Coral cancer

[ccCapt]

Well I thought I saw just about everything, but this pretty much tops it all. Seems like I have a coral, which I grew from a 1" frag, that has cancer. At first I thought it was a sponge or something, but it's hard and growing out of the coral. I'm waiting to hopefully, hear something from Eric Borneman as far as treatments or what can be done.

This is near the base of the coral.

This I didn't even see till I took the pics. it's near the top left of the coral.

And here's the whole coral with the neoplasms (tumors) circled.

 

[dustin_P74]

i have something that looks like that on one of my acros but i just wrote it off to tip sprouting out of the branch

 

[JAG107]

wow that's weird. I've never heard of coral tumors. Hope things work out ok cccapt, are you going to start fragging or just see how things go for a while?

 

[ccCapt]

I was talking to a friend who works at 1 of the large aquariums in Texas. He suggested either letting it go and see how big it gets, which I don't think I'll do, or get the dremel out and operate and try to cut out the mass. I think I'll wait to hear from Borneman before I do anything.

If you do a Google search for coral neoplasm, you will see a few similar pics.

 

[d2mini]

IT'S NOT A TOOMAH! :mrgreen:

 

[Alexander]

Wow that really sucks. And its such a large coral too. Hope everything works out for ya capt

 

[daugherty]

that is really strange.i have never heard of a coral having cancer. hope that it does not affect the coral's life

 

[ccCapt]

Yeah, this was a new 1 on me. I've been doing alot of research on it and not much in the way of cures.
Some info I found:
This locally invasive abnormal mass of tissue and unusually porous skeleton grows faster than the surrounding normal tissue and skeleton. It proceeds to destroy the polyps and cause the death of the coral tissue.
Based on these factors, this condition has been termed a neoplasm (cancer), calicoblastic epithelioma.
The cause(s) of neoplasms in hard corals are unknown. Probably mutations of the genome and/or programmatic changes in gene expression of the coral cells are responsible for these skeletal anomalies, but whether a particular agent, such as ultraviolet radiation, is responsible for a particular mutation has not been determined. Additional studies are needed.

I think I'll perform some surgery this weekend.
Pics will follow. ;)

 

[hibye]

I hope it doesn't spead to the other corals.

 

[XxKnuckleheadxX]

i would just cut into it with the dremel like you said. keep us updated. curious of what to do and how it will turn out.

 

[yote]

That plum sux Capt.Abd thats a great looking colony.
Hope you can get resolved.

 

[Piggy]

That is such a pretty coral ti have it happen to. Keep us updated.

 

[ccCapt]

I was busy this weekend, so I didn't do anything to the coral. Sort of gald I didn't because I got an answer from Eric Borneman.

"Unless there are extenuating circumstances that I/you are unaware of, this is a "tissue-skeletal anomaly" that is more commonly known as neoplasia. They are common in Acropora - this type - and may multiply. To diagnose true neoplasia for a coral, you would have to do both tissue and skeletal sectioning and microscopic exam, but the gross signs are very consistent and also, like I said, a pretty common occurrence in the field and in tanks. That area may stay the same size or grow in size. Eventually, there may be some loss of tissue if the affected area expands, leaving a depression and dead area in the center of the lesion, but it is rarely if ever something that would cause the death of a colony. Would you be so kind as to periodically update this thread? Could you send me high resolution photos to add to my collection of such syndromes in aquarium corals? Thanks."

 

[yote]

Learn something new everyday:D
Happy to know its not a sure death the whole colony.

 

[Piggy]

Great info. Thanks for the update.

 

[ccCapt]

The coral is growing nice...and so are the neoplasia.
Here's some pics of the progression. I'm sending these latest pics to Eric Borneman and possibly a few tissue samples to 1 of the coral experts Eric works with.

2-18-09

4-20-09

7-12-09

 

[daugherty]

wow they are growing fast. at least it is not harming the coral right now and hopefully not in the near future.

 

[ccCapt]

They are still growing, but so is the coral. Here's the latest.

 

[yote]

Did you ever send them a sample?
Happy to see the colony is still doing good and growing.

 

[dcantucson]

Gosh those growths have gotten big!
Did you ever think of cutting them off when the were smaller?