Torch Suddenly Not Opening

[hunterallen40]

Hi,

So my dragon soul torch has stopped opening up the past couple days. I'm not entirely sure what is causing it...

I'll start with parameters.

Salinity: 35 ppt
pH: This swings usually 7.7 to 8.15 in a day, makes me pretty suspect
ALK: 8.33
Ca: 466
Mg: 1289
NO3: 0.07 ppm (this is less than usual, but I did a water change last night, so disclaimer there...)
PO4: 0.06 (0.07 before the water change)
ORP: 286 (lower than usual, but thought I'd mention this one)
Temp: between 78 and 78.5 (chiller kicks in there and drives it back down)

I know flow can be an issue, but I don't really see that much flow around it.

Par measurement where I placed it is ~150, which I didn't think was too bright, but am far from an expert.

A little more info about recent events in the tank... One of my Radions malfunctioned (on the side where the torch is), and turned off. There was one day of darkness, then the next day the light was working. Then another day of darkness. At that point I moved all the coral on that side of the tank to the other side while waiting for a replacement. Earlier this week I moved the torch back to the original location, and it had its tentacles extended and seemed happy. About two days ago, however, it stopped opening up and has held its tentacles in.

I'm also dealing with dinos for the second time (I had dinos and cyano, fought back the dinos and got run over by cyano... Chemicleaned the cyano, and now I have dinos again, but nothing too extreme). In the picture you can see a bit of it on the tentacles... My highest suspicion is that the dinos are the main issue, but after blowing off the dinos with a pipette it still tends to stay closed.

Any recommendations are more than welcome. Thanks!

 

[Cell]

Nitrate bottoming out, dinos, and chemiclean are your suspects.

 

[hunterallen40]

Thanks for the input!

The chemiclean was a few weeks ago at this point, and there's been several water changes since, so I think we can rule that out (please correct me if I'm wrong). I think then that the dinos are the main culprit...

 

[BostonReefer300]

Hi. Thanks for the detailed write up. Torches can be very tempermental. You've had a lot going on in your tank recently (dinos, medical treatment, moving it, etc.). Speaking of dinos, I think I see some strands on one of the heads in your picture. Torches really hate dinos and, unfortunately, aren't big fans of blowing them off either. All that being said, the torch should come back to normal after several days if you keep dinos off it and the other recent "insults" subside. It might take longer if it doesn't like chemiclean since that can take a while to eliminate via water changes, etc.

 

[hunterallen40]

Hi, just thought I'd give an update... so it turns out the quartz sleeve in my pentair sterilizer broke. So it seems we were leaking some stray voltage into the tank. This also helps explain why the dinos are suddenly back again (the original "fix" was installing the sterilizer...).

I removed the sterilizer, plumbed the return back to the display, and hopefully things will be happier now...

It seems the voltage also noised up the salinity probe on my apex. We're a bit high at 35.6, but that's far less alarming than the stray voltage...

Ugh. This sucks.

 

[BostonReefer300]

Hi, just thought I'd give an update... so it turns out the quartz sleeve in my pentair sterilizer broke. So it seems we were leaking some stray voltage into the tank. This also helps explain why the dinos are suddenly back again (the original "fix" was installing the sterilizer...).

I removed the sterilizer, plumbed the return back to the display, and hopefully things will be happier now...

It seems the voltage also noised up the salinity probe on my apex. We're a bit high at 35.6, but that's far less alarming than the stray voltage...

Ugh. This sucks.

Yikes that sucks and good thing you caught it! That didn't trip a breaker, fuse, etc.?

 

[hunterallen40]

Yikes that sucks and good thing you caught it! That didn't trip a breaker, fuse, etc.?

Guess it didn't... I think the pentair must have some protection built into it (fortunately), so I didn't fry all my fish when it broke. Really scary though, and not sure what happened.

I have rules on my apex that keep it from operating when there's no flow, etc... Even did the paper leak check. Guess that's just how it is sometimes.

 

[hunterallen40]

Another update... Smaller head's outcome looks pretty grim. What's the best thing I can do for this coral right now?

This is today:

Could there be some other issue? The sterilizer bulb + replacement quartz shield is on the way, but could get here as late as Thursday...

Parameters still about the same, ALK is slightly lower (8.15), calcium is a bit higher (474), magnesium is a bit lower (1269).

I've left the skimmer off for longer periods to help increase nitrates, but haven't changed anything else.

Current plan is to do a good water change and pray... I have some two little fishes revive laying around, is it worth dipping?

 

[Goaway]

Brown jelly on the small one, bigger one may have it brewing as well.
I don't know how to save them. Sorry.

 

[hunterallen40]

Brown jelly on the small one, bigger one may have it brewing as well.
I don't know how to save them. Sorry.

I was afraid that was the case...

I think I'll cut the smaller head when I get home. Then maybe dip the coral.

 

[Goaway]

I was afraid that was the case...

I think I'll cut the smaller head when I get home. Then maybe dip the coral.

i had this happen to my torch. Some people used cipro - chemiclean to treat bjd. You would need to set up a qt for the larger torch. Once the brown jelly makes it to the tentacles. it's over. The digestive track is probably already badly infected.

 

[hunterallen40]

i had this happen to my torch. Some people used cipro - chemiclean to treat bjd. You would need to set up a qt for the larger torch. Once the brown jelly makes it to the tentacles. it's over. The digestive track is probably already badly infected.

I do have a Qt ready to go actually. I've also seen some people say that Lugol's solution can help with this.

I've seen a lot of conflicting information about this disease, particularly with respect to cause. I had the torch in my system for a month and it seemed quite happy, then it just suddenly looked horrible... Are my other corals in danger?

 

[Goaway]

Only if the bjd gets into contact with the other corals. This exact thing happened to my torch. The faster you can treat, the better your chances. Plus, could have started inside the torches skeleton. That's where mine got hit first

 

[BostonReefer300]

Oh boy, sorry about this

 

[hunterallen40]

Unfortunate update... The torch is completely gone. I gentrly removed the existing brown sludge in fresh salt, then did an iodine dip in more freshly mixed salt for 30 minutes. After that I did a dip in coral revive with more fresh salt water (all dips in different containers), and put it in my Qt system.

Unfortunately, this just wasn't enough to save it.

The rest of my display seems okay, and dinos are almost under control again (after replacing the quartz sleeve + bulb in my sterilizer).

I only had the torch for a month, and dipped it in coral revive before adding it initially.

My parameters didn't seem too wildly out of control or anything (at least to me). Anything I can do to prevent this from happening again?

Moreover, I'm scared to replace the torch at the moment... When should I consider adding a new one / what should I look for on that one so that I can catch this faster if this ever happens again?

Thanks all for the help, I really do appreciate it.

 

[islandreef]

Hey guys next time you have this issue. Take a read of this post. It has helped a few people

Experimenting with in-tank antibiotic treatments for Brown Jelly Disease

Brown Jelly Disease (BJD) is an issue many reefers have run into. Like most coral diseases, the pathogen causing BJD has not been conclusively determined. Here I will share some observations and test results supporting the idea that its caused by a bacterial pathogen, and so may be treatable...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Goaway]

Buy a torch from an actual grower. A lot of wild torches just don't seem to live.

 

[islandreef]

I got my Cipro from chewy.com

 

[Goaway]

I got my Cipro from chewy.com

It's been removed by manufacturer. There's been a product recall.