Possible solution to end RTN forever?!?

[BigJohnny]

Definitely can’t argue that his dip is working very well. Apparently his ability is underestimated.

Working very well against whatevers in that video, sure, maybe.

Hey @Reefahholic

Do you have any affiliation with this product or company?

 

[Demonic]

Hey @Reefahholic

Do you have any affiliation with this product or company?

This was my initial thought. There has to some affiliation to be pushing this so hard without any skepticism whatsoever.

 

[Reefahholic]

Looking at more video evidence it appears that multiple parasites are munching on the coral at the same time in some cases. Not all cases.

I still think the Philaster is the one responsible for RTN, but sometimes there’s others there with them including ICH. I just don’t believe the others have the speed capability to consume colonies in 24 hours.

So...the Philaster may not be the only player at work eating tissue in some cases, but when a coral goes up in smoke...they’re leading the pack while the others are left behind. Their movement, speed, numbers, and shape are just impressive. They’re designed to munch coral tissue and I think they’re the primary cause of RTN. Meaning if you took them out of the equation...you would only see STN. Now we just need to prove this which honestly will not be that hard in time.

There’s also ways to isolate a small tank full of acropora. Dip all coral and anything that’s going into the tank with the Prime Coral Stop RTN dip. Maybe start with dry rock as well. Then treat the tank with the in-tank treatment to eliminate any possible coral parasites and microscopically test everything to make sure that they are not in there. Then stress the coral and see if any STN or RTN occurs. If it does, immediately examine the coral microscopically to identify the cause. Then look at the water 12-24 hours later to identify numbers and species. If the acropora don’t RTN...then we’ll have our answer.

 

[Reefahholic]

This was my initial thought. There has to some affiliation to be pushing this so hard without any skepticism whatsoever.

None at all. I do not know this guy whatsoever. Not sponcered by him or anybody affiliated with him. I’m not receiving any compensation for anything I’ve done or said. That’s 100% fact.

 

[Reefahholic]

This was my initial thought. There has to some affiliation to be pushing this so hard without any skepticism whatsoever.

My passion comes from 15+ years in the hobby wondering what in the heck has been RTNing my SPS all these years. ;Bored

All the assumptions about RTN never made much sense to me. The only thing that really made sense was a very aggressive bacteria, but I never felt it had the speed to cause RTN. I’ve owned several microscopes over the years and have access to a full lab at work. I’ve been able to discuss and look at many different microorganisms. This is the only thing that I feel would be capable of this kind of rapid damage.

 

[Syntax1235]

For the sake of this discussion, can RTN and STN be interchanged?

 

[Reefahholic]

For the sake of this discussion, can RTN and STN be interchanged?

I’m thinking yes. It’s looking that way from the evidence, but the leaders seem to be those slender Philaster’s.

Check out this RTN swarm on this frogspawn. Picture this swarm in a much larger size on a large acropora colony.



Then watch this video:

 

[Reefahholic]

I lost a 8" acropora aculeus colony yesterday that went from bright neon green (even out of blue lights) to this in a matter of 10 hours. I never seen one go so quick.

which caused my 5" tenuis to start to go as well.

If its parasites that are doing this, where do they go after they completely consume a coral?

This might help answer your question better.

Go to 2:40 in the video:

 

[lakai]

Dang man, sorry to hear this. If you have that coral isolatated in water, you can send me a sample of that water and I’ll test it. I’ll post a video here. PM me if you’re interested.

Where do these parasites go? Who really knows.

I think they remain in the tank and feed on detritus and uneaten food. They’re probably in the rocks, sump, sand, etc. Just like Uronema, I believe they’re opportunistic and do not require a host. There’s probably thousands in all of our tanks.

I just changed the water last night. I'd be happy to send you some of water and one of the colony skeletons and maybe some of the sand if you would like and see if it helps.

 

[Reefahholic]

I just changed the water last night. I'd be happy to send you some of water and one of the colony skeletons and maybe some of the sand if you would like and see if it helps.

I’ll pm you my address and my number. I had my coral in water for 24 hours without them dying. I bet they will be alive and well. I’ll post a video when I receive it. Just water should be fine. If you pulled that coral and some water then I’m sure they’re in there. When exactly did you pull it? If it’s too long after the coral is bleached then I’m afraid they will leave it.

 

[Reefahholic]

If anybody would like me to scope a fragment of infected acropora or any SPS frag on its way out-frag that coral- isolate it in a small amount of water while the issue is going on, and PM me and I’ll send you my address.

Make sure to record the time and date. Be great if you can document here about what’s going on too. Then I’ll post the video with the time I received and scoped the coral and you’ll be able to see the findings.

 

[Dkeller_nc]

I'm all for credible research, but prefer to wait until there is evidence of causation rather than just correlation.

I'm even more for credible scientists that can cogently elucidate their theory and explain the evidence that supports their theory. That's a basement-level requirement. It that's not present, then the entire structure collapses. In this particular case, there are far, far too many inconsistencies and logical fallacies present to be credible.

 

[Syntax1235]

I assume this Philaster protozoan is also found in the water column, and thus the need for a whole tank treatment is necessary for its eradication. Dipping the corals in his solution would get rid of the bulk of the Philaster on that particular coral and it should show signs of recovery? If used as a dip, why wouldn't a simple iodine based dip work just as well? I've dipped corals suffering from stn in many dips, I have not seen the coral improve in most cases.

 

[Prime Coral]

Maybe from reading studies showing Vibrio bacteria also being a (a, not the) cause.

Ca1ore, check this out bro!

This was tonight.

 

[Prime Coral]

I'm even more for credible scientists that can cogently elucidate their theory and explain the evidence that supports their theory. That's a basement-level requirement. It that's not present, then the entire structure collapses. In this particular case, there are far, far too many inconsistencies and logical fallacies present to be credible.

The proper studies were done to prove Philaster protozoan is the cause of coral RTN. Over 600 RTN ing corals have been studied to date and 100% have The RTN parasite Philaster as the cause.
In addition Prime Coral labs were the first to prove the definitive relationship between Philaster and Coral RTN. See here for more info
https://coralrtn.com/experimental-evidence/

 

[Prime Coral]

Ca1ore, check this out bro!

This was tonight.

Bauer does nothing to kill the RTN and STN parasites. Check out this video

 

[Prime Coral]

I assume this Philaster protozoan is also found in the water column, and thus the need for a whole tank treatment is necessary for its eradication. Dipping the corals in his solution would get rid of the bulk of the Philaster on that particular coral and it should show signs of recovery? If used as a dip, why wouldn't a simple iodine based dip work just as well? I've dipped corals suffering from stn in many dips, I have not seen the coral improve in most cases.

 

[Prime Coral]

Of course anybody wants to make money. I would too.

The treatments are expensive to make because the ingredients cost a lot. It’s about covering cost of production.

 

[Prime Coral]

I just stumbled on this thread and find it incredibly interesting. While I’m not necessarily buying the “This is the parasite that is the cause for every single RTN event ever” theory quite yet, it is most definitely worth looking into. I’m actually really surprised that it’s being so readily dismissed.

Maybe the critter is an opportunist, maybe it does need a stress event to take over. But, on the other hand, maybe our corals are RTN’ing after otherwise survivable stresses due to a parasite. Bottom line is, we don’t know. This is neat and has potential to be a big discovery, bigger than our aquarium hobby if it pans out to be true.

While I won’t be lining up to declare war on these things, I will most definitely be watching this unfold.

Thank you for being open minded. I am the one that discovered them to be the cause of coral RTN with 600 corals from widespread sources and ALL cases of RTN in every type of coral in the hobby has the RTN parasite Philaster seen microscopically. They are 100% the cause every time confirmed microscopically. Normal healthy corals don’t have them. They are quite simply an infection and are spread coral to coral by swimming and infecting coral. I don’t believe stress has anything to do with it.

 

[Prime Coral]

I'm all for credible research, but prefer to wait until there is evidence of causation rather than just correlation.

There is credible evidence
https://coralrtn.com/experimental-evidence/