Receding torch coral

[trahelyk]

I've never had luck with torch corals, but I tried again a couple weeks ago with a beautiful Australian golden torch. What's different this time is I have a 75-gallon Reefer, and the last two I killed were in an 8-gallon nano, so the parameters are much more stable this time around. But the pattern is shaping up to be the same: slowly the tentacles deflate, and now bits of the skeleton are beginning to appear. This morning, the polyps were entirely inside, and the entire skeleton was visible. It plumps up a bit when the lights come on, but it's getting worse every day. There are no crabs or shimps in the tank who could be picking at it. The only fish are a couple fire fish, two pink skunk clowns, and a lawnmower blenny. My best guess is that I put it in an area with too much flow. Any other ideas what I might be doing wrong? Is there anything I can do to save it?

Params:
KH: 8.12 (Hannah)
Calcium: 500 (Salifert)
Ammonia/Nitrate: 0 (Salifert)
Nitrate: 2.5 (Salifert)
Ph0sphate: 0 (Salifert)

 

[trahelyk]

Best photo I can muster. I took this last night with my iPhone. It's red because I have a fun gimmicky sunset program on my AI26s.

 

[Fishinwall]

I seem to have the same problem, lost my hammer heads, lost my candy canes, lost my acans, one hanging on...and I'm concerned my torch may be next. They start to recede then the skeleton starts to turn black.

 

[trahelyk]

Well, if it's any help, I can tell you that my problem turns out to be too much flow. I moved the torch to a lower-flow area, and I've been pretty amazed at how quickly and dramatically it has recovered.

 

[Fishinwall]

Mine has been in the same spot for nearly a year

 

[joshkirkland83]

Are either of you dipping your corals before you put them in your DT?

 

[Fishinwall]

Are either of you dipping your corals before you put them in your DT?

Yes in Revive. I dip all corals.