Euphylia dying

Msmith2813 · May 2, 2019

When I was out of town for a week I had a torch die. I just chalked it up to my family not knowing what they were doing and it dying off. Two days ago I had another torch deflate. Yesterday it stayed shrunk and lost all color (it was blue now completely white). It looks like something is eating or the skeleton is being damaged somehow (picture of white torch you can see the insides coming out of the side of the skeleton). The torch slightly inflated today but still looks terrible. I started to inspect the rest of my euphylia thinking it couldn’t be a coincidence. I noticed my frogspawn also has some damage (holes) around the skeleton. The frogspawn is still inflated and looking fine for now.
Has anyone had this issue before? Is it a pest or a water chemistry issue?
I have inspected at night and day and have not seen anything on the skeleton. I have not dipped yet. Was going to pick up some lugols and Bayer tomorrow just in case.
Water parameters:
Sg 1.025
Alk 8.8
Calcium 410
Nitrates 0-5
I haven’t checked po4 or magnesium. All other corals look fine. Sps, lps, and zoas are all looking great. I have a pencil urchin and blue leg hermits. Fish are three clowns, anthias, and a blenny
Thank you!

ScottR · May 3, 2019

Msmith2813 said:
When I was out of town for a week I had a torch die. I just chalked it up to my family not knowing what they were doing and it dying off. Two days ago I had another torch deflate. Yesterday it stayed shrunk and lost all color (it was blue now completely white). It looks like something is eating or the skeleton is being damaged somehow (picture of white torch you can see the insides coming out of the side of the skeleton). The torch slightly inflated today but still looks terrible. I started to inspect the rest of my euphylia thinking it couldn’t be a coincidence. I noticed my frogspawn also has some damage (holes) around the skeleton. The frogspawn is still inflated and looking fine for now.
Has anyone had this issue before? Is it a pest or a water chemistry issue?
I have inspected at night and day and have not seen anything on the skeleton. I have not dipped yet. Was going to pick up some lugols and Bayer tomorrow just in case.
Water parameters:
Sg 1.025
Alk 8.8
Calcium 410
Nitrates 0-5
I haven’t checked po4 or magnesium. All other corals look fine. Sps, lps, and zoas are all looking great. I have a pencil urchin and blue leg hermits. Fish are three clowns, anthias, and a blenny
Thank you!

I’m assuming no peppermint shrimp because you didn’t list it. But there seems to be this problem on here and with people I know where when they go away on vacation, they lose a lot of livestock or complete crash. I guess our tanks need our constant husbandry. But I hope you find out

Msmith2813 · May 3, 2019

ScottR said:
I’m assuming no peppermint shrimp because you didn’t list it. But there seems to be this problem on here and with people I know where when they go away on vacation, they lose a lot of livestock or complete crash. I guess our tanks need our constant husbandry. But I hope you find out

Oh man, now that you mention it I do have a peppermint shrimp (or two). They came over when I bought this tank. I completely forgot about it because I never see it.

ScottR · May 3, 2019

Msmith2813 said:
Oh man, now that you mention it I do have a peppermint shrimp (or two). They came over when I bought this tank. I completely forgot about it because I never see it.

Ouch. Could be the problem. I just saw a post here a couple of days ago where a peppermint devoured a hammer. If you see it lose polyps down to its skeleton, could be the problem.

Bayareareefer18 · May 3, 2019

I had a torch looking very unhappy for awhile and finally found out it was flat worms. There were tough to see ans surprisingly resilient to dipping. They wouldn't emerge immediately in a dip it took some time. Had to dip multiple times to finally get rid of them. Was surprised to see how many popped out that were not visible. For some reason they only were after the torch and not other euphyllia

Msmith2813 · May 3, 2019

Bayareareefer18 said:
I had a torch looking very unhappy for awhile and finally found out it was flat worms. There were tough to see ans surprisingly resilient to dipping. They wouldn't emerge immediately in a dip it took some time. Had to dip multiple times to finally get rid of them. Was surprised to see how many popped out that were not visible. For some reason they only were after the torch and not other euphyllia

What did you use to dip them in and how many times? I was going to grab some lugols just so I would be able to see if anything comes off. Can’t see anything when dipped in bayer

Bayareareefer18 · May 3, 2019

Msmith2813 said:
What did you use to dip them in and how many times? I was going to grab some lugols just so I would be able to see if anything comes off. Can’t see anything when dipped in bayer

I use coral rx. If you see flatworms in the dip I would dip again a few days later to catch any newly hatched babies

Msmith2813 · May 3, 2019

Bayareareefer18 said:
I use coral rx. If you see flatworms in the dip I would dip again a few days later to catch any newly hatched babies

Ok. I have some coralrx also, might be past the expiration date though. I guess if I find flatworms I’ll use the kz product to kill them off in the entire tank

Msmith2813 · May 4, 2019

Any other ideas? I dipped my euphylia in coralrx and lugols today and didn’t see one single pest. I’m not sure what’s causing this

DangerDave · May 4, 2019

The peppermint shrimp usually are found eating (stealing) food from corals, or eating dead flesh of a coral.

Fotocha · May 5, 2019

Msmith2813 said:
Any other ideas? I dipped my euphylia in coralrx and lugols today and didn’t see one single pest. I’m not sure what’s causing this

Well I can mention that this happened to me some time ago. I remember trying everything under the sun. Checked my water quality, lighting, location, flow, dipped it you name it I tried. It wasn’t until I pulled the coral out for a few hours sitting in a bucket that I saw the worm. Later I even found eggs on my frag stand. Best not to panic.

Msmith2813 · May 5, 2019

Fotocha said:
Well I can mention that this happened to me some time ago. I remember trying everything under the sun. Checked my water quality, lighting, location, flow, dipped it you name it I tried. It wasn’t until I pulled the coral out for a few hours sitting in a bucket that I saw the worm. Later I even found eggs on my frag stand. Best not to panic.

What kind of worm(s) did you end up finding? These are the first torches I’ve had die on me. I feel like I’m losing my torch keeping credentials! Haha

Fotocha · May 5, 2019

Msmith2813 said:
What kind of worm(s) did you end up finding? These are the first torches I’ve had die on me. I feel like I’m losing my torch keeping credentials! Haha

Honestly I didn't figure that out

.... more like when you see a roach in your house

. Kill it first ;Nailbiting.... identify it later lol

If I could have removed my shoe in time haha

No all joking aside, it was burrowing into the side of the coral. It was right before a tank breakdown, so I'm not sure what became of it. LFS picked it up ;Blackeye