How do I get it out?

[StirCrazy]

I have a small Brain that came with my rock for free as it was dead, well after 2 weeks I noticed it started glowing more and more under actinics so when i looked close I saw it was starting to come back.

this is all good but there is a problem, while it was "dead" a polyp took up resadence inside the skelaton, I was going to try grab it out (or scrape it out) with tweasers but I descovered that it can pull down under the ribs of the skelaton and not wanting to break some of this I stopped and thought I would see how you guys/girls would go about this.

here is the pic of the problem,

as you can see all the white area is the new growth.. this thing had no flesh at all 3 weeks ago, and I was keeping it beacuse there was a worm living in the lump on the outside..

Steve

[One_Divided]

make a paste out of kalk or saltwater mix and inject the polyps with a syringe or a salifert test ket squirter thing.. Just make sure you clean it otu first.. Also be careful you don't squirt anything on the brain's flesh... It looks all dead to me, but I can't reall tell..

[Troy F]

I say save the zoanthid, I don't think your brain is worki...err...alive ;) .

[StirCrazy]

hehe, ya thats what I thought but the white area has been increasing and it isn't bleaching it is actualy a layer that is forming and expanding..

so while it is not vibrant it is slowly recovering from what it looks like to me.. but when it is expanded the part with the polyp is still receded..

Steve

[Troy F]

I assume that it's the skeleton of Trachyphyllia sp.? I don't think they lay down skeletal growth without polyp extension. Does any coral? Maybe you should allow the zoanthid its time in the sun until you actually see signs of tissue on the skeleton.

[StirCrazy]

hehe ok I see your not understanding [img]smile.gif[/img] the white part is tisue over the skelaton.. and all the recovering I have been talking about is tissue not skelaton.. and this polyp is interfering with the tissue that is trying to recover in that area. (sorry I should have worded it like that in the beginning)

Steve

[Delphinus]

Hi, wow, it's not that I don't beleive you Steve it's just that if those white areas are fleshy then the picture doesn't really show it that well. If that is flesh I think it looks awfully bleached.

I don't know if this helps, but, I basically have never been able to remove polyps off open brain skeletons for the reasons you've discovered. They just get too good of a foothold. If the zooanthid was more off to the side I'd suggest sacrificing that part of the brain and break the piece right off (that is the only sure way). But it's right in the center. You can try the kalk suggestion, but you run the risk of damaging the brain and losing both corals anyways.

My one last parting thought is this. Zooanthids are not overly aggressive to my knowledge. You can try to let the two corals live together and see what happens. Ideally, if they learn to live with each other they will just sort of grow around each other. Of course I have no idea how likely this is, I'm just guessing. That brain does look pretty far gone, it would be a nice pleasant surprise to see it recover to a full-out coral some day, but I'm not too sure I'd be placing any bets on it just yet anyways.

Sorry I couldn't be of better assistance! Good luck

[StirCrazy]

No problem, if it makes it is a bonus, if you could have seen this when I got it (totaly brown diatom covered inside no life thing) and to see it now.. as the new flesh gets closer to the center it picks up color to the point that you can tell it is comming back.

ya I don't feel comfortable trying to put kalk in there so maby I will just leave them be and see what happens..

Steve

[canadawest]

If the brain is in fact regenerating, I would just leave the polyp. In time the brain's tissue will sting and irritate the polyp and cause it to release it's hold, or die.

Now this is just an assumption as obviously I'm not a marine biologist, but it has been my observation that LPS coral tissue is quite agressive and that polyp probably doesn't stand a chance against it once the Trachyphyllia regains it's health (if it ever does).

IMO

[StirCrazy]

I have heard that from a couple people now Andrew so I have decided to see what happens, I am going to start looking for the sign of feeder tenticles and give him some shelled krill if I see any to help him out.

Steve