Prata rotting- help!

[nivlac]

Guys, one of my prized orange prata got whacked by my golden angel who 'makaned' the sides of my prata

Due to the damage, the sides are now rotting and decaying. No brown jelly infection yet. Damage has not reached the 'mouth' of the prata yet but the entire left side skeleton has now been exposed due to the wasting flesh. The right side is still ok. Tried to feed it last night with krill (all the other pratas ate it) but it showed no interest in feeding.

What can I do to help stop the decaying? Don't really want to lose this one as I paid a high sum for it

[Hawkfish]

The best place to secure is to put at refigium.. maybe still there's a hope to survive..

[Achilles Tang]

Nivlac,

It's a bit too late to remind you... but you should know better than to put angelfishes, even the dwarf variety, with your prized corals. Angelfishes are primarily coral-obligates and persistent peckers.... brains and clams are their favs.

Unless you have 100% trust.... in your particular dwarf angel.. I would suggest you refrain from buying more corals... or remove it. No guarantees that this episode will be repeated.

Ok... try this solution.

Go buy the Seachem Reef Dip Coral Disinfectant. Dip your coral to prevent any infection.

Put it in the sump and hope it'll recover. Feed it to speed up the process.

Good luck bro!

[nivlac]

Nivlac,

It's a bit too late to remind you... but you should know better than to put angelfishes, even the dwarf variety, with your prized corals. Angelfishes are primarily coral-obligates and persistent peckers.... brains and clams are their favs.

Unless you have 100% trust.... in your particular dwarf angel.. I would suggest you refrain from buying more corals... or remove it. No guarantees that this episode will be repeated.

Ok... try this solution.

Go buy the Seachem Reef Dip Coral Disinfectant. Dip your coral to prevent any infection.

Put it in the sump and hope it'll recover. Feed it to speed up the process.

Good luck bro!

Thanks for the bit of advice mate. The dwarf golden was doing ok with all my other pratas for about 3 weeks until it decided to make a meal out of my favourite one, and only that particular one which I like the most, as luck would have it.

Will do the disinfectant part when I get home. For now, the coral is safe in a small hang on refugium in the main tank exposed to good intensity light to help it recover. Does not seem to be feeding on krill....maybe it prefers fish meat? But this prata (the one I got when I met you at Aquatechnic) does not seem to be typical with the other scolymia I've got.....does not expand to show the 'tentacles'......mayble it's an australis?

About putting corals in the sump, lights in my sump are on 24/7. Will that be OK for corals?

[chanbi]

That is right! Angel likes brain coral a lot... at least from my own experience (don't see them disturbing my clams though). And since i do like "prata" that much, i have removed all my angels except a small dwarf half black angel that seem to be quite discipline. Actually flame angel seem ok too (but he has passed away.. *sigh*).

I would advise u to remove that golden angel. Else might as well "donate" your other pratas to me (i like all your pratas, esp. the orange)??

btw, does anyone know whether tang like to nibble at cat eye? My purple tang is doing that to my new green cat eye but i don't think the coral is injure but just won't open up as big..

[Tanzy]

All is not lost. There is a chance the coral will recover, but the best part is that injury might induce budding and fission in the coral. Even if the coral looks dead, don't throw the skeleton away, leave it in the same spot and new polyps might appear.

[B|uEc@rpEt]

The prata should recover soon if protected.

My angels love attackng my pratas especially my silly queen...

Sometimes i will transfer the injured prata to my Seahorse tank to recover b4 putting it back into my main tank again.

They r real hardy!

[nivlac]

done the coral disinfectant dip today. Situation doesnt look too good. Brown jelly has appeared on one portion and there is a foul stench from that affected portion.....

Just realised another prata (a brown one, thankfully) also kena nipped at the sides. How do I get rid of this bloody golden angel? Should I add a flame angel to whack the bastard? My flame (bless its soul) never bothered my pratas or other corals.

[B|uEc@rpEt]

Urmm...dun think introducing a flame is too advisable....

My flame simplies follow wat my queen does...where ever my queen nips...flame also follow

Sometimes when I see my queen nibbing I will try knocking on the glass...hahaha...hoping to 'teach' it that nibbing is wrong

[chanbi]

Haha!! i think it is quite "normal"?? I am doing that now too..

[Phang]

All is not lost. There is a chance the coral will recover, but the best part is that injury might induce budding and fission in the coral. Even if the coral looks dead, don't throw the skeleton away, leave it in the same spot and new polyps might appear.

Read from RC that coral such as these seem to reproduce after such incidents.....hmmmm... hoping to see mini pratas of yours soon....

Wonder if these happen to my fungia... will I have beby fungias???

keke

BTW, My Cyarina happens to be in this situation too..... keeping only now a partial skeleton... and some flesh.... dunno will budd or not..??

[B|uEc@rpEt]

My cyarina alo injured...sianz...but it seems to be taking a much longer time to heal as compared to the rotiS....

[Stenopus Hispidus]

Die hard coral fans should really avoid putting angelfish of any kind in their tank even if these angels do not directly peck at corals. A bit excessive here given the beauty of these fishes and the temptation that comes with it...but really...corals do thrive and grow faster without them.

If you are a 50/50, by all means keep them but be preparred for the potential risks to coral growth that will start stagnating, halt or deteriorate if one fine day, it develops a taste for coral meat. I feel sad for such exotic and beautiful corals meeting their demise in this way

Its always a question of fish or corals. Not both. JMO.

[Stenopus Hispidus]

All is not lost. There is a chance the coral will recover, but the best part is that injury might induce budding and fission in the coral. Even if the coral looks dead, don't throw the skeleton away, leave it in the same spot and new polyps might appear...per Tanzy

Read from RC that coral such as these seem to reproduce after such incidents...per Phang

[nivlac]

All is not lost. There is a chance the coral will recover, but the best part is that injury might induce budding and fission in the coral. Even if the coral looks dead, don't throw the skeleton away, leave it in the same spot and new polyps might appear.

Tks tanzy. I would've thrown the skeleton away if not for your advice!

Have done so for other fatalities I've had with Brown jelly encounters in octopuses.

Lastest update- the flesh rot seems to have worsened. The affected area is not more than half the coral, and worse still, already bordered on the coral's mouth as of this morning. Brown Jelly has also set in on the affected part. A nose sniff on this side indicates a foul smell. I understand that if the mouth is also affected, there will be no more hope

[Tanzy]

No more hope for the parent only. Wait for the daughters to emerge. No guarantee but it is known to happen. It can happen to Fungia and to a lesser extent Heliofungia.

[Reefgang]

I have returned both lemon peel & flame back angel to the lfs.

Lemon peel started biting the corals after a few days. So it was the first to go. As for flame back, it was behaving quite well for about five weeks b4 it started picking on the elegance coral. I had to make a desicion and reluctantly posted him out. I have never tried flame angel but many have told me that they are coral safe. But one of the guy at a lfs said that out of 100 flame angel he sells only one or two customers complain about their behaviour. For those who could not hold the temptations you could take a gamble with flame back's, "only".

Reefgang

[nivlac]

I have returned both lemon peel & flame back angel to the lfs.

Lemon peel started biting the corals after a few days. So it was the first to go. As for flame back, it was behaving quite well for about five weeks b4 it started picking on the elegance coral. I had to make a desicion and reluctantly posted him out. I have never tried flame angel but many have told me that they are coral safe. But one of the guy at a lfs said that out of 100 flame angel he sells only one or two customers complain about their behaviour. For those who could not hold the temptations you could take a gamble with flame back's, "only".

Reefgang

Just curious to know how you manage to catch these buggers who usually disapper into the liverock at the sight of any net.

[nivlac]

am sad to say that the prata did not make it. Came back today and the infection overran the mouth. Decided to rip out all the other fleshy parts and put the skeleton back in the hope it will bud in future. RIP my favourite coral.

[TTBoy]

Just curious, does anyone here likes white pratas?

[Achilles Tang]

Hahaha.... yeah... they are really rare!

[Reefgang]

Hi nivlac,

The specimens I had were greedily eating brine shrimp. So what I did was put the bs in the net and hold it near the surface. Of course initially all will run & hide. But when they smell food, some of the fishes will return & wait around the net to catch the floating bs. Some will even readily venture into the net to feed. The frenzy will make the angels take notice and soon they will join the pack. Call my angels bold or dumb, but I'm glad it worked for me, easily.

If the fishes don't dare go near the net even with food in it then perhaps leave the net inside the tank for a day or two till they lose the fear of the element. At the same time continue to feed the fish by putting food into the net. Be very patient when the fish is in the net. Try to make sure you get it right the first time otherwise they will wise up.... at least for a while before they come back again.

But I believe, even specimens of the same species behave differently. What I mean is that, no guarantee it will work for you but give it a try.

Good luck hunting.

Reefgang

[B|uEc@rpEt]

Hey TTBoy...

I have a lvery ight yellowish prata...but it is not doing well at all.

I have a big feeling that colours had been added into it.

Is there a white prata? Or has it expelled its zoo?

I have seen such cases in white clams b4.

[TTBoy]

Hi B|uEc@rpEt,

Saw a white prata at one LFS yesterday. The guy insisted it was not bleached and still selling it. Even said some pple like it white.

[nivlac]

Hi nivlac,

The specimens I had were greedily eating brine shrimp. So what I did was put the bs in the net and hold it near the surface. Of course initially all will run & hide. But when they smell food, some of the fishes will return & wait around the net to catch the floating bs. Some will even readily venture into the net to feed. The frenzy will make the angels take notice and soon they will join the pack. Call my angels bold or dumb, but I'm glad it worked for me, easily.

If the fishes don't dare go near the net even with food in it then perhaps leave the net inside the tank for a day or two till they lose the fear of the element. At the same time continue to feed the fish by putting food into the net. Be very patient when the fish is in the net. Try to make sure you get it right the first time otherwise they will wise up.... at least for a while before they come back again.

But I believe, even specimens of the same species behave differently. What I mean is that, no guarantee it will work for you but give it a try.

Good luck hunting.

Reefgang

tks mate. problem is this pygmy golden angel of mine has not fed on any fish food for the past month. It survives by feeding on my corals!