Unexplained torch head loss
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Reef Puncher
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could have been on your hands, could have been in some food, could have been dormant, who knows. thats assuming IF, IF, its a bacterial infection. if so, i used cipro and a UV sterilizer and it fixed my issue.
VintageReefer
10K Club member
Sorry just saw this
No, just experienced. Don’t know how to take your comment. Do you want advice or is the issue resolved / stabilized ?
scotty333
Valuable Member
Was just being friendly my friend , I would love to hear your experience on this
But basically my po4 went from .11 -.41 in 4 days then I put LC on the doser and it went to .26 , then .17 and to .31
I’ve recently had it at .11 but today and since Monday ( 3 days) it up again at .24
I’m struggling to nail it down but I’m wondering if these swings contribute md to losing 2 heads
Thanks
BristleWormHater
5000 Club Member
Torches like their alkalinity to be flatter than my grandma's heart monitor. So raising your alk could have caused that, how fast did you raise it?
scotty333
Valuable Member
Haha
Well it’s been through some spikes 2 months ago like up 1.6dkh in a moment but showed no distress
Recently I raised from 8.6-9.3 in 3 days so no bother there
VintageReefer
10K Club member
I don’t think it’s the phosohate swings. I went from .05 to .98 in a week, then brought down to .5 over 3 days, then brought down to .2 over next 3 weeks. So phosphate has had a wild ride in my tank over the last month and my torches didn’t even show stress
My first thought was alkalinity. Second thing I’ve seen cause bail out is too much directional flow. Third is severe stress from shipping. Lastly is just malnutrition. Flesh band recedes and eventually the head loses grip of the skeleton.
It happens usually one head at a time. Some will get what they need while others starve.
Do you target feed them? They should get fed in addition to getting good light. Mid rock work to upper rockwork tends to be best. My torches never are happy down low at sandbed level.
Target feed meaty food soaked in amino or Brightwell Restor. 2-3x a week. With flow killed so they get a chance to pull it in and get digestion started. Broadcast feeding doesn’t guarantee every head gets fed
I’m not the G man of torches but I do keep a couple :)
My first thought was alkalinity. Second thing I’ve seen cause bail out is too much directional flow. Third is severe stress from shipping. Lastly is just malnutrition. Flesh band recedes and eventually the head loses grip of the skeleton.
It happens usually one head at a time. Some will get what they need while others starve.
Do you target feed them? They should get fed in addition to getting good light. Mid rock work to upper rockwork tends to be best. My torches never are happy down low at sandbed level.
Target feed meaty food soaked in amino or Brightwell Restor. 2-3x a week. With flow killed so they get a chance to pull it in and get digestion started. Broadcast feeding doesn’t guarantee every head gets fed
I’m not the G man of torches but I do keep a couple :)
scotty333
Valuable Member
Hmm ok well since I’ve never fed any of the 7 euphyllias I would tend to rule this out
Flow, I agree they may have too much for the short flesh bands on this particular torch
I’ve soaked down flow to see if it improves
Thanks so much for your suggestion
Flow, I agree they may have too much for the short flesh bands on this particular torch
I’ve soaked down flow to see if it improves
Thanks so much for your suggestion
Reef Puncher
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so BJD is the most common bacterial response, but its not the ONLY bacteria infection. My euphyllia went through a bout where i was losing all my Euphylila. I had no signs of BJD. but it was bacterial. i know because after i dosed cipro and ran my UV it went away. and the rest recovered. I only did that after exhausting and eliminating every other water quality test. i did an ICP even. no water issues. if you eliminate water as the possibility, all thats left is flow and light pests or bacteria. i started losing a banana torch and found some worms had made the inside of the torch their home. couldnt see them until i did a dip. and they came out from inside.
have you tried an iodine dip? or something like revive dip? i like iodine because its not only an anti bacterial dip, but pests hate it too.
have you tried an iodine dip? or something like revive dip? i like iodine because its not only an anti bacterial dip, but pests hate it too.
scotty333
Valuable Member
Thanks
What I don’t understand is I’ve had them 3-4 months so infections or pests don’t make sense
As for lighting and flow they’ve been in the same spot , always was happy until I lost the first two heads
The joker and green one the last 2 weeks have been slightly deflated and seeing them last night I knew they were turning for the worse
I’ve got iodine but from the previous experience I’ll probably lose 2 heads and the others will be ok
ccole
Active Member
I have a bunch of euphyllia and some decent sized torch colonies. Do you know what locality yours are from?
In my experience, anything from Australia tends to recede eventually until it melts or bails. I’ve had much better luck with aquacultured indo torches and mixed luck with wild colonies of indo.
I hope yours does better now that you’ve moved it! All mine are in 250-150 par and light flow.
In my experience, anything from Australia tends to recede eventually until it melts or bails. I’ve had much better luck with aquacultured indo torches and mixed luck with wild colonies of indo.
I hope yours does better now that you’ve moved it! All mine are in 250-150 par and light flow.
ccole
Active Member
A couple questions: What is your fish stocking list? Is it possible you have a nipper?
Have you checked for euphyllia eating flatworms? You said you have wrasses, but mine largely ignored my euphyllia eating flatworms. it might be worth dipping your surviving heads if they start to recede. I use DipX and have had a lot of success with it.
My phosphates swing daily so I doubt that’s bothering them. I also wouldn’t think that raising alk over a 3 day period would bother them but I could be wrong.
BryanM
7500 Club Member
This likely answers the question I think, as moving them up, getting more light, probably means they are getting more food.
Since meeting Vintage I’ve started target feeding. Haven’t had issues, but one thing kinda made sense, if it has a mouth it probably wants to eat even though it’s photosynthetic
stalkem
Active Member
I'm interested in what you do for your phosphate management. I tried some PhosBond with no noticeable change at all. Been consistently stable, but high around .5...
VintageReefer
10K Club member
I went from .98 to .5 in 3 days with Phosguard in a media reactor. I took recommended dosage and added 10% extra
I went from .5 down to .2 by increasing hours of led light on my algae scrubber
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