Help. My hammer corals skeleton is getting eaten likeep termites

[SgtMehoff]

Hello,
My first post. Basically, I have been noticing various euphyillia hammer and torch corals having their skeleton or stem getting, well eaten. It looks like I said, termites had a field day. It seems to happen fast. I've been told parasites like worms are the culprit. Please review the picture I have included. What do I do. Truth, I usually dip with Coral Rx but the last purchase from a friend, I didn't. I'm afraid I have worms. How do I stop this? I can't keep ungluing corals, and repeatedly dip. It will stress and kill them. Any advice is appreciated! Thank you.

 

[Pg513]

Have you ever seen anything eating them?

 

[SgtMehoff]

No I haven't. But I see bristle worms in sump in macro

 

[Pg513]

I think it's safe to says it's not the bristles. As far as pest, I'm not very savvy.

Has the tank been running for sometime now?

Other corals outside of LPS doing ok? I'm assuming parameters are in check.

 

[Naiad]

That coral looks very unhealthy. This looks more like an issue of not enough calcium during the development of that section of skeleton. It will eventually deteriorate. What are your parameters. There are some rock boring worms but you would see them.

 

[SgtMehoff]

I run a scrubber and GFO reactor in sump. Calcium is about 500. I have purple covering everything. Phosphate is 0. Photo is 8.0. Salinity is .026. Alkalinity is around 10 to 11. I use red Sea coral pro salt. Dose ESV Bionic A and B calcium and alkalinity. I have about 14 different torch, hammers, and frogs. All thriving. I just thought some type of worms specifically feed on LPS skeleton?

 

[Naiad]

There should be flesh covering the top section of skeleton. For some reason it has been receding for some time given the algea growth on the skeleton.

 

[SgtMehoff]

My others have flesh covering heads as you speak. It's weird this happening. I had a pink tipped green torch doing great. Moved next to the frag I gave picture of and in 3 days receded and the top of head skeleton was no longer flush or level across. It had curves and indents inside head looking from top down. Something had to have done this to the head. In such a short amount of time, what could it now be?

 

[SgtMehoff]

Also, everytime I dipped, nothing shakes out..... I just don't want to loose everything I worked hard at and spent good money on

 

[Naiad]

What is your NO3? Do you feed your lps at all? What fish and inverts are in the tank? Best time to see motile pests that leave the coral would be at night using a red light. I am sure this can be figured out. Anyway to setup a coral icu? I know it isn't possible for a lot of people but could help bring the hardest hit back around.

 

[SgtMehoff]

I will test no3. Never had a problem. I can try red light tonight. Quarantine is possible but I'm not very confident to maintain same water parameters in fraction of main tank volume. I also don't have spare lighting that would be adequate. Thank you for responding

 

[Naiad]

I will test no3. Never had a problem. I can try red light tonight. Quarantine is possible but I'm not very confident to maintain same water parameters in fraction of main tank volume. I also don't have spare lighting that would be adequate. Thank you for responding

No problem. It is kind of embarrassing to admit but I have gotten good at bringing my corals back from near death after a few stupid mistakes. I understand running coral qt is not the most feasible. Just the best way to beef up lps is food and that can foul water. Especially with these guys as they eat small items and not very much at a time. At the very least move any with receded tissue to an area of low flow to help damaged tissue heal.

 

[SgtMehoff]

I think it's a breakdown of the skeletal structure. It's weird because my calcium is like 500 and have purple covering everything. I do have to add about a gallon per day to top off. Just plain RO water. I use ESV Bionic part A and B from bulk reef supply. I use red sea coral pro salt. I add red sea Reef Energy A and B in low dose. I do about 15% water change every week or 10 days. Should I be mixing salt and adding to 1 gallon per day top off? Should I be adding some other chemical to specifically cover skeleton growth and repair

 

[SgtMehoff]

?

 

[SgtMehoff]

No problem. It is kind of embarrassing to admit but I have gotten good at bringing my corals back from near death after a few stupid mistakes. I understand running coral qt is not the most feasible. Just the best way to beef up lps is food and that can foul water. Especially with these guys as they eat small items and not very much at a time. At the very least move any with receded tissue to an area of low flow to help damaged tissue heal.

Sorry for late reply. Please check my post I just made that you replied to this morning. I'm learning how to post

 

[reef_junkie]

Is it getting enough light? Also lps is wierd about rtn. I clip dead heads that get shaded as fast as I can because for some reason I think I should, like pruning roses. Is it a new frag or part of a colony that was fragged recently?

 

[SgtMehoff]

Frags I've had for some time. I have kessil and t5 combo on 75gal. Plenty of light.

 

[chefjpaul]

There is a worm like thing that will tear apart euphyllia. I've had to break apart some wall hammers and frogs to rescue them. I've saved a couple. Dips didn't work at all.

I'm not sure what they were, but it has happend a couple times in my previous euphyllia dominated tank.

Not sure if this is your problem, but seems to be about the same issue.

 

[Alanc425]

Could be that the coral is just dying due to other reason, and your pods/microfauna are eating the dead tissue so you might see them as the culprit?

 

[AlexStinson]

I had this happen to me about 8 years ago, never found the culprit, but it didn't follow me when I upgraded tanks. It was just like you say, healthy frogspawn, then suddenly the 'stem' was getting eaten away quite abruptly.