help with torch coral

[cfrank84]

not so much help as maybe an idea of what mightve happend...my camera is dead so no pics possible right now..
went to bed with a full 4 head torch coral i was in love with.. woke up with 1 head of torch and 3 heads of "goo" like a reddish goo and now only 1 head of torch.. my skimmer died about 4 days ago and my gramma ordered a tunze she found online cuz ive been talking about what i needed and my mom went online and found my search history for them but anyways do corals usually die that quick? im so upset right now cuz that was my biggest and only "colony" :-( the tunze wont ship till monday and im freaking out that the rest of my frags will die b4 the new skimmer gets here... any ideas from anyone on what may have caused a torch to get a reddish goo on it overnight and wipe out the whole thing?

thx and i understand if noone has ideas just figured id ask since im so bummed that it happened to the only big coral i haveother than frags :-(

 

[twocute2b4u]

Chris, I am sorry to hear about the torch. I would not be able to explain either. I hope you get an answer.

 

[smoothie]

How much of a water change have you done since your skimmer went out?

 

[cfrank84]

yea it totally sucks cuz ive been going thru so much with this tank recently with the skimmer dying and my amazing whip fin carpet surfind when i was a dummy and let the feeding lid open while at work and ugh im just so mad about the torch ! o well i guess stuff happens but its totaly out of the blue cuz other than my whip fin everything has seemed fine... i did however clean out the skimmer chamber since it died in anticipitation of the new skimmer i was gonna order from chris but my gramma beat me to it when i got some CC bills that were higher than expected and it was supposed to be an early bday present

 

[cfrank84]

i did about 8 gallons 2 days after the skimmer went out.. its a 34g RSM

 

[cfrank84]

was planning on doing 2-5g every 2 days until the new skimmer just to be safe... i have a b&w clown lawnmower blenny firefish wheeler watchmen and 3 very small green chromis.. never had any issues with parems and i usually do at LEAST 5g per week waterchange 1 cube of enriched mysis per day since the skimmer died as the skimmer seemed to freak out the least with it and usually alternate between between mysis rods food and elos pellets

 

[smoothie]

Try another. Sounds like something is building up too quickly and burning them

 

[smoothie]

Go to flakes mostly til the skimmer is replaced. Cutting back the amount will help you alot too

 

[cfrank84]

nothing else seems to be having issues..in fact my 10 rhodactis mushrooms look bigger than ever ... just did a 2 gal change.. all i have on hand right now.. will get 10 more gal tomorrow at tims... i always get water from either tim or chris (keen reef or einstein) depending on where my ride wants to take me and never had an issue with water so dont think thats an issue.. got current water since skimmer death from Tim but still think it may have somethign to do with stirring that horrid skimmer chamber...denise.. what are u running on ur RSM? my gramma got me the tunze 9002.. she got it from salty supply? 150 shipped ... from my hometown of Maitland

 

[cfrank84]

question for u smoothie cuz i always see u give great advice.. i had a fungia die earlier this year after feeding it a "bad" shrimp from publix... lost all color and turned into skeleton and since leaving it in the sand had gotten almost all color back....is it possible the torch might do the same? i dont want to pull it out if it might come back.. looks really angry right now.. maybe hald the head and its not al all extended but just wondering if maybe i should pull it out and take the loss rather than leave it in and screw up anything else..

 

[smoothie]

It is your water quality especially if the skimmer waste/chamber was stirred up and you feeding that much without a skimmer with the tank being used to one. Shrooms are more hardy. They can thrive in less than prestine water and regular flourescent lighting. Torch will let you know quicker that you should test everything because it isn't happy

 

[twocute2b4u]

Chris, Our RSM is sitting around collecting dust because all of our pumps went out at the same time. I was pissed because it wasn't just one, it was all three. We dont have anything in the tank other than live rock and sand, and of course water. We are so broke right now that we cannot afford replacements.

 

[smoothie]

cfrank84;384668 wrote: question for u smoothie cuz i always see u give great advice.. i had a fungia die earlier this year after feeding it a "bad" shrimp from publix... lost all color and turned into skeleton and since leaving it in the sand had gotten almost all color back....is it possible the torch might do the same? i dont want to pull it out if it might come back.. looks really angry right now.. maybe hald the head and its not al all extended but just wondering if maybe i should pull it out and take the loss rather than leave it in and screw up anything else..

Keep it in. Suck out anything that is dying and deteriorating in the tank. If a head or heads are still attached but angry, just keep up the small water changes alot and cut back on feeding

 

[cfrank84]

im with u! one of my recirc pumps went out i replaced then the skimmer and i was almost in tears i was freaking out more so about my fish than corals but both and my gramma told me she had ordered the skimmer as a bday present the same week oddly enough since my bday is coming up and ive been talking about updating light and skimmer.. she is mailing me the skimmer monday morning and im hoping ill have by wednesday..

 

[cfrank84]

i didnt feed today i will feed tomorrow as im going to get more water and ill pick up some flake too :-( guess i need to find some money for a new torch as thats my fave coral :-( maybe ill find a cooler one lol altho the one i had was amazing bright green "arms" with amazing yellow tips thanks for all the help smoothie ! my next upgrade to the tank is lights cuz im dying for a clam but im so paranoid about things dying and this just makes me that much paranoid :-( this is my first real loss since staring in december of last yr only other losses were carpet surfing whip fin :-(

 

[smoothie]

Hope it all works out. My 4yr reef was wiped out last December because of a bad heater. Lost my torch too along with ALOT of other growing happy corals and fish. The thing stuck ON. Wierd thing was the powder blue acted like nothing happened. Just swam up to me like normal wanting some nori and clean water. I have learned it is not the end of the world, but it does sting. Just learn from it and do water changes a little more often

 

[cfrank84]

i do 5g every week ...what would be better? thought more than that might be too much and was actually hoping with the new skimmer i might be able to go to every 2 weeks guess ill stick with my once a week change sorry to hear about ur loss.. none of my fish/inverts/corals have acted weird at all only the torch which like i said went from 4 heads to 1 literally overnight

 

[smoothie]

With your skimmer that is great. 5gal a week
Until Wed? do another and cut back on feeding

 

[jennm]

I doubt it was the lack of skimmer.

In your original post you described what's commonly known as "brown jelly". I've seen debates about exactly what that is, but suffice it to say it's a pathogen that occurs too often in Euphyllia species.

How long did you have the specimen?

What are your current parameters, especially temperature?

I've seen this pathogen crop up due to several causes, and it seems to be contagious among Euphyllia, so I don't suggest getting another one right away.

I saw one this week like that - customer brought it in after he'd bought it healthy from me a week or so earlier - he said his params were fine but when I tested it, I found his SG to be 1.016 We tried to tank the specimen but it crashed.

I've seen it happen with too cold, too hot... any extreme fluctuation can cause it.

My suggestion for your specimen would be to cut off the dead/dying polyps, dip the specimen in a solution of SW and Seachem Reef Dip, OR Kent Tech D, OR TLF Revive. This should disinfect the specimen, and then replace it in the tank.

Posting your parameters may shed some light on things - although the absence of a skimmer for a few days shouldn't really make *that* much difference.

Doing larger than normal water changes could have caused a fluctuation that may or may not still be present... hard to say.

But that's what I'd do with the specimen as it is now.

Jenn