Nicole Bridges Is Saving Corals as a Hobby.
Here’s How You Can Too
Nicole Bridges approached reefkeeping like an engineer: look for problems, build a methodical process, and iterate until solutions scale. What began as rescuing bargain‑bin corals that others tossed became a focused passion. The appeal was not pristine displays or trophy corals, but the challenge of bringing near‑dead animals back to life. For Nicole, "one person's trash is another person's gold." Rescuing corals turned into a deeply rewarding, patient pursuit where slow progress and steady improvement matter more than instant results.
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Who can rescue corals?
This work is accessible to many hobbyists, but it is a skill learned by doing. Nicole has spent nearly two decades refining techniques and building intuition. Plenty of aquarists rescue an occasional colony successfully. The key is continual learning, cautious experimentation, and prioritizing coral and system health over quick turnover or profit. Most rescues are a labor of love rather than a profitable enterprise.
The rescue workflow: a step‑by‑step overview
Nicole treats rescues like triage and engineering. Every minute counts when corals are stressed, so preparation and a repeatable process make the difference.
System readiness: Confirm quarantine and display systems are stable. Never bring risky corals into an unstable tank.
Rescue day prep: Clear the schedule, pack coolers, bags, tools, and contingency supplies. Expect a long day.
Transport and temperature acclimation: Move corals out of fouled water as soon as temperature is within acceptable range, then begin acclimation into cleaner water.
Triage: Prioritize the most salvageable or most at‑risk pieces. Decide which corals need immediate intervention and which can wait.
Clean, cut and remove dead material: Carefully remove all obvious dead tissue and excess skeleton. Nicole often trims a margin into healthy tissue to get ahead of banding or spreading lesions.
Dips and targeted treatment: Apply appropriate dips (discussed below) tailored to the coral type and suspected problem. Adjust treatments based on individual coral history and signs.
Post‑treatment care: Glue wounded margins with veterinary grade cyanoacrylate to limit further damage and encourage healing. Quarantine and monitor closely; many rescues need months to fully recover.
Tools, supplies and common techniques
Temperature‑stable transport (coolers, insulated bags).
Cutting tools: band saws or bone saws for larger colonies (used carefully).
Veterinary grade superglue (medical cyanoacrylates rather than generic dollar‑store glues) to attach frag plugs or seal wounds.
Quarantine and growout tanks that are stable and well cycled.
Various dips: hydrogen peroxide, Coral RX and iodine (Lugol) are commonly used. Antibiotics and emerging treatments such as potassium chloride are being explored by experienced hobbyists and researchers.
Microscope or hand lens for inspecting pests, eggs and ciliates.
Understanding tissue loss and band disease
Death in corals is usually a process rather than a single event. Early intervention can stop or slow progression. One common pattern is banding lesions: moving lines of tissue loss that can look like stripes, waves or bands across a colony. These often involve ciliates, bacteria, or complex microbial interactions. Removing the affected skeleton and a margin of tissue is a central tactic because it eliminates the visible front of decay and gives the coral healthy tissue to recover from.
Dips explained and safety cautions
There is no single universal dip that solves every problem. Nicole uses a toolbox of dips and applies them according to coral type and the suspected cause of decline. Key points:
Hydrogen peroxide is Nicole's go‑to starter dip for many corals. It helps remove films, microalgae, detritus, and visible ciliates. It can be aggressive and is not recommended for all corals. Do research on each.
Coral RX (tea tree oil based products) are used later in a dip sequence and can help reduce remaining pests and encourage post‑treatment recovery.
Lugol's iodine is an antiseptic Nicole will use on severe wounds or when bacterial infection is suspected. It can help clean a fresh wound but rarely solves complex infections on its own.
Potassium chloride and antibiotics are emerging or debated tools. They require experience, careful dosing and understanding of legal and ethical considerations. These treatments will be the subject of separate, detailed study and debate.
Warning: very aggressive dips, prolonged exposure, or brute force approaches can kill corals. Many anecdotal successes exist, but those techniques are best applied by experienced hobbyists who accept the risks and are prepared to learn from failures.
How much margin to cut?
There is no one‑size‑fits‑all rule. Nicole's practice evolved from conservative trims to being willing to take larger margins when necessary. Practical guidance:
If a coral is special or rare, consider hedging bets: remove a small healthy frag for preservation and then remove the damaged region from the original colony.
When banding or aggressive lesions are present, cutting well into apparently healthy tissue can stop spread. That can be emotionally hard but may be the difference between saving and losing the colony.
Be methodical: have a plan, act deliberately, and avoid panicked, last‑minute cuts.
Microbial communities, sand and system factors
Microbial communities play a major role in coral health. Some hobbyists and stores have noticed that natural sand and certain captive microbiomes can improve recovery and resilience. Nicole observed that a long‑running quarantine tank that looked "unremarkable" on paper often produced markedly better rescue outcomes than other tanks. That suggests a robust, well‑balanced microbiome or other unmeasured factors can help recovery. The hobby is still learning how to harness these benefits reliably.
Real examples and lessons learned
Nicole shared a range of field cases that shaped her approach: rescuing corals from a fish store after a bleach incident, evacuating corals after a local tornado and rescuing colonies shipped in hot weather. Outbreaks often recurred annually in her experience, driven by a combination of heat, elevated nutrients during times of travel or neglect, and an already present microbial community. In one breakout case she took a larger margin on a canophilia, and it recovered where prior attempts had failed. Those "Eureka" moments reinforce the value of careful risk‑taking informed by a process.
"In the midst of difficulty lies opportunity."
Best practices and ethical considerations
Always prioritize coral health and system safety. Do not rescue or flip corals solely for profit.
Dip and quarantine everything you bring into your systems, even from friendlier tanks. New diseases and pests appear regularly.
Learn to recognize early signs of decline so intervention happens before severe tissue loss.
Document cases with photos and video. Visual records train your eye and help others learn what healthy, marginal, and failing corals look like.
Share methods and data with trusted peers. Collective, repeatable experience is how the hobby advances toward safer, more effective protocols.
Three core takeaways
Death is a process. Intervene early, slow the timeline and create opportunities for recovery.
Do not blindly trust any tank. Dip and quarantine new additions; unseen microbes and pests are common.
Take margin when necessary. Removing more than the visibly dead tissue can stop lesions and give the colony a fighting chance.
Growing a community around coral rescue
Nicole recommends forming small, focused peer groups that test methods, share results and refine rescue protocols. Hobbyist "peer review" can be powerful: when multiple people replicate a method and report consistent results, the practice becomes compelling. Combining that community data with input from marine biologists and reef restoration professionals will accelerate progress.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to Nicole Bridges for sharing her knowledge with the SR community. Visit her website for more information on saving coral. https://coraleverafter.org
Thank you to the Serious Reefs community. Your membership funds the creation of articles and videos like this one.
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