STN in Pocilopora from anemone sting?

[+Todd Council]

During some tank maintenance last weekend I ended up moving a pocilopora that has been in the tank for a couple of years. Unfortunately my long tentacle anemone has moved up the rockwork and was coming in contact with the coral. As a result the coral is showing some damage right where the tentacles were meeting the coral. I moved the coral to the sandbed and away from the anemone but damage has been done. I have taken pictures and am monitoring the spread of the STN. The pictures below were taken this morning before the lights were on.

Will the slow tissue necrosis continue? Should I pull the coral and do an iodine dip? Should I frag it up to healthy tissue and dip it? Love some feedback.

Todd Council

[Timfish]

Ouch!  I would definitely do an iodine or coral RX dip.  Getting stung can cause a shift in the colony's holobiont and a secondary "brown jelly" infection that can work it's way across a healthy looking colony.   If practical,  returning it to the same lighting and flow conditions it was growing under might help reduce some of the stress the colony is experiencing.    

[+Todd Council]

Thanks Tim,

That's what I did. I came home yesterday and the infection was spreading. So, I pulled it out dipped it into Coral RX and fragged it into 15 pieces. We'll see how it does. I have 4 or 5 colonies in the display tank that came from frags that I broke off of the mother colony during maintenance so I'm not too worried. Besides, this stuff normally grows like a weed.  

[Timfish]

🙂👍