beesnreefs
Well-Known Member
TL;DR version - LPS heavy reef, about a year old. Over the past month I've lost 5 torches. Growing and happy one day, melting away the next.
Longer version...
Over the past month, I've lost 5 of my torches including my most favorite super-bright Indo gold. The Indo had been in the tank for several months and had grown from splitting into 2 heads to splitting into 4 heads. Here it is in its glory (it's the almost all gold one in the back):
Parameters through all this have consistently been like this:
pH: 8.2
Salinity: 1.024
Alk: 7.8 - 8.1
Calcium: 490-510 (has been on the higher side pretty much since I added corals after cycling the tank)
Magnesium: 1200 - 1230 (though tested at its lowest ever today at 1175)
Nitrates: 5-10
Phosphate: 0.01 - 0.03
I do a 10% water change every week, feed the fish twice daily, and feed the corals directly (a mix of Benepet Benereef and Brightwell Aminos) twice a week.
Of note - a couple of weeks ago we had a heat spike in the tank. Long story but the temp sensor for the heater was out of the water for 1-2 hours and the tank went from 78ish degrees to 87 degrees in about 2 hours' time. The Indo gold started to melt about a week later and another Indo variant started losing one of its 3 heads yesterday.
That said, at least 2 of the torches I've lost were prior to the heat spike and one was a purple torch I added a few days after the heat spike (only lasted 3-4 days).
Everything else in the tank, including a chunk of digitata I have to test out SPS seem fine and haven't had any major issues before or since the heat spike.
For interventions, the first two losses died off rather quickly so I didn't do anything. My favorite Indo, though, I did try to save. Noticed the one head started to die off right quick and did a 45 minute dip in tank water combining Seachem iodine, Brightwell Aminos, and Brightwell Restor. Took it to the LFS as well to see about cutting off the effected head but it wasn't completely split off yet so we decided to try and baby it and wait. The next morning it looked like this:
The remaining "healthy" tissue melted away about an hour after I took this video.
Today, the gold and purple torch from the first video started to show signs of one head beginning to die. It's another one that came to me as a 2-header (splitting into 3) and is now in the process of splitting into 4. The head in the front, which is completely split off, seems to be trying to die.
I'm a huge fan of torches and really want to replace my losses but now I'm a bit scared.
Thoughts? Ideas? Advice?
Longer version...
Over the past month, I've lost 5 of my torches including my most favorite super-bright Indo gold. The Indo had been in the tank for several months and had grown from splitting into 2 heads to splitting into 4 heads. Here it is in its glory (it's the almost all gold one in the back):
Parameters through all this have consistently been like this:
pH: 8.2
Salinity: 1.024
Alk: 7.8 - 8.1
Calcium: 490-510 (has been on the higher side pretty much since I added corals after cycling the tank)
Magnesium: 1200 - 1230 (though tested at its lowest ever today at 1175)
Nitrates: 5-10
Phosphate: 0.01 - 0.03
I do a 10% water change every week, feed the fish twice daily, and feed the corals directly (a mix of Benepet Benereef and Brightwell Aminos) twice a week.
Of note - a couple of weeks ago we had a heat spike in the tank. Long story but the temp sensor for the heater was out of the water for 1-2 hours and the tank went from 78ish degrees to 87 degrees in about 2 hours' time. The Indo gold started to melt about a week later and another Indo variant started losing one of its 3 heads yesterday.
That said, at least 2 of the torches I've lost were prior to the heat spike and one was a purple torch I added a few days after the heat spike (only lasted 3-4 days).
Everything else in the tank, including a chunk of digitata I have to test out SPS seem fine and haven't had any major issues before or since the heat spike.
For interventions, the first two losses died off rather quickly so I didn't do anything. My favorite Indo, though, I did try to save. Noticed the one head started to die off right quick and did a 45 minute dip in tank water combining Seachem iodine, Brightwell Aminos, and Brightwell Restor. Took it to the LFS as well to see about cutting off the effected head but it wasn't completely split off yet so we decided to try and baby it and wait. The next morning it looked like this:
The remaining "healthy" tissue melted away about an hour after I took this video.
Today, the gold and purple torch from the first video started to show signs of one head beginning to die. It's another one that came to me as a 2-header (splitting into 3) and is now in the process of splitting into 4. The head in the front, which is completely split off, seems to be trying to die.
I'm a huge fan of torches and really want to replace my losses but now I'm a bit scared.
Thoughts? Ideas? Advice?
