Diary: The brain that could

[concept3]

Mid year 2005.  A brain coral was rescued by the club.  The donation was graciously given by a fellow aquarist with noble intentions for our monthly raffles.   The brain coral arrived at my place in a half pint Ziploc bag, and I almost threw the coral out.  I didn't think this brain would recuperate, so I was actually intending on saving the Zoos that have encroached its dead coralline-encrusted skeleton.  So much for saving this coral. 


The BRAIN CORAL in the original owner's tank (Thank Keith)

"What the Heck, I'll throw the whole thing in the frag tank anyways.  I can't be bothered with this little coral.  I have 7 others I need to attend to, not to mention the 50 + purple nana frags, nana mini colonies, slimer frags, Montipora frags, Humilis colony, Staghorn frags and mushrooms AND that's just all in my FRAGTANK!!!"  NJRC stock tank this thing has become.  Now I want a bigger frag tank.  If only I could be in a house.  Living on the second floor sucks!


This is how these rescue corals came in.  Tattered, beat up, who knows where they could be in a few days?  In the trash or in the tank recuperating?

The frags that I recieved were mounted and NUMBERED (for those who dare to audit me, LOL....J/K) and placed in a low light portion of the fragtank since I was using a 6500K Iwasaki, and they came from a rather dim "transition tank."

SO, most people know I'm a snobby SPS head (I know EriC.......LOL....I admit), and I don't feed my main tank inhabitants 2X a day or even once a day since SPS pretty much need just light and Calcium (for the most part).  I also have a very light fish load to cut down on organics.

Came the dillema......  Brains need to be fed!   Great!  I'm going against my will to feed.  "Oh well,"  I thought.  "This thing isn't gonna make it anyways."

A week later, I see signs of polyps coming out of the brain.  "Whoa........  maybe it's trying to come back!"  That was the first time I fed it that night with the lights on.  I fed it some frozen fish food left overs, it took most of what it could grab.  It's actually alive!  I guess I'm gonna have to feed this thing from now on.  There goes my organics!!!!

 

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The brain makes a dramatic come back.  The polyps come out more, but the Zoos are hindering its full recuperation.  I ask some members and the board for guidance on what to do with the Zoos.  We all agree, the Zoos need to be relocated.  I painstakingly take an X-acto knife and slowly scrape off most of the Zoos from the brain's skeleton.  That took about 15 minutes.  There were some Zoos that were so far in between the grooves, that I had to excise caution to prevent cutting the brain.  I moved what Zoos I could to a little rubble in a plastic tub and placed that in my 20 gallon nano. 

"Gawd, this thing is needy I thought.  But at least it's trying to make a comeback.  Awesome!"   




THE ZOOS that were placed in the NATIONAL ZOANTHID RELOCATION PROGRAM:

A HALF RECOVERED BRAIN CORAL  (AUGUST 5):

So, everyday, the brain gets fed some fishfood leftovers

I feed the FISH in the tank first using an acrylic tube and Silicone, and this usually gets the Brain going since it "smells" the food in the water column.  I then come in and give its share of food.



FEEDING TIME

 

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September 2005:
The brain is making a dramatic comeback. I picked up a few anthias at my not so LFS, and they give me an excuse to feed the tank more often, sometimes 2X a day. It benefits the Brain coral, as he gets fed 2X a day now too. Its polyps show length now, and it's groing. Growing and expanding over where the zoos were encrusting but a few short weeks ago.

FEEDING TIME FOR THE ANTHIAS:

The fish food concoction:
1 packet of Formula A
1 packet of Formula B
5 pieces Frozen shrimp GRATED
1 Frozen Chowder clam GRATED
1 packet Bloodworms
1 packet mysis shrimp
2 cloves Frozen Garlic GRATED

The process: I GRATE the FROZEN shrimp, clam and Garlic since it makes the pieces uniform. Use the small side of the grater, and they should come out pretty consistent. They have to be frozen inorder to get a good grate. I then defrost all the other stuff and mix in the frozen stuff. I place all of this on a strainer and DRAIN the EXCESS moisture (Organic laden water that my SPS don't care for much, LOL). I then refreeze the whole batch back into the cube pop out trays they originally came in, or use small ziplock treat bags and break as I need.




Mid September:

The brain gets relocated to the front of the tank, rather than under the eggcrate where it had been residing for a few months now. He actually shows a little bit better coloration now that he's under a little bit more light. WHO says LPS need low light?!?!? This guy's a light hog!!!


NEW LOCATION:

 

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GOOD NEWS!!!

One rescue brain becomes TWO!

The STRESS during the transition of the owner's tank, transition tank and the frag tank apparently took its toll on this little guy. It had either separated itself or just split in the hopes of one side making it I guess. I do believe that some animals in the animal/plant knigdom do this for survival of the species...... well this one survived. Both of them!!!

Merv......aka.......concept3........aka..........fragman........... I refuse to frag this one!

I'm beginning to like this softie! (I know EriC!!!!! It's an LPS...... ;D )

 

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I just changed the lights in the frag tank from the 6500K to the current 14K. I'm still trying to get used to the bluer light, but I might try these on for a while to see if they really do color up SPS like everyone says. So, the brain gets to sit under it too. As a matter of fact, the last two pics were tanken under the 14K.

 

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SO, to appropriately end this conclusion of the brain that could, here is another progression shot: I will miss this little thing. Hours of feeding, cleaning out the zoos, moving around the tank, watching it recover, watching it grow, watching it split...........OH MY....I think I'm gonna cry..........

Now it gets to go to a loving home!


Good luck little one! you will be missed!



BEFORE

AFTER

A few months ago

TONIGHT: 10-11-05

 

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Lights: 6500K @ 6 hours/day
Circulation: Maxijet 1200 and SEIO M1100
Filtration: Shared with 75 gallon display (AQUAC EVC120 skimmer ONLY)
Supplementation: K2R reactor 60-70 ml/minute
Water changes: 15 gallons bi-weekly (75 gallon tank + 30 gallon fragtank + 10 gallon volume sump)

Ammonia:
Nitrites:
Nitrites:
Ca++: 340 to 400 sometimes (dang SPS)
dKH: I would hope its OK
Kalkwasser as top off 24/7 (drips)


The brain was placed in a lower flow side of the frag tank, but it was recieving most of it water circulation from the rear and underneath since it was suspended on eggcrate and was in front of the SEIO. Frag tank is Bare bottom to facilitate detritus removal..... wait....... so is the main diaplay

 

[sinkingbeach]

That is really amazing, the after shot looks like a carcass and you raised it from the dead. It's absolutely beautiful now , great job.

 

[Ruden]

I have had the pleasure of seeing this transformation in person, it is truely amazing. Merv has done an outstanding job.

Way to go.