Torch losing tissue

[paycheen]

Hey everyone hows it going
Ive started my Reef tank about 3 months ago, let it mature a little bit and decided to add some torches. The tank is a fluval evo 13.5. The first one i put in was doing absolutely fine and extending a lot, a week or two later i bought a jade torch with 4 heads and put it near the one i had since euphyllia corals dont bother each other. I did a test for my parameters and my ALK was at 6.7 so i decided to dose. After 1 week of dosing (total of 13.5ml) i was at about 7.7 and then did a water change and got it up to 8.5 dKH.

The parameters as of now are
Cal 420
Alk 8.5
Mag 1370-1400
Salinity 1.025
I open a window every other day for the PH but i dont have a test kit for it

The first torch is losing a lot of tissue on one head, where the flow hits, the Jade torch doesnt open up fully. I have not seen any brown slime coming out of it or anything like that. Although i do have pest in my tank which i cant really identify, they dont seem to be bothering it at all. I have some zoas, a candy cane, octospawn, a monti, chalices, gsp, xenias and a clove polyp. The Acantho i have looses some tissue too but not as significant, i feed regularly every 2-3 days. All the other corals are doing fine.

My guess is the Alk dosing might have spiked it up a tad bit but i was doing the recommendation of safe dosing, no more than 5ml per 10gal a day. i started with 0.5ml to 1ml to 2-2.5ml. Calcium did not drop. I’ve spent some on these pieces and i dont want to see them going away. I’ll attach some pictures so you guys can see. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[Macbalacano]

Water params look good. I do find torches take a while to fully acclimate and they are also finicky. Mine have had temper tantrums for days at a time. The Alk swing might've stressed them out a little bit. Based on the photos though, they still look good!

How is the flow and the lighting? I'd start them off in a lower flow and lower lighting area until they open up more. Try not to move them around too much though. Once you've moved them, just leave them be for a couple of days.

 

[paycheen]

Yeah they have been at that spot for a while now. I did a water change yesterday after the dosing, and the alk is now at 8.3, trying to see how much it uses up over 5 days so i know how much to dose. The green torch hasnt been fully opened since i moved it in the tank but doesnt seem to be losing any tissue or anything. Ill put some pics on here with the light on. The light has been on for about 4 hours now. They look okay but definitely seen them better. Ill also post some pics of the pest i have in my tank if y’all could identify them.

Here is a before

and here is an after

Some closeup

And here is one of the pest. One thing i consider doing with the torches if they dont start getting better until tuesday or so, ill try dip them and see how they do, last thing i could do is take them to my local fish store and have them take care of it until i figure out whats wrong with my tank or they just don’t like it.

Heres the pest

 

[Macbalacano]

Yeah they have been at that spot for a while now. I did a water change yesterday after the dosing, and the alk is now at 8.3, trying to see how much it uses up over 5 days so i know how much to dose. The green torch hasnt been fully opened since i moved it in the tank but doesnt seem to be losing any tissue or anything. Ill put some pics on here with the light on. The light has been on for about 4 hours now. They look okay but definitely seen them better. Ill also post some pics of the pest i have in my tank if y’all could identify them.

Here is a before

and here is an after

Some closeup

And here is one of the pest. One thing i consider doing with the torches if they dont start getting better until tuesday or so, ill try dip them and see how they do, last thing i could do is take them to my local fish store and have them take care of it until i figure out whats wrong with my tank or they just don’t like it.

Heres the pest

Tbh I think the torches look quite good. The polyp extension on torches can change dramatically based on where their placed (lighting, but more importantly, flow). If they are in high flow, they will be more stringy and not fluffy. In lower flow they will be more full looking.

Also, the pest picture looks like just pods?

 

[paycheen]

Tbh I think the torches look quite good. The polyp extension on torches can change dramatically based on where their placed (lighting, but more importantly, flow). If they are in high flow, they will be more stringy and not fluffy. In lower flow they will be more full looking.

Also, the pest picture looks like just pods?

Thats what i thought but i wasnt sure as there are some that looked like worms but not bristle worms or anything like that. Good thing is i haven’t seen them recently. I hope the torches get better and stop losing tissue and regrow in a while. I will post an update on friday when i do the water change. Thanks for the help, i appreciate it.

 

[paycheen]

So it turns out there are flat worms in my tank that bother the euphyllia. I saw one thats about half an inch on one of the torches, I dipped it five minutes later but nothing significant came out of it. I dont really know what to do with the pest in here.

 

[Amstar]

What are you dipping it in to kill the flatworm

 

[Macbalacano]

I had this issue a few months ago when I caught one flatworm constantly bothering my 1 torch that started to act weird.

I pulled all 3 torches out of my tank. I dipped them in Coral RX for 15 minutes with a powerhead in the bucket. I also scrubbed their skeletons to get rid of any possible eggs. I put them back in the tank but just on the sand to observe them.

Once I was convinced the flatworms were gone, I glued them back on the rocks. Haven't had the issue since.

There are other more aggressive options - such as flatworm exit.

 

[paycheen]

What are you dipping it in to kill the flatworm

I dipped it in Seachem, I got coral rx today but ill dip again tomorrow, dont wanna tick them any more than they are.

I had this issue a few months ago when I caught one flatworm constantly bothering my 1 torch that started to act weird.

I pulled all 3 torches out of my tank. I dipped them in Coral RX for 15 minutes with a powerhead in the bucket. I also scrubbed their skeletons to get rid of any possible eggs. I put them back in the tank but just on the sand to observe them.

Once I was convinced the flatworms were gone, I glued them back on the rocks. Haven't had the issue since.

There are other more aggressive options - such as flatworm exit.

I will dip again tomorrow and see if anything comes out, the last picture i sent is a small flatworm on the glass, theres a ton of baby ones but i cant figure out where their eggs are, some are white some are orange. I also see pods, some kind of worms and also spaghetti worms, theres a bunch of pest in my tank and that mostly comes from my stupid mistake of not dipping my new frags and going with live rock and live sand. Im thinking of restarting the tank but i dont have another one to keep my corals in until the new one cycles through. I dont really know what to do with it, my monti is losing some too but my octo is doing really good. If nothing gets better after dipping them and dosing flatworm exit then i’ll try restart

 

[paycheen]

Here are the torches

Other pieces in the tank attached

 

[Macbalacano]

I dipped it in Seachem, I got coral rx today but ill dip again tomorrow, dont wanna tick them any more than they are.


I will dip again tomorrow and see if anything comes out, the last picture i sent is a small flatworm on the glass, theres a ton of baby ones but i cant figure out where their eggs are, some are white some are orange. I also see pods, some kind of worms and also spaghetti worms, theres a bunch of pest in my tank and that mostly comes from my stupid mistake of not dipping my new frags and going with live rock and live sand. Im thinking of restarting the tank but i dont have another one to keep my corals in until the new one cycles through. I dont really know what to do with it, my monti is losing some too but my octo is doing really good. If nothing gets better after dipping them and dosing flatworm exit then i’ll try restart

Yes maybe give them a couple of days to recover, don't want to stress them out too much.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to see their eggs. But it depends on the kind of flatworm. The torch specific ones will only bother and be in/around the torches themselves.

I personally don't have experience with other kinds of flatworms, but might be worth searching for it on this forum.

Not all pods and worms are bad. Spaghetti worms are actually good guys! It's ultimately up to you, but if it were me, i'd deal with the Torches first, monitor how things are for a few days and weeks, then if it gets worse then you can do flatworm exit, and if that still doesn't work, possibly a restart.

Best of luck, but I do encourage you to do some more reading on the forum too. You're definitely not the first person (or the last) to encounter this issue!

 

[Macbalacano]

Here are the torches

Other pieces in the tank attached

To be honest, from the pictures, these look pretty good!

 

[paycheen]

Ive been reading on here quite a lot, it just seems that some instances you deal with are just unique and not every solution works best for the problem u might think you’re gonna solve. But its incredible how helpful all the discussions are and how people like you are always here to help. Im happy i got into reefing, and first thing im learning is, its very addicting and you’re just going to keep pouring your coins in it and lose some along the way as well.

I’ll take your advice, let them be and observe for a while. Although, I might redip tomorrow in Coral rx since the seachem is from my brother in law and be bought it a while ago, i dont know if theres expiration dates on those things but i’ll think about it.

Thanks again and happy reefing

 

[paycheen]

To be honest, from the pictures, these look pretty good!

They seem to be receding, the jade torch(2) never really opened up, but the first one lost a lot.

A before and after:

 

[Macbalacano]

Ive been reading on here quite a lot, it just seems that some instances you deal with are just unique and not every solution works best for the problem u might think you’re gonna solve. But its incredible how helpful all the discussions are and how people like you are always here to help. Im happy i got into reefing, and first thing im learning is, its very addicting and you’re just going to keep pouring your coins in it and lose some along the way as well.

I’ll take your advice, let them be and observe for a while. Although, I might redip tomorrow in Coral rx since the seachem is from my brother in law and be bought it a while ago, i dont know if theres expiration dates on those things but i’ll think about it.

Thanks again and happy reefing

No problem at all, just paying it forward as others have done for me on this forum!

Haha agreed with you - this hobby has lots of losses, but still somehow addicting and very rewarding when it all works!

You'll get through this, hang in there!

 

[Macbalacano]

They seem to be receding, the jade torch(2) never really opened up, but the first one lost a lot.

A before and after:

After dips they might take a few days to go back to normal 'fluffiness'

I love torches, but they are definitely fussy!

 

[paycheen]

Can someone tell me if this is a flat worm? i see this around 12pm but i havent seen egs yet.. anywhere

 

[tnewell]

 

[Daniel]

Hard to see in your latest pic, but to me it looks like a top down shot of the torch with the mouth visible (which means, no... it's not a flatworm).

Would need better pics or a highlight of area in question!

 

[paycheen]

My bad, it is a mouth, but why is it sort of swollen like that...its hard getting a good shot from the top of the tank