Torch coral receding, infection?

MarcosTacos · Nov 21, 2023

I just got back from a 2 week trip and once I came back I noticed my torch coral receded heavily and some white hair/film covering the skeleton near the polyps.

All my other corals are doing pretty good, except for some new acropora frags I had added a week prior to leaving as testers. 3 of them have bleached considerably, although the 4 others seem to be doing fine. I was expecting some of them to die off, considering I am still new to sps and dialing in the tank flow and lighting. The alk, mag and calcium all dropped a bit (8 to 7, 1300 to 1230, 450 to 415) since my dosing pump wasn't dialed in prior to leaving but I wanted to try to maintain the parameters without overdosing while I was gone, so I aimed on the safe side and underdosed a little.

What should I do to try and save it?

MarcosTacos · Nov 21, 2023

I think I will try to dip using seachem reef dip, if anyone has other recommendations I would be open to hearing them.

MarcosTacos · Dec 5, 2023

Update: I think I will manage to save it! I can see the flesh slowly expanding and growing back towards the sides.

What I did:
First dipped in seachem reef dip and brushed off the white hairs around the receding flesh. I placed the torch in medium/high flow on the bottom of the tank for a couple of days. I noticed it's condition was not getting worse so I decided to dip it one more time but this time in Revive. I placed it back in the same spot and it seemed to get better but i thought the strong flow wasn't helping it extend, so i moved it to a bit lower flow area and fed it once or twice over a couple of days. I think that's what helped the most, once the torch's condition stopped worsening, the feeding helped it get some strenght back. The torch isn't fully healed yet but seems to be on the path of recovery!

kevgib67 · Dec 5, 2023

MarcosTacos said:
Update: I think I will manage to save it! I can see the flesh slowly expanding and growing back towards the sides.

What I did:
First dipped in seachem reef dip and brushed off the white hairs around the receding flesh. I placed the torch in medium/high flow on the bottom of the tank for a couple of days. I noticed it's condition was not getting worse so I decided to dip it one more time but this time in Revive. I placed it back in the same spot and it seemed to get better but i thought the strong flow wasn't helping it extend, so i moved it to a bit lower flow area and fed it once or twice over a couple of days. I think that's what helped the most, once the torch's condition stopped worsening, the feeding helped it get some strenght back. The torch isn't fully healed yet but seems to be on the path of recovery!

Good to hear. Just a suggestion, torches seem to thrive with magnesium at 1400 or a little higher. Yours was seriously low when you returned. Glad things have turned around.