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Unread 04/07/2017, 07:29 AM   #1
acronymform
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I did it. I beat Brown Jelly Disease. This is how...

After many failed attempts with different iodines, different antibiotics, different coral cleaners and medicines, dosages and times. I finally found a process that worked for me. It may help you too.

1) it is very, very important to catch it as soon as possible. Anything that has the jelly on it already is essentially toast. It almost appears to me that this brown jelly is expelled cellular contents of the coral flesh turned gelatinous. I've read that it might have a bacterial or protozoal cause, so having some knowledge in bacterial anatomical structure, parasites and 'cides' I went off of this for my approach. Step 1 is to isolate the affected piece of coral in it's own tank with clean salt water. I have a small 1 gallon cube purchased at wal-mart for this very purpose with a little Cobalt Aquatics nano pump in it. **Note, I'm not endorsing Cobalt because they have horrible customer service and do not respond to requests for service. This gives you the idea of investment for a coral isolation tank. It doesn't need to be huge, just big enough to fit the coral affected by brown Jelly. Don't treat coral that has not been affected yet, because the following steps will cause some stress to the coral.

2) You want to get as much of the brown jelly off of the coral as you can before you put it into the isolation tank. You don't want to move your infection from one place to another!. S-L-O-W-L-Y lift the infected coral out of your tank. Even turn off the powerheads and anything that blows. The brown jelly slime will be released into your tank water if you lift it out, and you want to reduce the risk of cross-contamination to other corals. You really don't want that stuff floating around in your tank to land wherever it wants. You might even use a ziplock bag to put the coral into first and then lift it out.

3) Once out of the tank, go to the kitchen sink. Yes, don't tell me I'm an idiot. There is a reason. First, tap water is horrible. It has the poison that bacteria and saltwater protozoa hate. Chlorine, Chloramines, Specific Gravity. With a low flow of water and a soft brush (small natural bristle paint brush, small natural bristle basting brush) gently rinse and brush away any of the Jelly. Don't use the spray setting on your faucet, just a nice, COLD and gentle flow of water until you are satisfied you have rinsed the brown jelly off. The theory behind this is that fresh water promotes transport across membranes of bacteria and salt water protozoa to essentially explode from inside due to the gradient. More Microbiology stuff. Now you can put the coral into the isolation tank.

4) I saw a lot of discussions on antibiotics, but whether the cause of brown jelly disease was positively bacterial was up for debate. Also, since really not much research has gone into brown jelly disease, I couldn't find anything whether it was gram negative or positive. I tried various antibiotics and they had no effect regardless of dosage. Not even broad spectrum stopped the progression. Then I moved onto iodines and Coral dips/washes. The magic potion turned out to be a combination of the two in the next 2 steps. Step 4: dose 8 drops of Povidine Iodine per liter or quart. Povidone is the same thing as Betadine. You can use either. There are appx 4 liters or 4 quarts to a gallon. Put the Povidine/Betadine iodine in your isolation tank withe the coral. Let the coral sit in this for about an hour. Yes, your coral will hate you, but it's for it's own good.

5) Now, here's my concoction.... in 1 quart of clean saltwater, mix a cap of "Revive Coral Cleaner" by Two Little Fishies, and 5ml of API's "Melafix Marine Antibacterial Fish & Coral Remedy" in 1 quart of water. Yes, this is the mixture. Take your coral out of your isolation tank and put it in this facing upward. Use a 1 quart container with a lid, or tall enough that the water wont spill out, because now you need to swirl it around. Don't shake it, agitate it by causing the water to swirl around in the container. Do this for a few minutes

6) Back to the kitchen sink. Rinse the coral again, lightly under cold tap water. Don't brush it, just lightly rinse it until you are satisfied that the iodine and cleaning solution residue is pretty much removed

7) Put the coral back into your main tank, but put it on the bottom, kind of in the shade, but still getting some light. The reason for this location is that now all the protective Zooxanthellea is gone. Zooxanthellea essentially is what protects your coral from getting a sunburn under the lights. In 4-5 days whatever polyp buds were left untouched by the brown jelly will start to poke their little heads up again slowly. Unfortunately, whatever had brown jelly on it will be toast and you will only have coral skeleton. However, over time, it may grow back over :-)

This works for me, good luck to you.


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Unread 04/23/2017, 01:25 PM   #2
mhurley
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