Euphyllia on the struggle bus - HELP

[OldMoonBoots]

Hey All, So have been reefing for 20 years and have a small coral farm. My main reef had a star fish die in it about 9 months ago and ever since then all my euphyllia have been slowly (very slowly) closing up and dying off on my. I use Reef BluePrint for my trace elements so I run an ICP every month and ive only ever had elevated Aluminum which I removed with MetaSorb. I have also done a slue of Aquabiomics testing thinking that since Fromia Stars eat bacterial film layers, maybe it loaded the microbiome with something weird when it died. The only pathogen found by Dr. Eli is a small amount of the bacteria associated with SCTLD (Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease) i know scary right?! Anyways, I have been dipping in Oxolinic Acid trying to salvage the premium hammer I have remaining. My torch dont seem to be affected like the hammers. Has anyone else ever had to deal with SCTLD and if so how did you do it? I can provide any test results needed if any of you reefer geniuses have any suggestions. Thanks guys. Really need to catch a break.

What the corals do: They will begin to shrink from the flesh band and then eventually just close up and be gone. It usually take a polyp about 4-6 weeks to fully die. My Goni also have been closing up, but im able to save them with the OA treatment method ive developed. I havent lost a Goni since I began doing this. Even brought some back from nothin but a trace of color still in the coralite skeleton.

 

[fishguy242]

@MERKEY ?

 

[ChiCity]

sorry this is happening to ya brotha…
you’re def going to need help from some of the more advanced guys here that know more about pathogens in our systems.
sending good vibes your way.

(could you please elaborate on your oxolinic dip?)

 

[OldMoonBoots]

sorry this is happening to ya brotha…
you’re def going to need help from some of the more advanced guys here that know more about pathogens in our systems.
sending good vibes your way.

(could you please elaborate on your oxolinic dip?)

Much appreciated. Needing all the VIBES I can get haha.

 

[MERKEY]

So sorry to see this happening.

Hows your mag?

Unfortunately once bacteria enters a system it's really really hard to get it out.

What do the torches skeletons look like on the inside after they die. If they are not completely white then this indicates that bacteria has gotten into the skeleton.

While you might not have found anything directly related to "euphyllia" bacteria, you found "stony coral" bacteria in there.

I'm thinking torches are still reacting to the negative bacteria.

From my experience, torches are as bad as sps to keep happy and in some cases harder.

Larger vendors I know keep specific tanks for their torches. This makes it easy to medicate the farm if necessary and keeps bacteria out.

What I've seen work if bacteria has gotten into the skeleton is fragging the heads asap and run medications 24/7 with large frequent WC.

You basically have to flush this out of their system.

Which is really hard to do in a mixed reef because bacteria is in or on all other coral and rocks and sand as well. Also why it's important to frag asap.

When fragging don't bring any dark skeleton with you. Keep cutting that off.

Rinse in medicated dip that you use.

I don't recommend dips anymore as people have mixed emotions on medications.

Again so sorry this is happening.

 

[OldMoonBoots]

So sorry to see this happening.

Hows your mag?

Unfortunately once bacteria enters a system it's really really hard to get it out.

What do the torches skeletons look like on the inside after they die. If they are not completely white then this indicates that bacteria has gotten into the skeleton.

While you might not have found anything directly related to "euphyllia" bacteria, you found "stony coral" bacteria in there.

I'm thinking torches are still reacting to the negative bacteria.

From my experience, torches are as bad as sps to keep happy and in some cases harder.

Larger vendors I know keep specific tanks for their torches. This makes it easy to medicate the farm if necessary and keeps bacteria out.

What I've seen work if bacteria has gotten into the skeleton is fragging the heads asap and run medications 24/7 with large frequent WC.

You basically have to flush this out of their system.

Which is really hard to do in a mixed reef because bacteria is in or on all other coral and rocks and sand as well. Also why it's important to frag asap.

When fragging don't bring any dark skeleton with you. Keep cutting that off.

Rinse in medicated dip that you use.

I don't recommend dips anymore as people have mixed emotions on medications.

Again so sorry this is happening.

Hey, and I appreciate your response but I think you might’ve misread what I wrote. My torches are doing fine. I haven’t had any issues with them. It’s all of my hammers that are giving me fits if I take hammers out of my farm and put them in my Reef they’ll start to struggle, but if I take hammers from my reef and put them in the farm, they seem to heal. So I know it has to be something with the bacteria in my reef. I have also purchased more real Australian Live rock to try to diversify my bacterial load. I don’t do bottled bacteria. The only thing that I do is PNS pro bio as a food source.

 

[MERKEY]

Hey, and I appreciate your response but I think you might’ve misread what I wrote. My torches are doing fine. I haven’t had any issues with them. It’s all of my hammers that are giving me fits if I take hammers out of my farm and put them in my Reef they’ll start to struggle, but if I take hammers from my reef and put them in the farm, they seem to heal. So I know it has to be something with the bacteria in my reef. I have also purchased more real Australian Live rock to try to diversify my bacterial load. I don’t do bottled bacteria. The only thing that I do is PNS pro bio as a food source.

All still applies to any euphyllia.

How does the inside of the hammer skeleton look?

Unfortunately getting rid of negative bacteria in a reef tank is pretty hard unless controlled with meds.

Good luck!

 

[stenopus]

All still applies to any euphyllia.

How does the inside of the hammer skeleton look?

Unfortunately getting rid of negative bacteria in a reef tank is pretty hard unless controlled with meds.

Good luck!

what is the proper way of reefing that do not allow for that bacteria to get in to the system?

 

[MERKEY]

what is the proper way of reefing that do not allow for that bacteria to get in to the system?

There is no way to NOT get bacteria into your system.

Everytime you put your hands in there is something bacteria getting in.

New frag...new bacteria

QT help a ton

The best way to keep a healthy reef is to make sure there is more healthy bacteria than negative.

I'll let the scientists chime in about how to eradicate bacteria from a reef tank.

My unfortunate point is, that once it's in, it's a pain to get rid of.

Let corals die off that the bacteria is feeding on and then the bacteria will die off without food.

Run hospital tanks to the point that there is no bacteria. Aka QT for the normal hobbiest.

It's a terrible nasty side of the hobby.