Sudden Euphyllia death

[Hross]

Anyone have experience with very sudden euphyllia death? My hammers have been super happy. Got an order in from a well known online vendor. All corals looked great except for one, a torch. It didn’t open all the way but still looked full color and I figured just shipping stress. I had acclimated to temp and dipped with coral Rx. Placed low in low light to acclimate. Two days later this torch looked as if someone had zapped it with a blow torch, it was ashes in the shape of a closed up euphyllia. Took it out to check, smell check confirmed death. The next day one of my beautiful pink hammers closed up and day after turned ash. It happened so fast. Anyone have experience with this?

 

[KrisReef]

Sounds like Brown Jelly Disease. There is a treatment thread experimenting with BJD on here that has a cipro in tank treatment that can help prevent infection and death in other LPS that are exposed and at high risk for infection and death once it gets into your tank

 

[Hross]

Thank you Kris. I wasn't thinking of BJD because neither coral had anything that looked like brown jelly before they died, just not opening fully. It happened so fast. On the pink hammer I only saw the brown after it died and I took it out. Now I'm worried about the rest of my tank.

 

[MTLReefNoob]

hey OP,
I had a similar thing happen to me the last few weeks. First, my small frogspawn frag died slowly and I’ve lost a good chunk of my other green frogspawn… no visible brown color either. What did you do to solve your problem? Does BJD always appear “brown” or can it take different colors?

 

[JGT]

It’s brown, thus the name.

 

[Hross]

On the new torch that came in I didn't see any brown on it but it was sloughing off some of it's tissue. I just thought shipping stress but then the whole thing turned that ashen color. The pink hammer was just staying half closed before it died. I didn't notice any brown at that time but I didn't have BJD on my radar so wasn't looking with a magnifying glass or anything. When it died and I took it out I did see some brown but it was only when it had completely closed up, like the jelly had been squeezed to the surface. What was very noticable on both of them was the smell when I took them out of the tank. I will never forget it. I wonder from the more experienced reefers, is that smell there at the beginning of BJD or only after death? I'm now on the look out because I have 9 euphyllias left in my tank. They are all looking happy but I'm watching closely. I bought all of the ingredients for dipping just in case.

 

[JGT]

Yep, smells like death.

 

[Outlaw Corals]

Do you have cipro on hand if not get some Chemi Clean it’s a antibiotic as well, your magnesium is to low get it to 1500 slowly

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

It’s brown, thus the name.

And it stinks worse than a raw chicken left in the trash can for a week!

 

[crazyfishmom]

The smell is unlike anything else. Horrible decomposing, rotting flesh. I have stopped dipping euphyllia when they come very stressed or I’ll just do iodine or Tea tree oil instead of one of the harsher dips. This also helps reduce the chance of a bacterial infection setting in. I’ve had pretty good luck with this. A cipro bath also helps prevent bacterial infections. Good luck with your tank!

 

[Hross]

Thanks for the responses everyone. Yes, I have ingredients on hand for KFC dip and enough Cipro to treat tank if needed. So far everything else looking ok though. Fingers crossed. Will look into those Mag levels.

 

[MTLReefNoob]

The smell is unlike anything else. Horrible decomposing, rotting flesh. I have stopped dipping euphyllia when they come very stressed or I’ll just do iodine or Tea tree oil instead of one of the harsher dips. This also helps reduce the chance of a bacterial infection setting in. I’ve had pretty good luck with this. A cipro bath also helps prevent bacterial infections. Good luck with your tank!

sounds good! I did smell mine, it had a weird smell but I wouldn’t say it was THAT bad. So might not be BJD.

Good luck OP! I have my fingers crossed too that my other euphyllia will be ok