Frogspawn Head ripped off skeleton. What now?

[SaltyBuddha]

Added a frogspawn to the tank yesterday afternoon. Dipped in Coral Rx before it went into the tank. It opened up After a few hours it was happy and has been since then.

 

I can home today and it was all shriveled up and I'm seeing this around it's edges. Is this a normal part of a Frogspawn? Or is it some kind of parasite I should be aware of?

 

The coral head is literally ripped out of the skeleton. Can I save this little guy? With glue or something?

 

 

 

[SaltyBuddha]

Or are those dead polyps?

[uisge-beatha]

Looks to me like mesenterial filaments.  It could be either attacking or under attack by the larger coral to the right.

[SaltyBuddha]

Oh man... the head is totally removed from the skeleton. I have no idea how this happened. Obvious answer is too much flow but the hammer is doing fine right next to it. 

 

Can I super clue it back together or something? I'm going to put it on my frag rock to keep it away from my CUC. Not sure if I should try to attach it back with glue or fishing line....

[SaltyBuddha]

Well, the frogspawn was hanging onto the skeleton by a thread. While I was moving it up onto the frag rack, the entire head came off the skeleton!!!! 

 

I got the head out of the water and put a little dot of superglue in the middle of the skeleton. Set the head onto it and let it settle into place. It is up on my frag rack in a place with very little flow. I'm hoping it will recover, but I am not expecting it to.

 

So, my mistake must have been to place it somewhere with too much flow? It was super happy before hand though. Very extending and puffy and all around looking great. It was not being whipped around a lot or anything. I have a wave maker and a rotating nozzle so it had a lot of random flows and surges.

[uisge-beatha]

Oh no!  Sorry to hear that!  Frogspawn do that sometimes - search for info on polyp bailout.  You definitely don't want the head blowing around your tank, or it could sting other corals or get sucked into a power head.  

 

Wish I had more info for you! 

[SaltyBuddha]

19 minutes ago, uisge-beatha said:

Oh no!  Sorry to hear that!  Frogspawn do that sometimes - search for info on polyp bailout.  You definitely don't want the head blowing around your tank, or it could sting other corals or get sucked into a power head.  

 

Wish I had more info for you! 

 

Thanks for the help. Not sure what happened. Seemed to be doing great. Maybe it's because I only acclimated temperature? My hammer and Candy are doing great. And my GSP is opening so I know it's not water quality

[Clown79]

Thats bail out, last chsnce at survival. This happens when they aren't healthy or damaged. Usually occurs over time.

 

It may have been an unhealthy specimen already and the stress of dip and new tank was its last straw. Was the white there when you added it? 

 

Hammers and frogspawn are usually fine next to each other. 

 

I only temp acclimate my corals. 

[ReefWeeds]

Yep, agree with others - polyp bailout. I've not heard of anything recover from it. I don't do anything other than temp acclimate either so I don't think that would've caused it. Between the dip and new parameters, it probably just couldn't take it. If it's still hanging on by a thread, put it in the lowest flow possible and in almost complete darkness. 

[debbeach13]

Sorry to read this. I hope it recovers for you.

[SaltyBuddha]

Well, it decided to come off the skeleton again last night and I tried to re attach it. It is off again this morning on the sand bed.

 

Most people say they don't reattach to anything. Not really sure what to do with it.

[ReefWeeds]

Not sure myself. Put it on the skeleton in a low light low flow area and hope it reattaches? It can't be glued, so that's the only thing I can think of 

[uisge-beatha]

If you had some sort of soft netting, you might be able to very gently wrap the polyp onto the skeleton.  Maybe something like a piece of a new laundry bag for delicates?  That's my best idea 

[Clown79]

From what i have read, sometimes the skeleton will regrow new polyps.

 

One person glued the head to a frag plug.

[SaltyBuddha]

Thanks for the help everyone. It seems that some instances they have grown skeletons back in the right conditions. If polyp bailout is part of frogspawn self preservation, I don't see why it shouldn't be able to grow back. If they die it is because people glue it or they get an infection on their exposed flesh.

 

So, I have a small plastic cap and I placed to frogspawn in it. Mounted the cap to a frag so it wouldn't blow around and placed it in a low flow lower light area. Its all puffed up....which is really weird. It seems no one ever gets any indication of when they do this. They are happy (or look like it) and then they bail out.

 

Not sure I want this in my tank but I wouldn't feel right sentencing this guy to death in my trash can. I guess we will see what it does.

 

[gulfsurfer101]

 You got the right idea however you might want to turn the cup over where the bottom of the cup is on top and make sure you drill a couple holes in the top and some on the sides couldn't hurt either. 

[Clown79]

I'd contact the store. It happened 24hrs after purchase.

[gone_PHiSHin]

5 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

I'd contact the store. It happened 24hrs after purchase.

 

not a bad idea, worth a shot.

 

be nice and concerned, and not demanding, maybe they'll give you some store credit at least.

[Simulated Fish]

I would also like to say good luck, I had an unknown cause for bail out with my frogspawn. I tried to save the heads, rock rubble in a cup with netting. Never had one make it.

 

[SaltyBuddha]

Yeah that is a good idea but it was online. I'll reach out to them and see what they say.

 

I also had some aiptasia on a GSP frag so that is something.

 

Thanks for all the help guys. I'll be sure to post back with updates to let you know how it's going 

[joeyv69ragtop]

What ever became of your coral? I recently had my hammer bail. It's currently fat and happy on the sand bed with plastic perimeter around it ala a solo cup with the bottom cut out. It looks good and eats but I wonder if it could ever regrow a skeleton. If your frogspawn survived that would give me some hope.

[SaltyBuddha]

On 3/7/2019 at 8:35 AM, joeyv69ragtop said:

What ever became of your coral? I recently had my hammer bail. It's currently fat and happy on the sand bed with plastic perimeter around it ala a solo cup with the bottom cut out. It looks good and eats but I wonder if it could ever regrow a skeleton. If your frogspawn survived that would give me some hope.

The frogspawn didn't make too long.

 

Honestly it was so long ago, I don't remember fully, but I know that 3/4 of the corals I got from this vendor didn't make it. The vendor was very generous and offered to give me replacements with my next order, but I never ended up re-ordering. 

 

I would assume now that they went through a large temperature swing during shipment that cause them all to stress out too much. 

 

[pokerdobe]

Polyp bailout is survivable - I have had my frogspawn's bailed polyps survive and create new skeleton from just the flesh. 

 

Isolate the polyp and place onto a piece of live rock with a small divot or shallow depression. Place it into a location with gentle flow. Enough to create slight movement for the polyp, but not enough to dislodge the polyp. Ensure that nothing can disturb it - fish, crabs, fish, etc. 

 

It'll take a while, but it will develop new skeleton if your water parameters are on point and stable. I will take a picture of the bailed polyps that have developed new skeleton tonight. 

[Juniormerve]

So the polyps can regrow or develop their own skeleton after bailout, but can the skeleton regrow polyps? I just picked up a frogspawn from the store today, all polyps intact, but when I got home i looked in the bag and saw some polyps floating and bare skeleton exposed. Put it in my tank and the rest of it seems to be doing fine...for now atleast.