This scolymia was stung by another coral at my local fish store which caused all the damage as seen in the photo below. Luckily, stung corals tend to heal up very quickly with little intervention on my part. Since the coral was stung, I needed to make sure the coral didn’t get infected, so I dipped it in CoralRx (and followed the manufacturer’s instructions.) I used a pipette to gently blow off any remaining unattached tissue since rotting tissue can cause issues (ammonia spikes, infections, and it attracts hermit crabs).
Scolymia on March 2012
After dipping the coral, I placed it into a low flow, low light area. Low flow is especially important so that the water movement does not rip the damaged tissue off the coral. To help combat this problem, I used Superglue Gel (cyanoacrylate) along the edge of the ripped tissue to keep it attached to the skeleton. The coral quickly grows over the superglue (see photo below).
Scolymia, April 2012
Feeding injured corals is also important as their zooxanthallae (their symbiotic algae) may not be able to provide enough nutrients for them to heal quickly. I feed highly processed food initially (such as fish food pellets) since the corals seem to digest them better than less processed foods (mysis, brine shrimp, etc.)
Scolymia Eating, May 2012
Once the healing process begins, it will take the coral some time to regain its full health/beauty.
Scolymia, August 2012
Also, once the coral is healthy and stable, I cut off any remaining dead skeleton (as in the photo above.) Often the coral will grow a new skeleton/tissue faster than it will over an old one. The photo below shows the coral with the dead skeleton portion removed.
Scolymia, October 2012
In less than a year, this Scolymia is back to its original beauty.
Scolymia, December 2012