I think I have a problem. Help please!

[gar732]

Ok, so one of my acans hasn't been looking so good I tried moving it and its still declining. The exposed skeleton is turning a pinkish red. Now I have noticed that a few of my lps have what looks like red slime and or pinkish red on any exposed skeleton and some didn't have any exposed skeleton before. What's going on and what can I do to stop it? I've never had any problems before and almost all still look ok except for the red. Help please, I don't want to lose anything.

 

[subielover]

Can you give us more details about your tank and water parameters?

 

[MikeB]

Can you give us more details about your tank and water parameters?

+1.......

 

[gar732]

I haven't tested in a while, so I'm going to test everything in a bit. Does it sound like something that that might be off with my water or some type of infection?

 

[Russellaqua]

Can you get pics of the corals in question?

 

[cherokee_dude]

The slime makes it sound like an infection of some sort. First thing to immediately do is move the infected corals away from healthy looking polyps as the slime could possibly transfer to other acans.

You could try a few dips, but IME once they start getting Jelly type infection, I frag a few healthy polyps off, dip them and keep them away from any contact with other stuff for a few weeks.

Oh, and +3 on getting us some water parameters.

 

[gar732]

Here is the acan in trouble the others look ok besides the red thats starting to show up.

 

[wicked demon]

That is an infection, bacteria turn the skeleton pink, I have stopped it by fragging into as many peices as I can and dipping in a combo of melafix, restore, and lugols (what a mix huh?, I was desperate!!). Some peices are still gonna die, but I have saved infected edge polyps with pink skeleton showing. I tried leaving a colony after the dip and always 1 or 2 parts would keep receading.

 

[gar732]

Sorry I just realized how bad that pic is. The wife has the good camera.

 

[Mr. Tang]

+2 pics

 

[gar732]

Its not really like a jelly, not even so moch a slime either just a red coating. I'm puppy sitting at the moment, as soon as the wife gets home I can get some test results. And thank you everyone for the replies.

 

[wicked demon]

The bacterial infection I am refering to, you cannot get the pink off, its "IN" the skeleton, like pink dye.

 

[gar732]

wicked, that sounds just like what I've got. I'm going to try to get a better shot of it.

 

[gar732]

here's some more pics, hopefully they're better.

 

[wicked demon]

ya, thats what it looks like. Check your water still, other factors can contribute to degrading health of the coral.

 

[Viva'sReef]

I would start by dipping the them for sure....but the Acan looks like its Toast already.

 

[gar732]

Yeah, the acan is the worst. Should I dip the others and if that doesn't work then cut or should I just cut and dip. I'm deffinetly going test and stay on top of the water, the puppy I voted not to has been taking up alot of my time lately. And thanks again everyone you guys are great!

 

[wicked demon]

cut the acan up and dip everything, it seems to move pretty slow so you can judge if you need to frag the other infected pieces.

 

[gar732]

wicked, the mixed dip that you used, did you just follow the directions and mix them all together or did you dip them in each dip one after the other. And the dragon soul favia in the pic is prob the next worst, should I cut that then dip or dip and see how it does?

 

[wicked demon]

I use this mix quite a bit, works on a couple other issues as well, (acropora flatworms)
All together in a half gallon of tank water;
1 dropper of lugols
3-4 caps of melafix
5-10 caps of restore