Birdsnest salvage

[ski]

Hi,

 

I recently "adopted" a couple birdsnest frags from petco.

The only issue with the frags is they had GHA shading parts of them. Small sections at the tips still have polyp extension and color, the rest appears to be just dead skeleton.

 

Would the best course of action be to break off the surviving ends or keep the whole frag intact? Essentially would the coral recolonize the skeleton as it recovers?

 

Thanks for any ideas!

[GHill762]

it won't recolonize dead skeleton, it can encrust over it though.. pics would really help explain your situation, sounds like it's mostly dead? you can do either, but ime if you just got it the best course of action is to let it be for a while, no need to further stress it at this point..

[Mariaface]

If you can get rid of the algae (say, use a pipette to drip 3% hydrogen peroxide over the skeleton and not skin, then drip that portion in tank water to rinse, and then wait), the coral will encrust over the skeleton. You may be better off clipping most of the dead skeleton off, making sure there's no algae left, and putting the coral on a frag plug (or more, if the tips are the parts that are alive) while you feed it (seriously, can't stress that enough, it needs food and light to make a recovery) and keep your water parameters super stable (alk, calcium, magnesium, phosphate, temperature, salinity).

 

Good luck!

[ski]

I can post a photo later.

To me it looks mostly dead.

 

Sounds like a plan, thank you