What’s going on with this torch?

[Brah02]

Salinity 1.025 ALK 8.1, Cal 435, Mag 1410, my phosphates and nitrates have always been low, Phos .02, Nitrates 5.

I did have a dip in Mag, went down to 1260, and I had to dose cal yesterday to get back up as well, it was down to 385 so those two could have been a factor. In the last week i've put a couple orders of frags both SPS and LPS so the Cal/Mag was being used more than normal i'm assuming because they've never dipped that much.

Low calcium and magnesium could have definitely been a contributing factor but your nitrates and phosphates are a much greater factor. You’re starving your corals. Add all four factors and you have put major stress on your coral. I like where your calcium and magnesium are now but you need to get your phosphate to .05-.1 and nitrate to 10-15. I hope you can get those corrected and you can get your hands on cipro asap.

I feed extra, and even dose neophos and neonitro. I for some reason can’t get the levels to stay up

 

[kevgib67]

I don’t agree with this. I had a presumed brown Jelly issue in one of my Maricultured torches (smelled awful each time I dipped it). It died and the rest of the tank is thriving definitely nothing “very off”. Maybe true in some cases but in my case it just slowly happened and despite amputations and dips the coral slowly succumbed polyp by polyp. It died from the inside out.

I do agree it could be triggered by a stressor but the disease had to come from somewhere. BJD does not seem to spread by opportunism alone. Are we just assuming brown jelly is always present but just waiting on its next victim? Luckily my aquacultured torches all seem fine for now.

I think @Lavey29 is correct in that different corals have different requirements from par and flow to parameters. Softies will thrive in dirty water and low par and flow but sps and a lot of lps won’t. The majorly off pertained to torch coral specifically. I’m glad all of yours are doing better now. I always have Cipro on hand just in case and also all the ingredients for Kung Fu Coral dip that gives lps almost 100% survival from bjd. If you haven’t heard of it google it. I think you are like me my torches are my favorite corals in my tank it would break my heart to lose a single one.

 

[kevgib67]

I feed extra, and even dose neophos and neonitro. I for some reason can’t get the levels to stay up

Input is covered let’s look at your export. Stop or greatly reduce water changes and if you have a protein skimmer shut it off. Both will resume once you get and can maintain the levels that you want to achieve.

 

[Brah02]

Input is covered let’s look at your export. Stop or greatly reduce water changes and if you have a protein skimmer shut it off. Both will resume once you get and can maintain the levels that you want to achieve.

That is what is confusing. It has been 4 weeks since a water change, and my protein skimmer has been off for well over two months. I tried those in hopes my nutrients would increase but still nothing. The neophos/neonitro seem to work an extremely short time period. For filtration I just have an automatic roller, and a bag of carbon in the sump along with the biobrick.

 

[kevgib67]

That is what is confusing. It has been 4 weeks since a water change, and my protein skimmer has been off for well over two months. I tried those in hopes my nutrients would increase but still nothing. The neophos/neonitro seem to work an extremely short time period. For filtration I just have an automatic roller, and a bag of carbon in the sump along with the biobrick.

Hmmm, that is not making sense to me. What’s your bio load and what are you using to test!

 

[Lavey29]

I don’t agree with this. I had a presumed brown Jelly issue in one of my Maricultured torches (smelled awful each time I dipped it). It died and the rest of the tank is thriving definitely nothing “very off”. Maybe true in some cases but in my case it just slowly happened and despite amputations and dips the coral slowly succumbed polyp by polyp. It died from the inside out.

I do agree it could be triggered by a stressor but the disease had to come from somewhere. BJD does not seem to spread by opportunism alone. Are we just assuming brown jelly is always present but just waiting on its next victim? Luckily my aquacultured torches all seem fine for now.

Hence the reason I said "typically " triggered as in not always. BJD can be brought in from outside new frags to. You are correct that stress in the tank triggers it and yes I believe it is in every tank in a dormant state until stress weakens the coral immune system.

 

[Bright Corals]

Have you checked for flatworms on that torch? I can't see very clearly around the skeleton of that torch but there are some flatworms that really like eating the torch and it can cause the torch to look the way yours is looking and it can kill the torch. Some sort of coral cleaner dipping can help to remove the flatworms and save the torch if it's not too late.

 

[sippintankwater]

Would you happen to have a file fish in the tank? This looks like my torch once it it finished with the aptasia it started mipping my torches a couple heads at a time.

 

[Brah02]

Hmmm, that is not making sense to me. What’s your bio load and what are you using to test!

I have a white tail tang, two clowns, mandarin goby, midas blenny, coral beauty, and an orchid dottyback. Using Salifert to test both.

 

[Brah02]

Would you happen to have a file fish in the tank? This looks like my torch once it it finished with the aptasia it started mipping my torches a couple heads at a time.

Nope, no filefish. Have some aptasia, but i'll be adding some peppermint shrimp.

 

[kevgib67]

Let’s get a couple reef squad eyes on this. @tbrown @Rocks reef ?

 

[Brah02]

Here it is now a couple hours after dipping in iodine

 

[Brah02]

And yes I know there’s aptasia on the rock right there TM Elimi-Aiptas seems to get rid of one but then three more grow. Going to get some peppermint shrimp as soon as lfs gets in stock

 

[CHSUB]

I don’t know but your nutrients are not low and not causing your issues….i can only get readable nutrients from Lab ICP tests and never test magnesium…turn on your skimmer. Here are my nutrients and soft, LPS, and SPS growing well!

 

[Rocks reef]

I would up your nutrients...
I would move it to lower PAR and lower flow to allow it to recover.
Are you dosing phyto to help feed it? Reef roids once a week is good and will raise phosphates.
I don't think you mentioned it, but what lights are you using? Do you know your PAR? Some torches are collected deeper and require less PAR. A caveat, they can acclimate SLOWLY to higher PAR. For example, my euphyllia receive about 300 PAR for a 5 hour peak. However, I acclimated them to that PAR slowly.
Final note, euphyllia do this. You can a full garden of torches and one turns south for no reason whatsoever.
Post up your lights. PAR if you have it, if not what intensity they are at.

 

[Brah02]

I would up your nutrients...
I would move it to lower PAR and lower flow to allow it to recover.
Are you dosing phyto to help feed it? Reef roids once a week is good and will raise phosphates.
I don't think you mentioned it, but what lights are you using? Do you know your PAR? Some torches are collected deeper and require less PAR. A caveat, they can acclimate SLOWLY to higher PAR. For example, my euphyllia receive about 300 PAR for a 5 hour peak. However, I acclimated them to that PAR slowly.
Final note, euphyllia do this. You can a full garden of torches and one turns south for no reason whatsoever.
Post up your lights. PAR if you have it, if not what intensity they are at.

I've had this particular torch in the tank for 5+ months, its been my fastest grower. I just took it out, the side is deteriorating I am pretty sure it is BJD now. I dose phyto 5 days a week (I do miss a day here and there), and feed reef roids 1-2 per week as well. I may be paranoid but now I am seeing a couple other torches and one octospawn retracting.

My lights are reefbreeders Photon pro v2 with a Meridian Edge bar. They are pretty bright but I don't have them at full brightness (I believe 60-65%). I haven't changed any light settings lately either.

 

[Brah02]

I would up your nutrients...
I would move it to lower PAR and lower flow to allow it to recover.
Are you dosing phyto to help feed it? Reef roids once a week is good and will raise phosphates.
I don't think you mentioned it, but what lights are you using? Do you know your PAR? Some torches are collected deeper and require less PAR. A caveat, they can acclimate SLOWLY to higher PAR. For example, my euphyllia receive about 300 PAR for a 5 hour peak. However, I acclimated them to that PAR slowly.
Final note, euphyllia do this. You can a full garden of torches and one turns south for no reason whatsoever.
Post up your lights. PAR if you have it, if not what intensity they are at.

Here it is now

 

[Brah02]

I would say it just smells like a coral... I put it in an iodine dip. That and a couple others that were near it, there are about 8 torches there in a "garden" a couple others were closed up, and then some frog/hammer/octo to the right of it which all look fine. I put it in its own dip though.

I am not saying this lightly or saying it will help 100% of the time all the time. I would invest in some Cipro. It seems to help a lot of euphyllia issues other than starvation .

Might be able to get my hands on some. What’s the dosage in tank?

 

[kevgib67]

Might be able to get my hands on some. What’s the dosage in tank?

 

[kevgib67]

Skimmer off and take out activated carbon.