[David]

I have lived in fear of this day for seven months, my beautiful S. elegans is all shriveled up and has several gray/black spots or blotches. This must be the dreaded "black spot disease" I've seen discussed on this board. Is there anything one can do? I would just hate to lose this coral (actually I would hate to lose any coral, is this going to spread?). I have toyed with the idea of taking cuttings but haven't had the nerve. Might this be a good time to try? Any chance a cutting of clean tissue might not be affected? Send help if you can! As always, TIA for your thoughts.

[popcorn]

David,

So sorry to hear! If it makes you feel any better, I have run into the gray/black spots, but it was only along one edge - like the edge was disintigrating. I trimmed it off, and the coral was fine. It the necrosis is in the middle, I don't know what to tell you. (I think I'd had it about 6 months when that happened) I also finally got the nerve to frag it, and I have 4 thriving babies now. Mom recovered surprisingly quickly, too. It doesn't look all that funny, either. I used a new (read: sterile) scalpel blade, and attached babies with superglue as well as needle and thread 2x through the new base.)

It seems that once you get these picky ones stabilized and happy for a year or so, they are far more hardy. Ours stayed open with full extension the entire time it was packed for our 200 mile move. Weird thing.
HTH

[David]

Thanks for the encouragement, I think I'm going to cut the leather and while I'm at it I will remove the spots, just in the hopes that it's a localized thing that can be "surgically" removed.