Can a RFA recover?

[SaltyMermaid86]

10 months ago I purchased a gorgeous rfa. She was my favorite in the tank. I discovered the dreaded dino, ostreopsis and had been battling since. Recently I beat it but have increased nutrients as the result. I believe my issue with my rfa started when I had gha as well and dosed reef Flux. She moved and stayed in a corner for the most part. About. Month ago I noticed that she would come only barely above the sand. Thinking she was just being fickle didn't worry. A week ago she started to loose pieces of her tenticles. Only about one or 2 total. Nothing was bothering her. I put a camera on her to make sure there was nothing creepy I my tank that I didn't know about. Then I thought lighting. So I increased my lights my 5% and gave a longer photo period. I had previously reduced them to fight the dinos. In the middle of the night she moved to a cave and then curled into a ball, extended, let go and became a stringy mess. The picture on the right is what is left of her. Can she recover?

Tested 4/3/23
Po4 .18
No3 22.3
Temp 78
Salinity 35
Alk 9.1

 

[SaltyMermaid86]

 

[JoJosReef]

Not looking great. Foot still able to hold onto anything? Had one recently go south like that, but not stringy like yours, just almost no tentacles left--6 day in tank cipro treatment. Has slowly bounced back, grew out some tentacles and is recoloring.

 

[SaltyMermaid86]

Not looking great. Foot still able to hold onto anything? Had one recently go south like that, but not stringy like yours, just almost no tentacles left--6 day in tank cipro treatment. Has slowly bounced back, grew out some tentacles and is recoloring.

I actually have cipro. Do you treat the entire tank?

 

[doubleshot00]

What you listed in your OP doesn’t sound like it would kill the rfa but I also have never used reef flux so maybe that did it. I had and done the rest you listed.

 

[SaltyMermaid86]

Not looking great. Foot still able to hold onto anything? Had one recently go south like that, but not stringy like yours, just almost no tentacles left--6 day in tank cipro treatment. Has slowly bounced back, grew out some tentacles and is recoloring.

The reef Flux was used in July of 22 . The only reason I mentioned that was because that it was took care of the gha but in turn causing a nitrate spike. The spike could have been what made her move to another corner of the tank. Or the reef Flux. I really don't know. I just want to save it. I just don't know if it's possible. She detached today.

 

[JoJosReef]

I actually have cipro. Do you treat the entire tank?

I do in tank at the same concentration for treating brown jelly disease. A lot of threads orescribe taking nems out and treating with higher concentration in a holding tank but those seem more like BTA, ritteri and haddoni issues.

Experimenting with in-tank antibiotic treatments for Brown Jelly Disease

Brown Jelly Disease (BJD) is an issue many reefers have run into. Like most coral diseases, the pathogen causing BJD has not been conclusively determined. Here I will share some observations and test results supporting the idea that its caused by a bacterial pathogen, and so may be treatable...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[SaltyMermaid86]

I do in tank at the same concentration for treating brown jelly disease. A lot of threads orescribe taking nems out and treating with higher concentration in a holding tank but those seem more like BTA, ritteri and haddoni issues.

Experimenting with in-tank antibiotic treatments for Brown Jelly Disease

Brown Jelly Disease (BJD) is an issue many reefers have run into. Like most coral diseases, the pathogen causing BJD has not been conclusively determined. Here I will share some observations and test results supporting the idea that its caused by a bacterial pathogen, and so may be treatable...

www.reef2reef.com

Hmmm I'm scared to try it. Did it hurt the fish or any of the other corals? What about replenishing the good bacteria? I assume it would be like a human taking an antibiotic. I read through 4 of the 15 pages. It's seems like the subject is controversial. I ordered it 3 weeks ago because I saw a thread on Facebook about cipro and bjd. I figured it would be better to be safe than sorry. Now I'm actually faced with an issue and I'm terrified to use it.

 

[JoJosReef]

Hmmm I'm scared to try it. Did it hurt the fish or any of the other corals? What about replenishing the good bacteria? I assume it would be like a human taking an antibiotic. I read through 4 of the 15 pages. It's seems like the subject is controversial. I ordered it 3 weeks ago because I saw a thread on Facebook about cipro and bjd. I figured it would be better to be safe than sorry. Now I'm actually faced with an issue and I'm terrified to use it.

If you have reservations, I would not do it. Most of what you read here is anecdotal. Even the link I sent you is borderline scientific. I've only told you what *may* have worked for me. My nems might have gotten better without cipro. I don't know. I also don't know what they are suffering from. Lot of guesswork in reefing from what I can tell!

I, personally have few reservations about using low concentration cirpo in tank. It would seem that the ammonia oxidizing bacteria and nitrite oxidizing bacteria involved in your tank cycle are not particularly susceptible to cipro while other bacteria (like that hypothesized to cause BJD) are quite susceptible. I'm also unconcerned about the more complex life in my tanks at that concentration. But that's me!

Maybe an alternative is to put the nem in a type of nem cup for isolation? That helped one of my fungia plates when it was getting too bothered by flow or neighbors or whatever was causing it to recede.

 

[Spare time]

Absolutely do not use cipro in the tank. That is harmful to every organism with a microbiome and can make every single one of them more prone to disease or other health issues. Antiobiotics are last resort and ONLY last resort. And in such case, they should be used isolated, broken down or removed and not dumped into the drain.

 

[SaltyMermaid86]

Absolutely do not use cipro in the tank. That is harmful to every organism with a microbiome and can make every single one of them more prone to disease or other health issues. Antiobiotics are last resort and ONLY last resort. And in such case, they should be used isolated, broken down or removed and not dumped into the drain.

No worries. She didn't make it. Thank you all for all of the advice.

 

[Spare time]

No worries. She didn't make it. Thank you all for all of the advice.

Sorry to hear about that. Its the nature of the hobby to run into some bumps. If you'd like, I can send you the names of some powerheads that are anemone proof. I too have had an anemone get shredded.

 

[SaltyMermaid86]

Sorry to hear about that. Its the nature of the hobby to run into some bumps. If you'd like, I can send you the names of some powerheads that are anemone proof. I too have had an anemone get shredded.

The rock flower nem didn't get into the power head. She started to deteriorate after she moved from location of the sand bed to another.