Help! Brown slime with bugs on torch!!

[miasreeftank]

Hey friends,
One of my torches got brown slime a few weeks ago and I cut that head off. Now, the second head has it and upon close inspection I see theses bugs brown bugs on it. Anyone seen this before??

Thank you!

 

[Marine Betta]

Hey friends,
One of my torches got brown slime a few weeks ago and I cut that head off. Now, the second head has it and upon close inspection I see theses bugs brown bugs on it. Anyone seen this before??

Thank you!

Sounds like brown jelly disease (BJD) to me. Those look like red planaria flatworms, but it’s a little hard to tell when it’s out of the water. These are annoying, and can prevent the coral from getting light if there are a bunch of them. They are most likely not the cause of the BJD. When the other head died, did you dip the coral? If this head has already jellied, I would toss it. BJD is highly contagious, so you will want to monitor the other corals, especially your LPS. I would be prepared to give them an iodine dip.

Whenever I have a coral that I suspect may get BJD due to an injury or another head getting BJD, I like to place it in a separate coral hospital tank for observation after a dip.

 

[miasreeftank]

Sounds like brown jelly disease (BJD) to me. Those look like red planaria flatworms, but it’s a little hard to tell when it’s out of the water. These are annoying, and can prevent the coral from getting light if there are a bunch of them. They are most likely not the cause of the BJD. When the other head died, did you dip the coral? If this head has already jellied, I would toss it. BJD is highly contagious, so you will want to monitor the other corals, especially your LPS. I would be prepared to give them an iodine dip.

Whenever I have a coral that I suspect may get BJD due to an injury or another head getting BJD, I like to place it in a separate coral hospital tank for observation after a dip.

Thank you. I knew it was BJD but the bugs on it is throwing me off. I tossed the coral... unfortunately.... I'm going to keep an eye on the others and in a few will i'm going to be upgrading my tank. Do you think there's a chance that this disease can go to the new tank? do you recommend I dip all corals before adding to the new tank?
Thank you so much!

 

[Marine Betta]

Sounds like brown jelly disease (BJD) to me. Those look like red planaria flatworms, but it’s a little hard to tell when it’s out of the water. These are annoying, and can prevent the coral from getting light if there are a bunch of them. They are most likely not the cause of the BJD. When the other head died, did you dip the coral? If this head has already jellied, I would toss it. BJD is highly contagious, so you will want to monitor the other corals, especially your LPS. I would be prepared to give them an iodine dip.

Whenever I have a coral that I suspect may get BJD due to an injury or another head getting BJD, I like to place it in a separate coral hospital tank for observation after a dip.

Thank you. I knew it was BJD but the bugs on it is throwing me off. I tossed the coral... unfortunately.... I'm going to keep an eye on the others and in a few will i'm going to be upgrading my tank. Do you think there's a chance that this disease can go to the new tank? do you recommend I dip all corals before adding to the new tank?
Thank you so much!

The exact cause of BJD is debated, but it’s pretty much agreed that it’s either bacterial,protozoan, or a combo of the two. These are always present in the tank, but are opportunistic and will become pathogenic due to some sort of stress. So unless you’re adding a coral with BJD into the tank, there really isn’t any greater risk of the new tank getting it because it could happen at anytime if something goes awry,unfortunately.

I would leave the corals in the tank they are in for at least a month before adding them to a new display. Did you see any of the brown jelly touch the other corals? If so, I would dip those to be safe. If you really wanted to treat the whole system, cipro would probably do the trick. I would save that as a last resort though.