Brown Jelly

Joeype · Jun 26, 2018

Hi all, I am new to the forum and new to the saltwater hobby. Been in freshwater for almost 30yrs. Everything has been going great in my 4 month old reef tank. I have a 9 head blue tip torch and heads have been detaching

after reading up it seems to be brown jelly disease. It kills me to see this and has dejected me from going much further. This is my 40 gallon breeder. I have a 125 setup with just fish and wanted to start filling it with corals soon but things like this make me nervous. I did do a few peroxide dips yesterday. My question is, how the heck does one get it in there tank and what is the best way to remove it? Thanks for any advise. By the way, this is an awesome forum!!

Crabs McJones · Jun 26, 2018

Joeype said:
Hi all, I am new to the forum and new to the saltwater hobby. Been in freshwater for almost 30yrs. Everything has been going great in my 4 month old reef tank. I have a 9 head blue tip torch and heads have been detaching after reading up it seems to be brown jelly disease. It kills me to see this and has dejected me from going much further. This is my 40 gallon breeder. I have a 125 setup with just fish and wanted to start filling it with corals soon but things like this make me nervous. I did do a few peroxide dips yesterday. My question is, how the heck does one get it in there tank and what is the best way to remove it? Thanks for any advise. By the way, this is an awesome forum!!

Welcome to R2R!

#WelcometoR2R
Do you have any pictures of the coral in question that you can share with us? Also can you provide your water parameters and lighting setup and how much flow you have the coral in?
Thanks,
Crabs

Joeype · Jun 26, 2018

here are pics of the torch. Its laying on a rock once it detached its self. Lighting i have a Finnex Marine 24-7. Water was very stable, did a change last night. I will check them once i get home.

Porpoise Hork · Jun 26, 2018

That looks more like polyp bailout or something nipped at the coral damaging it.

Brown jelly looks entirely different. When attacked the coral (typically LPS) will retract and you will see this brownish colored jelly covering the polyp head. It's pretty much a death sentence for the coral polyp because it can go from healthy to dead in a matter of hours. As far as treatment peroxide dips they are are very hard on corals and from my experience isn't all that effective against BJ since it's protozoan issue not bacterial. Iodine dips can help but even that is hard on them. The best thing I have found is remove the diseased head asap and seal off the skeleton with superglue. Follow that with a mild dip in iodine, then dose the tank with Brightwell Restor.

OriginalUserName · Jun 26, 2018

What's your flow like? Doesn't look like disease that I've seen. The polyps should sway back and forth, if you see them pushed to one side or any skeleton exposing it's too much and could explain that.

Hang in there. Just like fish there is a learning curve with coral. Right when you figure these out you will get something more difficult and be depressed all over again.

Joeype · Jun 26, 2018

Thank you for all the replies and support. I love the saltwater hobby and will never quit. I will keep educating myself and learn as much as possible. The torch, well the other heads look much better today. Another one that was pulling away a bit seems to be reattaching its self today. I just dont want to see these animals suffer. Flow does give them a decent back n forth sway. Whats the best way to get that nice side to side action???? Thanks again!!!

OriginalUserName · Jun 26, 2018

If you want that pretty side to side action you need some sort of wave making pump like a Mp10 or Jebao. Just make sure it's not too much flow.

Joeype · Jun 26, 2018

Thank you. I have a 40 breeder and a 125, my 125 has only fish but will have corals. I will pick some wave makers up. 1 for the 40 or 2??? Thanks again

OriginalUserName · Jun 26, 2018

Joeype said:
Thank you. I have a 40 breeder and a 125, my 125 has only fish but will have corals. I will pick some wave makers up. 1 for the 40 or 2??? Thanks again

I'd say that 1 pump around the size of a jebao Sw-4 would give you a nice tank wide wave motion in a 40. In my 29cube or 25L tanks the smaller version get's things rocking pretty well.