Is my torch dying?

Dfr06 · Dec 23, 2019

I just did a water change and added a few new corals. I left the tank alone for a while and came back to see my torch which I’ve had for 4 days have some white translucent thing coming out of one of its heads. Here is a photo. Sorry that it’s blurry and pretty bad quality. All my other corals are doing fine

Jon Fishman · Dec 23, 2019

Just a little angry, not dying.

Retro Reefer · Dec 23, 2019

In order for people to give you any practical advice about your coral you should include your complete water parameters and information about your system such as age, lighting (type, intensity, schedule), filtration and any other inhabitants.. full tank pictures are also very useful

cCRAWLINS · Dec 23, 2019

That is dead tissue or just slime from being stressed (hard to say for certain). Definitely not looking so good, maybe try a light iodine dip and keep a close eye on it. Anything in there that could be nipping at it?

Dfr06 · Dec 23, 2019

There isn’t any fish in the tank. It might’ve been from the wavemaker as I was rearranging the flow and it somewhat fell on the torch while it was off. Could that have been the problem?

cCRAWLINS · Dec 23, 2019

It's definitely possible that's the problem. I've noticed that euphyllia tend to be a bit sensitive when it comes to injury. But like someone recommended it would be easier to narrow it down if we knew your water parameters

Dfr06 · Dec 23, 2019

The head that had the white now has closed and the arms have become thinner/smaller. Half the arms aren’t visible and there’s something that’s kind of brown in the spot where it was white.

It’s a bit blurry because of the flow and this is a photo from the top.

Terri Caton · Dec 23, 2019

I’ve had that happen. No brown stuff though. If you see it actually lose the tissue cut off that head. Best chance of it not spreading to the other ones.

Dip it too

Dfr06 · Dec 23, 2019

How should I cut it off?

Terri Caton · Dec 23, 2019

You can can get a pair of Cutters made for coral or get bone cutters. I just went to Home Depot and got curved Cutters.

jace · Dec 24, 2019

Ahhh that’s such a bummer to have happen with a new coral. I agree with retro reefer in releasing some parameters around your setup. Hat being said, there are two things that stand out to me.

The first, is the number of days you’ve had the torch. It’s not a long period of time from an acclimation and establishment stand point. And a number of things may have upset it (lighting, flow, nutrients, fish). This coupled with the trauma of the wavemaker falling on the torch added unnecessary stress to it.

Can you spare more details? What kind of a tank did the torch come from and what kind of a tank do you have from a maturity and parameter standpoint is where I’d start prior to dragging, although from the looks of your photos we might not have much time to be patient either.

DMG Reef · Dec 24, 2019

Look up Brown Jelly Disease. If the brown stuff is BJD, you should cut off that head to keep from infecting the good head. Good luck!

Dfr06 · Dec 24, 2019

After a quick search I think it is BJD. It looks pretty much identical. If it flies of the torch and lands on another coral will that affect them as well? I had the wavemaker off and just turned it on and a few pieces of it flew off.

Dfr06 · Dec 24, 2019

Also the head has become worse basically the entire thing is covered. There is a head that is touching the head that is infected and doesn’t look infected but it’s arms are becoming smaller. Should I cut both heads off?

Auto-pilot · Dec 24, 2019

This is just my opinion as some would disagree with me. I've had good luck saving corals from what yours looks like without chopping the coral all apart. If It is completely overtaken it may be worth just cutting but you can definitely try to save it. First of all brown jelly is a bacteria/protozoan. I would initially treat it with a 30 second to 1 minute 50/50 peroxide water mix. Then I would get erythromycin from the fish store and mix about half a teaspoon into a Tupperware and do 2 hour dips every night for a week with antibiotics. This will kill the infection on your coral and stop it from spreading to other corals
Edit: also I would try to figure out why your coral got infected in the first place. A couple of ideas would be another coral stung it or bad water quality. Weakend corals are susceptible to disease

Dfr06 · Dec 25, 2019

I just cut off the head that has the disease. It looked really bad. I also accidentally destroyed a completely good head in the process. That now leaves me with 2 somewhat good heads but won’t know until they open up.

Jax15 · Dec 25, 2019

Good luck Dhafer. Once torches start doing that it’s tough going... and really hard to clean cut the heads without a bandsaw. I’ve tried before as well and it isn’t easy.

Dfr06 · Dec 25, 2019

Thanks. It was pretty hard. I didn’t have any tools other then a saw and a wire cutter thing. I was lucky that the wire cutter was able to cut through the rock.