Abstract

Caribbean stony corals have suffered an unprecedented decline on their populations since 2014 when Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) was first observed off the coast of Florida. This disease has since then spread across the entire Caribbean, impacting already vulnerable coral reefs. SCTLD was first observed in September 2020 on the South side of the island of Roatan, Honduras. Since then, this deadly disease has spread to the majority of the island and some sites have been highly impacted, showing a decrease on pillar and maze coral populations. In order to assess the effectiveness of topical antibiotic treatment to reduce the impact of SCTLD on the corals of Roatan, a subset of 226 corals on 7 sites were treated and reassessed on a monthly basis for three months. Treatment effectiveness was studied in 20 different species selected at random. Due to the reported high success in treating SCTLD lesions in the laboratory and in the field in Florida, amoxicillin plus Base 2B were selected as the treatment used for all corals. Effectiveness was highest on brain coral species (Pseudodiploria strigosa, and Colpophyllia natans) and star coral (Orbicella faveolata) but pillar corals and maze corals showed the lowest success rates. Unlike the results from previous studies in Florida, Monstrastaea cavernosa did not show the highest success rate in our study. Although the treatment with topical antibiotic was effective, many of the corals developed new lesions and a long- term solution should be explored to preserve genetic material of highly susceptible species.

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