Not so fast with removing dead corals

[MikeyG]

A few weeks back I had a major disaster whick killed all 42 fishes, inverts, and most of my large SPS colonies.
I removed some of the dead SPS skeletons 2 days later.
However, I decided to leave some of the dead skeletons where they were.
I was actually thinking of planting new frags on them as an experiment was told by a few experts it would not work because the algae growth would out pace new tissue growth.

A week or 2 went by and I noticed some new tissue growing on what was the dead skeleton.

I was so happy I decided no to remove all of the dead skeletons.
Every week that went by new tissue started spreading more and more.
In 4 weeks one of the large colonies completely recovered and the other is approximately 90% there.
Lesson learned, when disaster strikes don't be so quick to remove stuff.
See before and after pictures of the dead colonies and the recovered version.
If I was not watching the tank every day I would not believe what took place.
You have no idea how happy I am to see their recovery

 

[PeterC99]

A few weeks back I had a major disaster whick killed all 42 fishes, inverts, and most of my large SPS colonies.
I removed some of the dead SPS skeletons 2 days later.
However, I decided to leave some of the dead skeletons where they were.
I was actually thinking of planting new frags on them as an experiment was told by a few experts it would not work because the algae growth would out pace new tissue growth.

A week or 2 went by and I noticed some new tissue growing on what was the dead skeleton.

I was so happy I decided no to remove all of the dead skeletons.
Every week that went by new tissue started spreading more and more.
In 4 weeks one of the large colonies completely recovered and the other is approximately 90% there.
Lesson learned, when disaster strikes don't be so quick to remove stuff.
See before and after pictures of the dead colonies and the recovered version.
If I was not watching the tank every day I would not believe what took place.
You have no idea how happy I am to see their recovery

Thank you for posting this! Have thrown out one or two frags that I thought had bleached out. Won’t be so quick to toss them next time.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

W00pwoop! Congrats man. Thats great
D

 

[gideon2086]

I saw this a while back and am now putting it into practice for the first time. I had a crash while away for a week and lost a good bit of SPS. I left it all in - while some are certainly done for I do have a few pieces that have come back to life.

 

[James_O]

That’s great news!

Sorry for your loss though.

 

[gideon2086]

That’s great news!

Sorry for your loss though.

meh, one of the many.. many hard (and expensive) lessons I've learned in this hobby.

 

[MikeyG]

While i am happy with the recovery i wish i could place a finger on what's most responsible for the recovery.
Is it the lighting?
Is it the flow?
Is it the restoration of a low nutrients environment?
Is it the dosing?
Is it a combination of all the above alone with a little Poseidon luck?

 

[ZoWhat]

A few weeks back I had a major disaster which killed all 42 fishes

Wait....42 fish?

 

[clifg]

Wait....42 fish?

Yeah OP, care to tell us what happened so we can avoid the same fates?

 

[Skullring]

I agree. I have a montipora that struggled for about a year. I finally cut it down to about a 1 mm piece and mounted it on a frag plug and it is coming back more beautiful and colorful than ever. Don’t be so quick to give up on them.

 

[MikeyG]

Wait....42 fish?

That's exactly how i felt

 

[canadianeh]

That's exactly how i felt

More importantly is tell us how did you lose 42 fish?

 

[fish farmer]

I agree. I have a montipora that struggled for about a year. I finally cut it down to about a 1 mm piece and mounted it on a frag plug and it is coming back more beautiful and colorful than ever. Don’t be so quick to give up on them.

I put a monti frag in my tank a few years ago just to try, my tank wasn't ready for it. It bleached in a month, but there was a small bit of browned out polyps surviving. I trimmed the skeleton down and watched the tiny thing grow. I recently remounted it in a permanent spot and is coloring up and encrusting.

I wont elaborate on the single green mushroom I nursed back from the dead 20 years ago...aggressive weed now.

 

[User]

My very first batch of corals 3 years ago included a 2” diameter green fungia plate. I had a heater malfunction in my QT which I didn’t catch for a week and the water was at 55of in between weekly water changes. It lost all its flesh and turned completely white in a matter of another week

I put it in my display anyway. Kinda hidden away but just sitting in the sand. 2 1/2 years later, I now have 37 fungia plates of various sizes, spawning off the original ‘dead’ skeleton

don’t throw out your dead corals, people.

 

[User]

I feel like quitting every time I lose a single fish. In my 3 years I’ve only lost like 4 though.

If I lost 42 at once, I’d give the whole setup away for free and turn my fishroom into a padded cell to keep me from hurting myself

 

[MikeyG]

More importantly is tell us how did you lose 42 fish?

So...my protein skimmer was over skimming so i made a minor adjustment.
Went back to work ....from home on MS Teams/Zoom calls.
4 hours later i checked on the tank and 150gal eater gone.
Skimmer went crazy.
I started mixing new saltwater.
Added 100g of new water.
By now it was midnight. I added the lady batch of water.
Next morning i woke up to find everything dead.
Check and my salt level was 42ppm.
I typically maintain 34ppm.
I basically turned my tank into the dead sea.
I figured the salt was not fully dissolved before i added the new water to the tank.
Normally i mix my salt water 48hrs to do a water change but this was an emergency response.

Very, very costly mistake.
Not to mention some of these fishes and corals for over 10 years.

Needless to say i could not stop crying for 2 days.

 

[TCoach]

Wow! So sorry for the losses. Thanks for being willing to share.

 

[PatW]

My system had an ALK deflection and I thought that some Acropora frags I had bought were toast. As it turns out after about 8 weeks, they are all coming back and some are really growing. They were just playing possum.

 

[hhaase]

I had a monti bleach and die on me, my mistake as I over-blasted it with light. I just left the frag on the rock. A piece of the skeleton broke off and tumbled into the substrate and I just let it sit.

A few weeks ago I was cleaning up a bit and grabbed that piece off the substrate. What do I see? A small patch with maybe a half dozen polyps on it. It's slowly growing back. Who knows what it'll look like in a couple months.

 

[elysics]

Were they just bleached or actually dead, with bare skeleton without skin? 4 weeks seems super fast for a whole colony to be recovered, especially if there was no visible life left

But maybe you just got some super-corals lol