Hold'n N Fold'n a very brief discussion on towel tossing

[Battlecorals]

So, tell me guys and gals, when you have that piece that looks iffy or just plain bad, and you have been watching it for what seems like months. It's not recovering at all, or slowly getting worse even, tell me, at what point do you finally say “forget this” and yank the thing?

I have found that the span leading up to the eventual pull, sometimes weeks or months even, is by far more stressful than the final commitment to rip the thing out. Repeated visits to the tank to examine the doomed pieces only serve to further deepen our agony. But, by finally eliminating this "problem coral" my spirits seem to bounce back pretty quickly actually lol. It’s true that watching coral suffer for extended periods of time is extremely unnerving and ultimately quite deflating. The moment that influence is gone is the moment I am back to admiring my “happier” looking pieces.


Now I’m not suggesting that we all start ripping the stressed or damaged coral from our system in an effort to “feel” better. but I can say for sure that there is a point at which I am either fed up with the stress or see no more evident recovery in the particular corals' future. And the only option left is to pull out and move on. Anyone else ride'n this train with me?

 

[Maacc]

I tend to ride it out until tissue strips and then the frags I make also strip or totally fade.

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

If I see flesh coming off I take it out. Brownouts and bleaching I'll put it over on the frag rack and see what it does for a few months. If it just isn't growing or coloring, I will cull it and give it as a freebie to see if someone else can make something happen with it. Either way I agree - once the problem is gone I look forward to what I can do in its former space.

"Out of sight, out of mind" is probably an apt proverb here. It's also worked with my ex-wife.

 

[Coastie Reefer]

Granted you and I are on completely different levels and I get where you're coming from, but as long as I see life in a coral I have a hard time tossing it out. I've waited nearly 2 years to see a coral bounce back from the brink, and as many times as it made me want to pull my hair out, I get some real satisfaction when looking at that coral(s) now, knowing neither of us gave up.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

I usually just let them stay until they stn completely. Enough scotch or bourbon fixes the mental anguish.

 

[Reef Dude]

I usually ride it out until the end. Even though seeing a coral fade and lose tissue over the course of weeks and/or months bums me out, effects my overall mood, and keeps me obsessing over what’s wrong, I at least have hope until the last morsel of tissue falls off.

 

[c.poindexter]

Same here, I let them stay in and do not move them until they are faded completely.

 

[RandyC]

I’m a forever optimist. Until that last polyp is gone and algae is growing on the skeleton, acro stays in the tank. I usually try a dip or too before though (Expel, Bayer or iodine)

 

[Karl M]

I never thought about it much, but you are right, once the piece(s) is remove I do tend to feel better because at that point I’ve reached the end of the road and with it the stress and anxiety.

Although....I do have one frag i have had over two years that’s been dormant the whole time. This thing has not grown a fraction of a centimeter ..nada,nothing never seen a so much as a polyp been pale the whole time can’t tell you how many times I thought it was a goner.

I have had it long enough to forget whom, what and where it came from.
Well today may be the end of our torment , it has started to get a lite dusting a brown algae covering it.

Yep it’s coming out, thanks Adam

 

[Battlecorals]

I never thought about it much, but you are right, once the piece(s) is remove I do tend to feel better because at that point I’ve reached the end of the road and with it the stress and anxiety.

Although....I do have one frag i have had over two years that’s been dormant the whole time. This thing has not grown a fraction of a centimeter ..nada,nothing never seen a so much as a polyp been pale the whole time can’t tell you how many times I thought it was a goner.

I have had it long enough to forget whom, what and where it came from.
Well today may be the end of our torment , it has started to get a lite dusting a brown algae covering it.

Yep it’s coming out, thanks Adam

exactly! let the catharsis begin my friend lol

 

[PedroYoung]

Totally get what you're saying. If I have a "problem child" it diminishes my enjoyment of the rest of my children. I probably hold on too long in most cases, trying to bring it back, or hope it recovers, but once it's gone I do feel a weight lifting. I've had 2 of my favorite chalices just up and die on me over the last couple years and it was heart breaking watching them waste away. Repeated dips and cuts trying to save a piece. Once I finally pulled the plug though I was able to really appreciate for the first time in a while how great everything else in the tank was doing.

RIP Maui Sunset
maui-15 by Peter Young, on Flickr

RIP HotStuff
unreal hotstuff3 crop-3 by Peter Young, on Flickr

 

[Breadman03]

I almost never remove them from my system. I just relocate them to the CARX.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

My OP Acro almost got sent to pasture when I was breaking my tank down to move. It had “died” weeks before and I just didn’t feel like burying it.

Upon taking it out during the break down, I saw it was not dead at all. I could see plenty of flesh still that had an ever so slight fluorescence from being so close to my leds during the removal.

It’s now colored up, encrusting, and full of PE in my new house. Let them be!

 

[Battlecorals]

My OP Acro almost got sent to pasture when I was breaking my tank down to move. It had “died” weeks before and I just didn’t feel like burying it.

Upon taking it out during the break down, I saw it was not dead at all. I could see plenty of flesh still that had an ever so slight fluorescence from being so close to my leds during the removal.

It’s now colored up, encrusting, and full of PE in my new house. Let them be!

Good save man for sure. I think that smaller pieces especially frags are tremendously more resilient that colonies. I don't know that I've ever had a way down and out captive grown colony recover from the dead brown state, but frags from that colony have come around.

 

[therman]

I chuck them after they lose PE and recede to something sub-frag sized, or sometimes move them to a new spot to give them one last chance to either kick the bucket or show some growth.

I'm right there with you, such a relief to finally not look at...for instance...Snipers Bubblegum! Haha

 

[Battlecorals]

I chuck them after they lose PE and recede to something sub-frag sized, or sometimes move them to a new spot to give them one last chance to either kick the bucket or show some growth.

I'm right there with you, such a relief to finally not look at...for instance...Snipers Bubblegum! Haha

Right! It's just to deflating sometimes. A clean slate can really do wonders for tank viewing morale. lol

 

[Bpb]

I can’t seem to bring myself to pull problematic pieces. I let them go dormant and fade away. You’re right I probably should just pull them when they appear past the point of no return. At least after a couple months