Euphillia not doing well! Help please

[maleks.reef]

Hi everyone. I have 4 lps in my tank; 2 torches, 1 hammer and 1 goni. I moved the goni 2 months ago and it has never fully opened up since. My euphillia were doing amazing until VERY recently. One of the torches is not opening up (started 2 weeks ago) and I think I see tissue dying off, also I'm pretty sure I see brown slime on the hammer which is also not opening up at all (started a month ago). PLEASE help. I can't lose them. (Ps my second torch is doing amazing and it is next to the green one)

Before

After

 

[Guy714]

What are your parameters? High phosphate usually is the cause!

 

[maleks.reef]

What are your parameters? High phosphate usually is the cause!

I did start feeding reef roids recently, could that be it? Plus I feed flakes daily and I try to feed a decent amount. I do have a huge set up though and a HOB skimmer. I don't have test kits yet (other than nitrate) as this tank is 4 months old only.

 

[Guy714]

I don’t think feeding reef roids is the problem itself but you do need to test your water to see what the parameters are before we can say for sure. I would suggest 10-15% water change to see if they improve while getting some test kits.

 

[maleks.reef]

I don’t think feeding reef roids is the problem itself but you do need to test your water to see what the parameters are before we can say for sure. I would suggest 10-15% water change to see if they improve while getting some test kits.

Looks like i will be getting a phosphate kit and doing a water change tomorrow. What other issues can be the cause as well? I thought brown slime is an infection?

 

[maleks.reef]

Also, would a peroxide or maybe iodine dip help?

 

[Jekyl]

Knowing your parameters would be step 1. Look up brown jelly disease for course of action and identification.

 

[maleks.reef]

Knowing your parameters would be step 1. Look up brown jelly disease for course of action and identification.

I could not spot any brown jelly on my torch, however I think there is some on the hammer as you can see by the pic.

 

[Jekyl]

@vetteguy53081 will have better insight. He has a few euphyllia of his own.

 

[Saltees]

I had healthy torches receding and died on me after thriving months in my torch garden. I had managed to save quite a few by dipping them for 15mins in TM Coral Clean (iodine based) on the first sign of closing up, and would continue to dip for the next 3 days to a week.

Once they have closed fully and/or brown jelly up it’s too late. If one head is dead, remove all dead material or cut it off.

I am advised by fellow reefers to try POLYPLAB Reef Primer on brown jelly, but have yet to do so.

Just sharing my experiences, hope it helps.

 

[Sam816]

have you dipped them in any coral dip? there some worms that can cause euphyllia to close up. these worms don't do any damage just keep irritating the coral.

 

[Pistondog]

Reef roids are high in phosphate.

 

[saltwaterpicaso]

Yeah reef roids is very high in po4 I had issues with my tank when I first started it up almost like this I had 15 or so torches and one by one they receded and died off i used to feed them 2 times a week reef roids. I stopped a year ago and have had perfect torches since I only feed whole foods now like mysis and blood worms

 

[fuelman]

you should pick up a alkalinity test kit also that's your #1 parameter that will affect your coral. then if you don't have a refractometer to test your salinity that would be next. nitrate & phosphate are very important but unless your sky high or you have none it's not the most likely suspect affecting your torch. my po4 drifted up to 0.28 last week from a normal 0.10-0.12 range i made a few adjustments to bring it back in range, but the tank full of euphyllia never reacted negatively to it. having zero po4 on the other hand is a whole other story.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Cant tell much in the pics as they are extremely blue. There is some discussion regarding water. First thing to address is the test kit(s) youre using. What brand are you using ? API is notorious for false readings and can throw your tank off in a hurry.
Regarding brown jelly- Can you provide a pic under white lighting ? Siphon up the jelly if it actually is such with a 3/8" tubing and give it a diluted Iodine dip.
It takes a moderate level of skill to care for Hammer corals in a saltwater tank. Like most other coral species, Euphyllia requires Stable tank conditions, and is intolerant to major swings in water quality, and is sensitive to almost any level of copper in the water. Since they are a large polyp stony coral, calcium and alkalinity are two very important water parameters that will affect the growth of your coral. This coral will start to die off if the calcium levels are too low. A calcium level of about 400 ppm is just right.
This coral species isn’t terribly picky when it comes to the proper placement in your tank. The trick would really be just to avoid the extremes. Avoid extremely bright locations or areas of very high current, and avoid areas that are too dark or with currents that are too low. Fast currents risk damaging the soft, fleshy polyps (and getting an infection). Bright lights will cause bleaching. Insufficient lighting will cause the poor coral to wither away and starve to death.
Hammer corals only require a moderate amount of light for photosynthesis and can grow well in the intermediate regions of your tank. Just about any reef LED lighting should be sufficient for most tanks. Reduce white light intensity and get it off the sand bed which sand can irritate it.
The polyps should sway in the current, but not sustain so much pressure they are constantly bent over their skeleton. Too much flow will tear the polyps (worst case) and cause the polyps do not extend in the first place (best case). So, don’t give them too much flow.
The hammer coral is considered to be an aggressive coral species that will attack its neighbors with sweeper tentacles. These are stinging nematocysts (similar to the sting of an anemone) on the end of a specialized polyp that can extend several inches away from the body of the coral. The sweeper tentacles pack a punch and will chemically burn any neighboring corals.
Hammer corals are more subdued eaters who would benefit from the occasional feeding of a meaty marine food like mysis and brine shrimp.

Goniopora is plain and simply challenging fr both the beginner and the most experienced hobbyist. For a long time Goniopora were considered an impossible coral to keep. There were even discussions online about it being unethical to keep importing them because of their poor survivability. Goniopora are a photosynthetic coral so they derive some of their nutritional requirements from light. This is done through a symbiotic relationship with dinoflagellates called zooxanthellae that live in the flesh of the coral. The dinoflagellates are actually the photosynthetic organism and the Goniopora colony derives nutrients off of the byproducts of the dinoflagellates’ photosynthetic process. Zooxanthellae is usually brown in color and the coral tightly regulates the population living in its flesh. Too little light will cause the coral to turn brown in color.
I would not recommend blasting Goniopora with a lot of light. I don’t think there are a lot of advantages to doing so. If you start to see the coral starting to turn lighter and bleach out, it is likely the result of high lighting intensity. When in doubt, favor lower lighting intensities until it is clear that the coral is demanding more.
One mistake I think some reef keepers make is providing them too much flow. If you have a powerhead blowing right at Goniopora from short range, it may kill off some of the tissue at that point of contact and cause a chain reaction to the rest of the colony.
Goniopora appreciate low to medium flow, but preferably with some randomness to it. That way you will get that gentle waving motion which helps keep the coral clean and brings food past the colony. If you see the tentacles violently thrashing about, that is probably too much flow and it would benefit from being relocated to a more calm section of the tank.
Lack of food is a big issue with these coral and there are two types of food to provide Goniopora. The first is liquid amino acids. In short, they are simple organic compounds that play a major role in building proteins as well as other biological functions at the cellular level. Corals regularly take in available amino acids from the water column so it is easy to provide them with adequate quantities by broadcast feeding an amino acid solution.
The second type of food I like are dry powdered plankton. There are several different types on the market.
The general consensus with these is to keep Phosphate levels around .05 ppm and Nitrate levels between 10-20 ppm. This is a safe zone that not too many people will dispute. If you need a recommendation there you go.

 

[maleks.reef]

Reef roids are high in phosphate.

Yeah reef roids is very high in po4 I had issues with my tank when I first started it up almost like this I had 15 or so torches and one by one they receded and died off i used to feed them 2 times a week reef roids. I stopped a year ago and have had perfect torches since I only feed whole foods now like mysis and blood worms

Do you think feeding 1/4 tsp of reef roids in my 34 gal tank twice a week is the issue?
Also, my hammer wasn't opening up a while before I started using reef roids so..

 

[maleks.reef]

you should pick up a alkalinity test kit also that's your #1 parameter that will affect your coral. then if you don't have a refractometer to test your salinity that would be next. nitrate & phosphate are very important but unless your sky high or you have none it's not the most likely suspect affecting your torch. my po4 drifted up to 0.28 last week from a normal 0.10-0.12 range i made a few adjustments to bring it back in range, but the tank full of euphyllia never reacted negatively to it. having zero po4 on the other hand is a whole other story.

My salinity is as stable as it can be at 1.025. Regarding the kits, I'm planning to go and buy a phosphate kit tomorrow since people are suspecting it might be high p04. An alk kit is next on my list too. I am also slacking on water changes so maybe it is low calc or alk.

 

[maleks.reef]

Cant tell much in the pics as they are extremely blue. There is some discussion regarding water. First thing to address is the test kit(s) youre using. What brand are you using ? API is notorious for false readings and can throw your tank off in a hurry.
Regarding brown jelly- Can you provide a pic under white lighting ? Siphon up the jelly if it actually is such with a 3/8" tubing and give it a diluted Iodine dip.
It takes a moderate level of skill to care for Hammer corals in a saltwater tank. Like most other coral species, Euphyllia requires Stable tank conditions, and is intolerant to major swings in water quality, and is sensitive to almost any level of copper in the water. Since they are a large polyp stony coral, calcium and alkalinity are two very important water parameters that will affect the growth of your coral. This coral will start to die off if the calcium levels are too low. A calcium level of about 400 ppm is just right.
This coral species isn’t terribly picky when it comes to the proper placement in your tank. The trick would really be just to avoid the extremes. Avoid extremely bright locations or areas of very high current, and avoid areas that are too dark or with currents that are too low. Fast currents risk damaging the soft, fleshy polyps (and getting an infection). Bright lights will cause bleaching. Insufficient lighting will cause the poor coral to wither away and starve to death.
Hammer corals only require a moderate amount of light for photosynthesis and can grow well in the intermediate regions of your tank. Just about any reef LED lighting should be sufficient for most tanks. Reduce white light intensity and get it off the sand bed which sand can irritate it.
The polyps should sway in the current, but not sustain so much pressure they are constantly bent over their skeleton. Too much flow will tear the polyps (worst case) and cause the polyps do not extend in the first place (best case). So, don’t give them too much flow.
The hammer coral is considered to be an aggressive coral species that will attack its neighbors with sweeper tentacles. These are stinging nematocysts (similar to the sting of an anemone) on the end of a specialized polyp that can extend several inches away from the body of the coral. The sweeper tentacles pack a punch and will chemically burn any neighboring corals.
Hammer corals are more subdued eaters who would benefit from the occasional feeding of a meaty marine food like mysis and brine shrimp.

Goniopora is plain and simply challenging fr both the beginner and the most experienced hobbyist. For a long time Goniopora were considered an impossible coral to keep. There were even discussions online about it being unethical to keep importing them because of their poor survivability. Goniopora are a photosynthetic coral so they derive some of their nutritional requirements from light. This is done through a symbiotic relationship with dinoflagellates called zooxanthellae that live in the flesh of the coral. The dinoflagellates are actually the photosynthetic organism and the Goniopora colony derives nutrients off of the byproducts of the dinoflagellates’ photosynthetic process. Zooxanthellae is usually brown in color and the coral tightly regulates the population living in its flesh. Too little light will cause the coral to turn brown in color.
I would not recommend blasting Goniopora with a lot of light. I don’t think there are a lot of advantages to doing so. If you start to see the coral starting to turn lighter and bleach out, it is likely the result of high lighting intensity. When in doubt, favor lower lighting intensities until it is clear that the coral is demanding more.
One mistake I think some reef keepers make is providing them too much flow. If you have a powerhead blowing right at Goniopora from short range, it may kill off some of the tissue at that point of contact and cause a chain reaction to the rest of the colony.
Goniopora appreciate low to medium flow, but preferably with some randomness to it. That way you will get that gentle waving motion which helps keep the coral clean and brings food past the colony. If you see the tentacles violently thrashing about, that is probably too much flow and it would benefit from being relocated to a more calm section of the tank.
Lack of food is a big issue with these coral and there are two types of food to provide Goniopora. The first is liquid amino acids. In short, they are simple organic compounds that play a major role in building proteins as well as other biological functions at the cellular level. Corals regularly take in available amino acids from the water column so it is easy to provide them with adequate quantities by broadcast feeding an amino acid solution.
The second type of food I like are dry powdered plankton. There are several different types on the market.
The general consensus with these is to keep Phosphate levels around .05 ppm and Nitrate levels between 10-20 ppm. This is a safe zone that not too many people will dispute. If you need a recommendation there you go.

First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to write all that. Before we move forward, here are the pics you asked for. I am hoping that maybe my diagnosis was wrong. Regarding the kits, I have a nitrate kit only as of right now and its from salifert. Ill try to get a phosphate or an alk test kit tomorrow. Which one do you think is more important for the situation I'm dealing with?
Also, I think my flow and light are not the problem here because both corals were doing well for a whilebefore suddenly closing up. That being said, when I noticed my hammer not opening up and losing colour I thought maybe my light is too strong so I decreased it a bit. I think it was after doing so that my green torch started not opening up. Keep in mind I have a dragon soul 2 inches away from the green torch that is doing more than amazing.

 

[Jekyl]

I would recommend alk, phosphate, calcium, magnesium in addition to your nitrate kit. The first 2 being needed first. I use salifert and have no complaints.

 

[fuelman]

I would recommend alk, phosphate, calcium, magnesium in addition to your nitrate kit. The first 2 being needed first. I use salifert and have no complaints.

yup i would agree with this & in the order listed as being the most important.