Brown Jelly Warfare (with pics)... we didn't win

[breebauer]

Hello everyone!

Thanks to everyone who tried to help me on my flowerpot coral thread. Apparently all hope is now lost, and I'm about to remove the half alive, but doomed coral.

I actually thought I had the problem solved, and somehow cured my ailing coral, but this is obviously not the case. The brown jelly is back on the flowerpot, just in a different spot, and I think my best bet is to just get it out of my tank.

I wanted to show people who haven't seen this yet, so they might be able to notice it early if it happens in their tank. (Although, if anyone does, it seems there's really nothing you can do about it, except try to not let it spread to the other corals.)

Having said that, I have a few questions, again:

:question: 1) Does anyone know if it can affect my fish in any way?

:question:2) Also, what about permeating LR?

I had no idea what I was dealing with when I first noticed it, but now I'm afraid that it might compromise my whole tank.

:question:3) Is this something that has now become part of my tank environment? Or does it just affect corals?

Thanks for the help from everyone over the weekend! I really do appreciate it!!

Now here's the pics for everyone else, so they know what to look for:

Just home from the store acclimating, day 1:

Later on that same night, (although at the time it looked good to me because it was extending, you can see the slight 'bald spot' in the rear):

The next morning:

Another shot from the next morning, polyps are closed up since I moved it closer to the glass to get a better pic:

That night, after I tried to 'treat it', and thought I did an OK job:

The second day, and after second 'treatment', again I thought it looked like I got rid of the jelly:

It looked great for more than 36 hrs, but then..... I came home form work today, and we had huge problems. Here's pics from a few minutes ago:

Closer....:

Closer.......:

The damn stuff came back in a totally different spot, completely away from the water flow, and spread like fire. Actually in the time it took me to write this post, it's gotten even worse. (If I had time, I'd post those pics too, but I really want this thing out of my tank.)

Crazy, right?

Everything is turned off, and I'm going to try to carefully scoop the whole thing out now.

It seems that flowerpots are succeptable to brown jelly from what I've been reading. So, I'm not sure if this speedy progression is normal, or not. I just figured I'd post some pics in case someone else thinks they might have the same problem.

Hope it helps!?!

(Now, where did I put my drink?) :Cheers:

Damn, it's only Tuesday...:D

 

[reeffreak]

Sorry again.

100% it won't effect the fish in any way and 99% it won't effect other corals.I've kept gonis since 99' and never ever seen brown jelly spread to other corals.The one I have now,I saved it from brown jelly but its only half of what it use to be.No effect on the other corals I have.

Curious,did you only pat the area with iodine.I usually set a gallon of water in a container,put iodine directly to the water and put the goni in it for about 15 minutes.While it in the water,blow any brown jelly off the goni and put in QT.

 

[breebauer]

This is what I did:
I took it out, put in a container with tank water, sucked off the brown stuff, then I blasted off the area with dead tissue, using tank water and a syringe. Then I put iodine right on the spots where it was infected, and put it in another container with tank water.

The iodine that was on the coral mixed with the water in the container, so I didn't want to add anymore iodine right to the water (I thought that would kill it, haha).

I let it sit for around 15 minutes, rinsed it in more tank water, and put it back under medium flow, thinking that the water flow would keep any more stuff from growing on it. Which it did, in a way. The jelly came back again on the bottom part or the coral, where there was really no flow.

I also was using household iodine, and didn't have an Lugol's solution, which is something I probably needed but couldn't get since there was an ice/snow storm here at the time. I have some coming in the mail, now.

I did this twice, on two different days, then realized it was a lost cause and got it out of my tank before it spread to everything else. Now, it's in a makeshift QT tank, looking very brown. I can't just throw away, since there's a little piece of it still alive. Silly, I know, but I can't chuck it until the whole thing is dead.

I wonder if I had just cut the thing in half, if that would've worked better. It certainly would've been easier, and was a thought when I first noticed it.

This brown jelly thing is pretty intense. It seems to appear in a matter of hours. And even if you thing it's gone, in a few more hours it's back twice as bad. Then it just seems to spread right before your eyes.

I'm not sure if that's the same case with other corals. One website explained that with this particular coral the infection is deep inside the bone structure once it has it, making it nearly impossible to get rid of.

I'm glad you were able to save yours!

 

[reeffreak]

I understand now,it looks like you done everything you could.I saved the one I have now but never could save others though.

I told you brown jelly is vicious and works really,really fast.Isn't almost incredible how fast it works to kill the coral.I hope you have better luck in the future.

 

[yote]

Hate to hear about your flowerpot Bree.

 

[breebauer]

Thanks to everyone for all of their help and condolences. The flowerpot is not yet gone, but will most likely not be around tomorrow...

Oh well, at least I tried....:bye2:

On a happy note, I had an early Christmas/Birthday present to myself waiting by my front door when I came home from work. My new aquapod that I ordered on Sunday eve (kudos to ThatPetPlace.com) got here all in one piece! I took advantage of their closeout sale for $185 delivered. I had read about other people having problems with getting broken tanks delivered, so I figured my chances were about 50/50.

Well, not only did they give me super fast shipping, but also an extremely well packaged order. A box within a box, inside another box, some bubble wrap, open another box, only to find more bubble bags, and then another box, more bubble wrap, another box...you get the idea. It was pretty funny.

This is the end result: many many boxes and bubble wrap, and one small tank. Both can be alot of fun! I'm happy now.

The flowerpot's slow demise was sad. But this makes me feel a little better....

 

[yote]

At least you wont have to go looking for boxes for Christams gifts.

 

[flojo]

im so sorry about your coral, it was so pretty:(

but on a happier note, lol.....i love all the boxes. the store just wanted to be sure for you. now what you should do with the boxes is wrap someones christmas present in the smallest and do the same thing to them....lol....oh the joy of watching them go through the ordeal of unwrapping....lol....

 

[breebauer]

Something to keep in mind for next Christmas: order from ThatPetPlace.com the week before... you'll have plenty of boxes for presents!

Hey, I'm not complaining. I got my tank in one piece, a day early, and they must've spent the $25 shipping charge on boxes and bubble wrap alone.

I think I'm going to put all of the bubble wrap in a box, and then another box, and then the rest of the boxes, wrap it real pretty, and give it to someone in my office. No tag.

I'm not sure if that would be really funny or just mean.....Most of my coworkers are nuts anyway.

Now, I'm pretty sure it would be funny!

 

[flojo]

I'm gonna go with funny....im already laughing...theylll appreciate the hilarity of it...people are cheerful this time of year anyhow...unless your at the mall parking lot-it gets vicious...

 

[Bifferwine]

Every year, I'm mean to my little brother and buy him the tiniest gift possible and wrap it up in the most difficult and grossest way possible. One year, I got him a gift card and wrapped it up in dirty socks and orange peels and used about two rolls of packing tape all around it, and put it in half a dozen boxes. It took him an hour just to open up the damn gift card.

 

[flojo]

lol my parents do the same thing....my dad puts weights in it and all sorts of random stuff to throw my mom off....usually its the most insignificant present too...when she finally gets to it she's either dying of laughter or ready to kill him

 

[Doc]

I hated to be right about your goni. I was pulling for you. Don't give up, you will find one that works

-Doc