Is brown substance always brown jelly?

[Notsolostfish]

Iv had 5 hammer heads die from being shaded



You can see ib the picture where the head died that it was being shaded which is not a big deal, woke up this morning with brown substance on them flying. I wasn’t sure if thats dead tossue or brown jelly?

I wish i took a video, i cleaned them off. Bit my tank is 2 years old. And i thought its normal for some heads to die but i wasnt sure if brown substance on corals always means brown jelly?

Alk:8.6
Cal:460
Mag:1350
Phosphate:0.18
Nitrate 6ppm

I do awc everyday and my tank is 2 years old healthy

 

[mcarroll]

I don't see what you're talking about in the photos, but what you describe sounds like the corals ejecting their dinoflagellates – usually brownish andn stringy. This is usually a response to stress of some kind....not shadows, which should be irrelevant/coincidental.

Corals eat and photosynthesize...so they are not necessarily phased by some shadows if the tank (especailly flow) is really healthy and there's something (eg fish poop) for them to eat.

Tank looks *packed* for only 2 years old, and at least from a distance everything looks pretty good.

The downside of the tank being so packed is that flow usually suffers pretty badly – and this can impact the corals. Their grow-out creates bigger and new dead spots around the tank.

How are you doing flow, and have you had a chance do do any upgrades or improvements to flow since the tank was set up?

Any idea what stress the corals might be responding to? Any changes to the system?

 

[Marine Betta]

Iv had 5 hammer heads die from being shaded



You can see ib the picture where the head died that it was being shaded which is not a big deal, woke up this morning with brown substance on them flying. I wasn’t sure if thats dead tossue or brown jelly?

I wish i took a video, i cleaned them off. Bit my tank is 2 years old. And i thought its normal for some heads to die but i wasnt sure if brown substance on corals always means brown jelly?

Alk:8.6
Cal:460
Mag:1350
Phosphate:0.18
Nitrate 6ppm

I do awc everyday and my tank is 2 years old healthy

Beautiful tank! I’m sorry to hear about the hammer heads. Did these heads die rapidly and more or less liquify into a brown goop? If so, that would be likely be brown jelly disease, and it is highly contagious. Each piece of the dead flesh can infect a coral. I’ve seen it infect almost every LPS coral and some soft coral. It’s caused by an environmental stressor or injury to the coral. Flow could be an issue, but parameter swings and improper flow and lightning can cause it too. Euphyllia often contract it first. To save healthy heads, you would need to dip them in an antibiotic or antiseptic. Iodine based dips usually work.

If the death was gradual, it was probably regular death, most likely caused by shading. I wouldn’t be concerned about it spreading, but death of heads is usually preventable by either providing proper light, flow, and/or fragging the colony if need be.

Corals can expel zooxanthellae when they bleach due to an environmental stressor. The coral will lose color in this scenario.

Corals can expel excess zooxanthellae as a natural response. The latter will often happen if you feed your corals, and it’s is usually a healthy response. The coral will contract, expel the waste, and reopen like nothing happened.

The brown gunk I see in that one picture has me slightly concerned unless that is an old picture and algae is growing on the dead heads. I wouldn’t freak out and dip if the symptoms sound like any of the last three scenarios I mentioned above. How are your other corals? If you don’t see signs of brown jelly at this point, I think you’re in the clear. Symptoms usually appear within 24-48 hours, but I would continue to monitor it.