New torches always end up melting

[OceanSprayCranberry]

I bought a NY knicks about 1 month ago and it melted about 4 days later. Didn’t see any brown jelly when I came back from school and the whole head was hanging off the skeleton, so I thought maybe it was just that specimen. Got another torch, lasted about 2 days and this time I saw brown jelly so I took it out and dipped it in iodine with cipro and put it in a qt tank. That one also completely melted away. I have 4 large torch colonies in my dt that have been unaffected but I ended up dosing the tank anyway with cipro for about a week. Just got ANOTHER NY knicks yesterday and today its mouth is gaping (same thing the other ones did before melting). What could be going on?

Parameters
dkh: 9.0
calc: 445
mag:1450
pH: 8.3-8.45
no3: 11.5
Po4: 0.02

 

[vetteguy53081]

I bought a NY knicks about 1 month ago and it melted about 4 days later. Didn’t see any brown jelly when I came back from school and the whole head was hanging off the skeleton, so I thought maybe it was just that specimen. Got another torch, lasted about 2 days and this time I saw brown jelly so I took it out and dipped it in iodine with cipro and put it in a qt tank. That one also completely melted away. I have 4 large torch colonies in my dt that have been unaffected but I ended up dosing the tank anyway with cipro for about a week. Just got ANOTHER NY knicks yesterday and today its mouth is gaping (same thing the other ones did before melting). What could be going on?

Parameters
dkh: 9.0
calc: 445
mag:1450
pH: 3.3-3.45
no3: 11.5
Po4: 0.02

Other than phos being slightly low and mag elevated- should not have adverse effect on the torch
Torch need medium light and water flow but if you find them bent over the skeleton, chances are the flow is excessive
Light is needed for zooxanthellae production but too much can also cause adverse effects
Calcium of about 440 is desired range as well as nitrate not to exceed 20
Feeding also important and mysis shrimp is a good offering to them

 

[OceanSprayCranberry]

Other than phos being slightly low and mag elevated- should not have adverse effect on the torch
Torch need medium light and water flow but if you find them bent over the skeleton, chances are the flow is excessive
Light is needed for zooxanthellae production but too much can also cause adverse effects
Calcium of about 440 is desired range as well as nitrate not to exceed 20
Feeding also important and mysis shrimp is a good offering to them

My other torches for some reason do not like being target fed, they deflate the rest of the day when I feed. I still do it once a week with roids but they just slime up and let the food sit on their tentacles.

 

[AydenLincoln]

Is that pH correct? That’s really really really low. I find it hard to believe.

 

[OceanSprayCranberry]

Is that pH correct? That’s really really really low. I find it hard to believe.

No it’s not for some reason this posted twice and I only edited one. Should be 8.xx

 

[Shirak]

how are you handling after arrival? Dipping acclimating etc? Your water parameters seem fine so it’s something in shipping or light intensity if they are dying so fast after arrival. My guess is they are stressed and damaged from shipping between supplier and wholesale and then to you. Many places get these things from overseas and then resell them within a day or two before they are repackaged and shipped to the customer. Torches and other lps are easily damaged. By the time you get them they are infected and super stressed. I give all my lps a dip for hitchhikers then a Cipro bath for 30min or so. They then go in an observation tank under reduced light so I can inspect them several times a day for signs of infection. Deflated tissue in a localized area, brownish color or receding tissue. If anything looks odd they get another Cipro bath and treat the tank also.

 

[Pkunk35]

sorry to hear, I have some questions, hope to stimulate some thoughts for you:

Age of the tank? Do you have a FTS you can post?
That phosphate is indeed low as vetteguy mentioned, how do you keep it up/whats your feed habit? Could it be bottoming out and giving you true 0? I’ve found torches to hate this.

 

[OceanSprayCranberry]

sorry to hear, I have some questions, hope to stimulate some thoughts for you:

Age of the tank? Do you have a FTS you can post?
That phosphate is indeed low as vetteguy mentioned, how do you keep it up/whats your feed habit? Could it be bottoming out and giving you true 0? I’ve found torches to hate this.

The system I have running now I set up late March of this year, but it contains all the rock and sand from my older tank which is years old. Don’t have any FTS since the stand is still unfinished with no doors so I’ve just not taken pictures haha. I actually used to have closer to 0.1ppm phos but I constantly had to clean the glass and I wanted to see if there were any noticeable differences in skeletal growth with a lower po4 and higher pH. I usually feed twice a day, pellets in the AM and frozen mid afternoon. Phyto every other day. Roids the day before I do a water change. Also have aminos on a doser pumping 4mL twice a day. The 0.02 ppm reading was the day after I did a water change. It probably goes up too .04 by the end of the week.

 

[OceanSprayCranberry]

how are you handling after arrival? Dipping acclimating etc? Your water parameters seem fine so it’s something in shipping or light intensity if they are dying so fast after arrival. My guess is they are stressed and damaged from shipping between supplier and wholesale and then to you. Many places get these things from overseas and then resell them within a day or two before they are repackaged and shipped to the customer. Torches and other lps are easily damaged. By the time you get them they are infected and super stressed. I give all my lps a dip for hitchhikers then a Cipro bath for 30min or so. They then go in an observation tank under reduced light so I can inspect them several times a day for signs of infection. Deflated tissue in a localized area, brownish color or receding tissue. If anything looks odd they get another Cipro bath and treat the tank also.

Dipping in cipro and iodine then placing at the bottom of the tank in the corner. Lowest flow and light intensity area in the tank. I get them from a local reefer who has had stuff melting here in there in his DT but it stopped. I’m gonna check on it when I get out of class but it looked slightly better this morning. Tentacles puffed but curled and no exposed skeleton.

 

[Shirak]

Dipping in cipro and iodine then placing at the bottom of the tank in the corner. Lowest flow and light intensity area in the tank. I get them from a local reefer who has had stuff melting here in there in his DT but it stopped. I’m gonna check on it when I get out of class but it looked slightly better this morning. Tentacles puffed but curled and no exposed skeleton.

Ok if from a local source and aquacultured then damage from shipping should be minimal. I have never had good results from iodine. If this other reefer has had stuff melting then there could be an issue right there. I still think if you have having them die and melt within days of putting in your system it's pathogen related. Stress from going to a different system on a coral that might be compromised or harboring some pathogen could put it over the edge. Cipro dipping probably won't do much. I would give it a good 30min bath at least. Give the antibiotic time to get into the flesh. While in the bath I periodically swoosh them around and quirt some water at the edge of the tissue around the skeleton. You might also consider dosing your tank with Cipro along with a bath prior to putting in your system I have done it multiple times and never seen any negative effects.

Do you have any photos?