RFAs Melting?

champyeti · Oct 14, 2019

2 of my RFAs have turned to mush recently and another is in progress... added 4 new RFAs a couple weeks ago and 2 of those started roaming the tank then vanished, 1 I found the tattered remnants of... it was a grey soft mushy thing in two pieces.

Now one of my older RFAs is also mush, it had brown gunk around it, this one has been in the tank for months. I had a torch arrive with brown jelly disease last week though the first RFA vanished before the torch got here.

I basted the loose gunk off the nem and it has a bit of its color left but is pretty much just grey mush now.

What is happening to them and how do I stop it/save the others? The rest all look fine for now but I really do not want to lose my nems.

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Daniel@R2R · Oct 15, 2019

Yikes! First things, first...what are your tank parameters? That's gonna be important for us to be able to help. @Ron Reefman is who I'd talk to about RFAs.

homer1475 · Oct 15, 2019

Next step is to take some pics that aren't so blue heavy so we can actually see whats going on.

And as @Daniel@R2R stated, tank parameters(ALK, CAL, MAG, NO3, PO4, Salinity, temp, lights and schedule) will help in determining your issue.

Ron Reefman · Oct 15, 2019

@champyeti, I'm just back from a 10 day vacation with no wifi, so a ton of stuff to catch up on. But dying RFA gets my attention!

As for your RFA melting issue... I've never seen this before. I have no idea what the cause is. Normally RFA are quite hearty and easy to keep which makes your issue all the more curious!

I'd seriously consider setting up a small tank if you can and pull the RFA out of the DT and isolate them. Knowing your water parameters would be useful. Even the very basics like temp and salinity. I've kept RFA for weeks in a small container like a Tupperware bowl and just do two or three 50% water changes a day.

You are fairly new here, so I'll ask, how long has this tank been running and how long have you been in the hobby? What else is in the tank?

I'll follow this thread and offer help or comments... I wish I could do more, but I have no idea what's wrong.

j.falk · Oct 15, 2019

* hardy...not hearty.

champyeti · Oct 15, 2019

Parameters would've been helpful for me to include initially, huh? Lol

Tank is a 20g high with 1 Coral Compulsion LED that's on from 11:40a to 9:10p (power outage shifted it back). Has a HOB 'fuge' with chaeto and it's own LED.

Salinity 1.026, temp 78F.

Tank itself has been set up since Nov 2018, but most of the rocks are from my old 5.5g which had been up for 3.5 years. It had a move in Aug 2019 which had some serious problems due to the new building losing power right as I tried to move the tank but the RFAs were all fine.

I'll pull out my gels and testing kits when I am home from work and the lights are back on.

The sick nem is still sticking to the rock for now and would not baste up. The one that vanished seemed to lose its stickiness and the first one I found melted or whatever happened to it seemed to lose some stickiness then roamed in the area.

It's a pretty mixed reef, other stuff includes shrooms of all types, Euphyllia, gonis, blastos, acros, some other random LPS. 2 clowns 1 Neon goby couple scarlet hermits and snails. Chaeto and dragons breath algae.

I added 4 nems about 3 weeks ago. 2 of those were the first two to vanish/get sick. Then I got 2 shipments last Thursday including the torch that arrived with brown jelly and 2 more new RFAs that are fine. The 2 original nems having issues predates the new orders, but the current sick nem went downhill after.

It used to be on the side of the rock but crawled up after it started melting. I actually thought it was another RFA and I had 2 that were dissolving. So it is still capable of walking despite being... mushy.

Can RFA get brown jelly disease?

Like I said full params and more pics coming once I'm off work, thanks for any advice.

Ron Reefman · Oct 16, 2019

Didn't see the current parameters or any new photos. What's the current status?

I don't know for sure if RFA can get brown jelly disease, but I would NOT be surprised to find out that they can.

It sounds like the 2 of the RFA you got back when you recieved 4 of them may have already had issues. I'm not big on quarantine, but I do have a 16g tank set up as a holding tank and most (not all) new arrivals spend some time in that tank before they move to the 40g DT. I collect some of the less colorful RFA when we go snorkeling in the Florida Keys and I've only lost 1 out of roughly 6 or 8 I've brought home (I've given a few away). It was all white and quite small and I assume it was either unhealthy or unable to cope with the acclimation process.

I hope you can provide more info. I'd really like to try and help.

champyeti · Oct 19, 2019

@Ron Reefman

Apologies, I kept getting pulled into things after work & had to dig my test kits out. For full disclosure I've never actually tested the 20's parameters, just used my acro as a barometer - is it extended and happy, if yes, don't change anything.

Temp: 78F
Salinity: 1.026
Ca: 400ppm
dKH: 8-9
Phosphate: ~0ppm (there must be some but the testing kit isn't precise enough)

pH checker won't calibrate so no pH sadly.

No more pics of the nem, it has left where it crawled to and I cannot see it/it completely melted away. The nem whose turf it stepped onto is back out. The rest of the RFAs are fine, the ones who ate last weekend have been pooping.

In fact everything else in the tank is fine but for my replacement gold torch, which arrived fine but has also developed brown jelly disease. Sigh. The orange hammer I got from the same vendor does not have brown jelly and neither do any of my other corals, new or old, just the gold torches from this place.

The 4 RFAs I got all seemed content and fine at first, took about a week before the one started moving and seemed to lose its stickiness. Then the second one started moving and like, tore in two? And was sort of melted. It's hard to describe. Then this third one got sick and kind of dissolved, as pictured. I was able to baste off gunk from it when it was both still on the side of the rock, and then on top. Not entirely sure what the gunk was, kind of brown/grey mix.