Fighting SCTLD with Cocoa Butter and Chlorine

A paste made from chlorine and cocoa butter could be a future treatment for Atlantic corals affected by stony coral tissue loss disease. A study published in Frontiers in Marine Science indicates the two items better known for cleaning swimming pools and moisturizing dry skin might be invaluable in protecting affected coral.

In the study, a team of researchers compared the effectiveness of various SCTLD treatments by applying them to infected corals of Horseshoe Reef, near the British Virgin Islands. Some of the groups were treated with amoxicillin, the established treatment. The others were treated with a paste mixed from chlorine and cocoa butter.

The chlorine powder used in the treatment is the same used to kill germs in swimming pools. The cocoa butter is just the delivery mechanism allowing the spread of the chlorine on the coral lesions. Researchers applied both types of treatments directly to corals and checked the reef every four or five weeks. On these visits, they measured and described any lesions and reapplied the treatment as necessary.

After around 80 days, the median percentage of tissue lost was 17.6 percent for chlorine-treated coral colonies and 1.7 percent for amoxicillin-treated coral colonies. (Antibiotics come with side-effects like increased antibiotic resistance - just like in humans.)