WILLEMSTAD - To combat the severe coral disease, dive schools are stepping in to help. Already, ten dive schools in Curaçao have received training on how to administer antibiotics to the affected coral.
According to the Ministry of GMN, the antibiotic treatment, using amoxicillin, involves a mixture of powder and paste. Underwater, this mixture is injected onto the diseased coral and then gently spread over the affected area. The disease is commonly known as 'stony coral tissue loss disease' and impacts at least 22 different coral species.
In the case of the most vulnerable coral species affected by this disease, infected colonies typically perish within a few weeks or months. Up to this point, the application of antibiotics has proven to be the sole effective treatment.
This method significantly boosts the survival rate of treated corals, increasing it by up to 90 percent.