Identifying a potential brain coral disease

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Fable7
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Jan 30, 2022 5:00 pm

Identifying a potential brain coral disease

Post by Fable7 »

I've been noticing my brain coral's been slowly shrinking, and I'm getting a bit concerned. Got it from my LFS after it had been stung by another coral, so I picked it up for cheap. It was doing great initially, but now I've seen these white filaments streaming off it for a while, and tonight I saw this dense white filament on one end. I'm not sure if it's some sort of disease or if the coral's just growing a skeleton - any ideas what's going on here?
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brixo
Posts: 48
Joined: Sun Jan 30, 2022 7:49 pm

Re: Identifying a potential brain coral disease

Post by brixo »

It appears to be tissue damage or dying coral tissue, rather than new growth. I'd recommend treating it with a coral dip to eliminate any potential germs, then focus on providing it with plenty of nutrients to encourage healthy growth.
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zenoxa
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Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2022 5:16 pm

Re: Identifying a potential brain coral disease

Post by zenoxa »

Those white filaments you're seeing are likely Mesenterial filaments, a defense mechanism, but also an indication the coral's stressed. What are your parameters, and has the coral always been in the same location? It looks like something's stinging it on the bottom. A dip in a coral revive product could be beneficial. Good luck.
Fable7
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Joined: Sun Jan 30, 2022 5:00 pm

Re: Identifying a potential brain coral disease

Post by Fable7 »

So I'm totally clueless when it comes to feeding this brain coral - I've never given it anything to eat before. Just transferred my tank a couple of weeks ago, so it's in a brand new spot. Everything else is thriving - my hammer coral, GSP, and montipora are all doing great. Any tips on what and how to feed this coral would be super helpful right about now.
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brixo
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Re: Identifying a potential brain coral disease

Post by brixo »

I target feed my brain with tiny bits of frozen squid or shrimp using a syringe with a rigid air-tube. Since I started doing this, it has been growing rapidly for me - I've had mine for 6 months and it's roughly tripled in size in that time. I used to give it a lot of food and it would take up to 8 hours to eat it all, but that wasn't a problem. Now I feed it just enough that it finishes in a couple of hours. I've also tried coral frenzy, hykari, formula 1 pellets and zooplankton, but it doesn't seem to like those as much.
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