it would slowly recede from the outside in. Not sure what it means, because otherwise the coral looks healthy to me, try an iodine dip maybe and see if any pests come off and inspect it closely, otherwise just maintain stable parameters and make sure its not getting hit by too much light maybe. It should heal up, it almost looks like those are old wounds to be honest, if they were fresh wounds you would see the bright white bone, it almost seems like the spots had some time to color up with a bit of algae.

Thanks for the input. I appreciate it. I just moved it to a higher light area but I’ll try a more shaded location next if it doesn’t start looking better.

TheWB · Oct 16, 2019

intricate_reefer · Oct 16, 2019

I agree with all of what @MJD said. Personally I wouldn't go moving it around quite yet, particularly to more light. You would be surprised at how little LPS really need. Do you have any crabs or shirmp that could have tore the tissue after you fed it? Any other corals fall on top of it?

TheWB · Oct 16, 2019

Thanks for checking it out. I do have hermits so that’s definitely a possibility. I’ve never seen this coral feed or even extend tentacles though so probably not food theft. I will relocate it to somewhere with lower light since I just moved it to a higher light spot from where it was and see how it does.

FOO-CAT · Oct 17, 2019

Are you feeding it? Try some Reef-Roids maybe.

TheWB · Oct 17, 2019

FOO-CAT said:
Are you feeding it? Try some Reef-Roids maybe.

I have not tried to feed it. I only have three corals in the tank and the other two (acan, Zoa) will grab mysis and brine when I feed the fish. The Favia has never shown any kind of feeding behavior. I’m not sure how easy it would be to feed Reef-Roids to just one coral. I’ll have to look into it. Thank you for the suggestion.

Hermie · Oct 18, 2019

Feed it if you don't. Anything, like the mysis you already have.

Anchor · Oct 18, 2019

You can get 3 ml plastic eye droppers on Amazon for cheap.. I suck up a bit of roids I soaked in water and dropper it right onto any of my LPS. Blasto in particular. have also done Favia and Acans. Easy as pie.. give em a whiff of it then slowly drop some on.. turn off flow while doing it for about half an hour.. or a bit less.

Hermie · Oct 18, 2019

Anchor said:
You can get 3 ml plastic eye droppers on Amazon for cheap.. I suck up a bit of roids I soaked in water and dropper it right onto any of my LPS. Blasto in particular. have also done Favia and Acans. Easy as pie.. give em a whiff of it then slowly drop some on.. turn off flow while doing it for about half an hour.. or a bit less.

I feed everything but the monitpora I have doesn't really react at all.

Mushroom, Plate Coral, Favia, Platygyra, NPS, (tried GSP but it doesnt react much), Candy Cane, Cyphastrea, Chalices. I feed 'em all! Or try...

TheWB · Oct 18, 2019

I’ll pick up some coral food next time I’m near the LFS and see if I can get any kind of reaction out of the Favia. I tried to temp it with some mysis before but it didn’t react at all. I’ve been told they like particulate food better so that’s what I’ll try and do.

intricate_reefer · Oct 18, 2019

TheWB said:
I’ll pick up some coral food next time I’m near the LFS and see if I can get any kind of reaction out of the Favia. I tried to temp it with some mysis before but it didn’t react at all. I’ve been told they like particulate food better so that’s what I’ll try and do.

If you going to go with the powdered food Id recommend getting the benereef stuff. Corals like it and it has a lot of phosphates. With that or reefriods you just want to mix it with a tiny bit of water so its not too watery then just target feed with all the pumps off.

intricate_reefer · Oct 18, 2019

As far as a pipette, I get these big 12" ones off eBay. Mainly because my clownfish likes to bite lol, its also nice not having to get your whole arm wet. I was going to get that Julian thing feeder but decided this would be easier.

Extra Large transfer pipettes 23 mL 12" long (Pack of 10) | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Extra Large transfer pipettes 23 mL 12" long (Pack of 10) at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

noobreefer2 · Feb 27, 2024

Hey, I know this is an ancient thread, but do you remember how this turned out? I'm having pretty much the exact same problem. Thanks.

TheWB · Feb 27, 2024

noobreefer2 said:
Hey, I know this is an ancient thread, but do you remember how this turned out? I'm having pretty much the exact same problem. Thanks.

Wow, yep, thread from the dead, I'd forgotten I even posted this.
The coral died soon after and never showed any type of feeding response when I tried to feed it directly.
Wish I had a better answer for you but I couldn't save it.