Coral fragments from three presumed genotypes of Orbicella faveolata and two presumed genotypes of Montastraea cavernosa collected from the field were monitored over the course of one month in one of four treatments in experimental aquaria at the University of Miami: healthy sediment, disease contact control, communal diseased sediment, acute diseased sediment. Time to transmission of disease in days and gross symptoms of disease transmission were recorded during the observation period and are included in this dataset. Images of the corals used to aid in assessment are not included in this data package.

This dataset represents three years of water quality data collected in Vatia Bay, American Samoa. A standard suite of nutrient parameters (nitrate, nitrite, ammonium, urea, total nitrogen, orthophosphate, total phosphorus and silica), as well as tracers of human waste (sucralose and caffeine) were quantified at sixteen randomly selected sites (surface and bottom samples) monthly from 2015 to 2017. In 2018, sampling efforts focused on capturing precipitation events, so the sampling was conducted at less regular intervals.

This dataset represents three years of water quality data collected in the South Florida Reef Tract. A standard suite of nutrient parameters (nitrate, nitrite, ammonium, urea, total nitrogen, orthophosphate, total phosphorus and silica) monthly from 2016 to 2018.

Acropora cervicornis fragments of each genotype were evenly and haphazardly assigned to two nutrient treatments: ambient nutrients (Ambient) or elevated ammonium (NH4). Each nutrient treatment was replicated in four independent tanks (n = 3 fragments per genotype per tank). For ~1.5 months (47 d), Ambient tanks were maintained under nutrient levels consistent with the values in Virginia Key, FL, while elevated NH4 tanks were dosed with NH4Cl [3 mM] every 15 minutes using peristaltic pumps. The initial NH4 dose volume was 10 mL of the stock solution, targeting a ~10 μM increase in NH4 concentration. These values were calculated to account for the dilution of the nutrients resulting from adding new ambient seawater to the tanks (200 mL/min in a total tank volume of 180 L). After detecting higher than normal NH4 concentrations in the incoming seawater from Biscayne Bay, the NH4 dose volume was lowered to 5 mL of the stock solution, targeting ~5 μM NH4 increase above ambient values. The fragments were also assigned to disease vs. placebo treatments, the disease treatments involving exposure to homogenates of corals showing signs of white band disease following the protocol found in Rosales & Palacio-Castro (2024). Water samples (~40 mL) were collected to monitor NH4 levels in the treatments and immediately refrigerated at 4C. The elevated NH4 tanks were sampled daily, but the Ambient tanks were sampled less frequently (~2-3 days and no samples were collected during weeks 1 and 3 of the experiment). Nutrient concentrations were measured at NOAA-AOML using an AA3 nutrient analyzer (Seal Analytical, Southampton, UK). The instrument was calibrated before each run using standard solutions and procedures. Initially, only NH4 was monitored, but after high NH4 concentrations in the source seawater were detected, additional measurements of PO4 were included.