Torch coral dying, while other ok, dip or frag?

[hmmmmm]

I've had 4 different torch corals in my nano for over 6 months. Now one of them seems very bad all of a sudden. Offcourse it's the most expensive one ;Sorry Happened in the last 48 hours. Flesh is coming of the skeleton..

Really shrunk in the past 2 days

Is was as big as the other ones, same flow, light etc

One side, around 3 heads seem shrunken but ok color wise

Other side, the flesh is coming off the skeleton

Close-up

No difference in parameters, doing 30% water changes every week for months (no particular reason, just because it's easy on a nano). Other coral are fine and growing well, even the torches right next to this one are ok.

So i could dip the whole thing in lugols, or maybe cut it up (dont have a watercooled saw so only option is the dremel). Maybe even cut it up, dip 1 head and leave the other one alone, to spread out the risks.

Any thoughts? Never had this happen so fast without a clear cause.

 

[Dkmoo]

Have you tested and monitored your parameters?

"Doing the same thing for months" doesn't mean your environment is stable. These are live organism that grow and change their intake. 30% weekly WC may or may not be good enough now. Again hard to tell without any parameters.

 

[hmmmmm]

Have you tested and monitored your parameters?

"Doing the same thing for months" doesn't mean your environment is stable. These are live organism that grow and change their intake. 30% weekly WC may or may not be good enough now. Again hard to tell without any parameters.

Yes i check parameters every week (CA once a month)
No ammonia according to the seneye.
KH 9.5
PO4 0.1
NO3 around 20
CA 480

But waiting to correct some param is also not going to help this coral if its already 5% the regular size and releasing from the skeleton. This is a ZOA/LPS only tank so i keep higher levels, been the same for past 6 months.

 

[hmmmmm]

Just for future reference ill keep updating this rescue attempt.

Tissue continued receding, next morning i could see half of it hanging on the skeleton. So go big or go home i guess.. Fragging and dipping it is..

Polyp color still ok but tissue literately fell of the skeleton when i moved it.

No idea what the bottom of the tissue is supposed to look like, but this is the current state.

Fragged it in 3 pieces using a dremel and a new ''diamond'' saw blade. Dipped it in coral protec (no critters found) en followed that up with a lugols bath.

Back in the tank, small chance of success but worth the effort imho.

 

[ggNoRe]

I'm very sorry to say it but my experience has been once polyps start coming off the skeleton nothing I have tried has saved the coral. Hopefully you find a method that works.

 

[Cool tangs]

Could be too much flow, im no expert but the other torches look bigger and might be able to handle more flow.

Is the flow direct? I guess you could eliminate this if its receding on the otherside your flow direction.

I am no expert by all means, just some food for thought.

Hope you figure it out, this hobby can have its challenges at times.

 

[strangebreu]

How did this end up shaking out? No luck? I’m dealing with the same prob

 

[Seagre]

30% WC every week is too much. Change that to 10% they might have been putting up with all that change for so long. I know a friend who did 20% a week and that was still too much. You do 30% a week because it’s easy but 10% is easier and doesn’t upset your nutritions or parameters. It’s extremely important not to water change too much.

 

[ekandler]

Same thing is happening to my hammer right now… basically in 2 days it goes from living to completely gone.

Day 1 everything is normal. Next day it just looks unhappy, maybe polyps not extended as much as normal. Next day, complete tissue loss, golden hammer polyps laying on the sand clustered together.

This is all from a hammer sitting right next to my other hammers without any effect on them. Really wish I knew why this happens. It has happened maybe 3 times in the past couple of years. No explanation that I’ve found.

 

[strangebreu]

30% WC every week is too much. Change that to 10% they might have been putting up with all that change for so long. I know a friend who did 20% a week and that was still too much. You do 30% a week because it’s easy but 10% is easier and doesn’t upset your nutritions or parameters. It’s extremely important not to water change too much.

I guess the plus side of having a big tank is water changes are a pain, even with my automated system I dread doin it. 10% is where I keep it

 

[strangebreu]

Same thing is happening to my hammer right now… basically in 2 days it goes from living to completely gone.

Day 1 everything is normal. Next day it just looks unhappy, maybe polyps not extended as much as normal. Next day, complete tissue loss, golden hammer polyps laying on the sand clustered together.

This is all from a hammer sitting right next to my other hammers without any effect on them. Really wish I knew why this happens. It has happened maybe 3 times in the past couple of years. No explanation that I’ve found.

Your other euphyllia is doin ok tho? The only thing I did recently was use some reef epoxy putty for a couple of frags but I’ve done way more than that in the past with no I’ll effect. I’ve had my big torch for months now and it’s in the process of splitting. Maybe it’s extra sensitive during that time, everything else is happy

 

[Seagre]

I guess the plus side of having a big tank is water changes are a pain, even with my automated system I dread doin it. 10% is where I keep it

10% is the perfect amount! I know I hate doing it too but after years you can do it less and less!

 

[ekandler]

Your other euphyllia is doin ok tho? The only thing I did recently was use some reef epoxy putty for a couple of frags but I’ve done way more than that in the past with no I’ll effect. I’ve had my big torch for months now and it’s in the process of splitting. Maybe it’s extra sensitive during that time, everything else is happy

Yeah, no issues. This was my tank over the weekend. I didn’t notice it at the time but you can see the front head of the gold hammer with less than ideal polyp extension, then it was gone the next day.

Reefer 350 Chandler Rock Aquascape

Day 1 after updating my reefer 350 with the Chandler Rock aquascape.

youtube.com

 

[ekandler]

Not to hijacker this thread…. But this is the status of mine this morning. Another head will be gone by the end of the day.

 

[ikaros70]

Have you guys tried dipping the corals?
I just recently had a similar issue with a small hammer frag.
I think the larger hammer next to it got ticked off and was maybe stinging it? Larger hammer probably Aussie.
I dipped the frag in revive for 5 minutes, then dipped in an iodine based dip for another 5.
Doing great now.
Within about 2 days, it bounced back.
Key is to catch it early, when a coral doesn’t open up for a few days, time to inspect.

 

[strangebreu]

I ended up clipping the bad head and doing an iodine based dip. the remaining heads are good now. hard to say if i couldve saved the other one. this came on over the course of maybe 48 hours. it was the biggest thing in my tank and it was noticeable that something was wrong. only thing i can say was potentially the issue on my end was i did a decent sized water change (20%) after using a bit too much putty (skimmer went nuts) and apparently my current RO water has a higher pH then usual, thanks well water. the shift probably stressed the splitting head. anyway, i now know to use putty only a few frags at a time. womp womp