Amputate?

[andy]

My browned-out Acro colony has got a pretty gross looking polyp (pix below). My params are ok (SG 1.026, Ca 450, Alk a bit low at 6.4, NH4/NO3/NO2 all at or near zero, temp 80*F) so I think it's just sick. I've checked Borneman's book, and I didn't see anything that looked quite like this. Anyways, it needs to be dealt with whatever the problem is.

I'm pretty sure I need to clip that off, but I'm not sure how much of the branch to take. Should I just clip off the tip with the end 3 or 4 polyps or take off more? If more, how much more?

Thanks!

http://reef.eldersign.org/images/sick-colony.jpg

http://reef.eldersign.org/images/sick-branch.jpg

http://reef.eldersign.org/images/sick-closeup.jpg

[reefgeek84]

Yeah, I would clip it...Also are you getting any polyp extension off of it?

[Michael7979]

Yeah just clip off the affected brach.......then clip the end off that branch.......glue it to rubble and wait, you may end up with two corals. I think it should be OK, but better safe than sorry.

[andy]

I clipped it off at the first elbow, took maybe 3/4" of an inch off. It had gotten worse just in the few hours I waited, looked infected and rotten. Another polyp on the same branch had started to go bad as well. :(

I didn't notice while I was acclimating it, but while doing the out-patient surgery I got a whiff of the Acro -- they're stinky buggers, a real concentrated tide-pool at 2:00pm kind'a smell. Not rotten, just OCEAN. The clippings went right into the garbage can outside... I don't want a reoccurance of the stench I had to deal with with the dead clam that got bagged and left in the fridge for a bit too long. Fortunately I got it out before it nuked the fridge, but that garbage can outside will never be the same (puke)