Moon Fire Japanese Bark Problem

[BapaJon42]

Hello,
We have several well established healthy Japanese Maples. However, one Moon Fire Japanese Maple seems to be deteriorating over the last few years. We lost a couple of middle branches last year and a couple in prior years. We are in zone 9 in California. I recently noticed issues with the bark on several branches. Please see the pics.
Can anyone tell me what is going on and perhaps how to fix this ... if it is fixable?
Thanks,
Jon

 

[Chuck]

One cause of peeling bark is cold weather changing to warm weather rapidly. In zone 9 California I doubt if this is the case. Another very possible and likely reason is borers. Borers in Japanese Maples are very small. The holes that they leave in the bark are very small, about 1/16 inch in diameter. Borers usually attack a tree because the tree is stressed in some fashion. If you can look at some of the shed bark pieces and see if there are any whitish or light brown lines or streaks on the inside of the bark. Even if you don't see any signs of borers on the bark this doesn't necessarily mean that the tree doesn't have them but borers are the most likely cause. You didn't mention the leaves on the tree. Are they still healthy and don't have black spots or something unusual happening? One thing you can do that is completely harmless to people and pets is to spray all of the bark on the tree with an orange oil/water solution. Mix 3 oz orange oil per gallon of water and wet the bark completely. I would get an arborist to come look at the tree

 

[BapaJon42]

In one of the pictures it looks like something is eating under the bark... remnants like sawdust... kinda like what termites do to lumber. I couldn't see any whitish or brown lines but we just had a huge storm the last two days... so a lot of the evidence may have been washed away. I don't really know.
Also, someone in another forum mentioned it looked like sun scald do to declining canopy. I'm guessing it may be a bit of both.
I also noticed today some sort of fungi at one location.

Do you think it is a goner? or do you think it can be saved somehow?

 

[Marck]

This tree does have some serious problems. There might be a drainage problem at the root cause of all this. Wood-feeding insects and fungus usually move in after a tree has become stressed. Fortunately, it is a small tree, so you don't have to take it immediately due to safety concerns. Observe its progress and try to give it the best care possible. Also try to embrace the concept of rustic, damaged character, or as some put it in Japanese: wabi-sabi.