What's wrong with my torch?

[Dmsick]

I have had this torch for about a month. Both heads have had full extension and looked great until about 4 days ago. I've had high phosphates and a serious hair algae issue. My tank is 2.5 months old. I treated my tank with phosphate rx last week to try to help with the hair algae. It really didn't make much of a dent in my phosphate. I think it actually went up due to the die off from the hair algae. It has all come back as if I didn't treat it.
After that the torch started looking like this. I feed frozen mysis and reef frenzy 2xdaily. There are 2 clownfish in the tank and an assortment of snails. I also have 2 zoa frags and a pretty good size acan frag all of which look fine.
Here are my parameters which have been pretty stable for about 3 weeks.
Temp 78.4
pH 8.04

 

[Crabs McJones]

How high up in the tank is it? These like low light and low flow. Looks to be near the top based off your picture. What lighting are you using.

 

[KrisReef]

Are the clown fish trying to host in it?

 

[Dmsick]

@Crabs Mcjones and @KrisReef Thanks so much for the prompt replies.

How high up in the tank is it? These like low light and low flow. Looks to be near the top based off your picture. What lighting are you using.

It's just off the bottom on a low rock in an area of protected flow between 2 larger rocks. The lights are sbreef LEDs on an acclimation schedule, UV doesn't go above 40% and whites not above 20%. I did extend the photo period by about 1 hour 1 week or so ago. I also moved it to it's current location from an area of lower light but higher flow after the head on the right stopped extending. I added another pic for perspective.

Are the clown fish trying to host in it?

They haven't paid any attention to it. I thought they might.

 

[KrisReef]

are you currently running carbon or a polyfilter on this system? That might help if you have water toxicity issues that are not obvious on the tests you have posted.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Are you using rodi water? I see quite a bit of algae, how old is the tank?

 

[Dmsick]

are you currently running carbon or a polyfilter on this system? That might help if you have water toxicity issues that are not obvious on the tests you have posted.

I added a bag of carbon 2 days ago because I was thinking the same. At the time I also added 2 bags of phosguard. I also did a 10% water change yesterday and cleaned my sump to get rid of anything that might be fouling the water.

 

[KrisReef]

What is providing current in your tank? Are the pumps shut off in your picture? All corals need water movement for O2 exchange, feeding, and waste removal.

I would plan on running GFO for a short time to try and curb the gha until the foxface can be added to the system. That rock appears to be a likely source for P that will take some time to get into balance with the rest of nutrients in your system.

 

[Dmsick]

Are you using rodi water? I see quite a bit of algae, how old is the tank?

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I'm using RODI with 0 TDS. The tank is not quite 3 months old. There is definitely some algae (understatement). I'm struggling with the idea of starting GFO to help with my phosphate issue vs continuing to pick it out. I'm planning to increase my CUC and I have a Foxface in QT but he'll be there for 2 more weeks.

 

[Dmsick]

What is providing current in your tank? Are the pumps shut off in your picture? All corals need water movement for O2 exchange, feeding, and waste removal.

Thanks for the reply. There is a jebao crossflow which is a little overkill actually. There are no dead spots. I'm running it on the lowest setting and had to find a spot to keep the torch from getting whipped by the current. He was in a higher flow area for 3 weeks and looked great until about 4 days ago. As I mentioned above I moved him to a lower flow area when he started looking unhappy.

 

[Dmsick]

@KrisReef I'm ordering a reactor and GFO today.

Is there anything else I can do for the torch or do I need to just watch and wait?

 

[KrisReef]

Looks like you have done what you might and the torch has not responded well. Sometimes you just need to let things run their course, making fewer changes and hope that stability allows the coral to acclimate and recover. Often the best advice is just to "keep your hands out of the tank."
After rereading the thread, the only other advice might be to cut back a bit on feeding to slow down your gha growth. Fish can live on very infrequent feedings, and the food you add to the tank will fuel growth of fish, coral and algae. I get the biggest algae growth when I travel and my wife has takes charge of feeding the fish. They flash at her everytime she walks by the tank hoping she will feed them. She only feeds the tank when I am away. I generally feed them once a day or less if my nutrients or algae growth are up. If my lps are looking poor, I cut back on feed them because they generally do not eat much when they look crappy. Feed them when they look bad usually makes them look worse! and not better.

If I have been feeding my tank lightly, I will sometimes target feed my lps with mysis or large chunks of food but only if they are fully extended and looking to eat. When they are retracted, that is a cue to cut back on feeding the entire tank.

 

[Dmsick]

Thanks so much. That is very helpful!

 

[TX_Punisher]

I learned the hard way: there are pests that like to munch on torches. They are a type of flatworm.

I do not see any on yours (which doesn't mean they're not there) but once I saw them on the base after careful examination, I knew that was my issue. A bayer dip of 10 minutes or
Less showed several on the bottom of the dip container.

Maybe something to look out for.

Good luck

 

[Dmsick]

I learned the hard way: there are pests that like to munch on torches. They are a type of flatworm.

I do not see any on yours (which doesn't mean they're not there) but once I saw them on the base after careful examination, I knew that was my issue. A bayer dip of 10 minutes or
Less showed several on the bottom of the dip container.

Maybe something to look out for.

Good luck

Thanks for the response. I won't say it's impossible. But I replaced the plugs and did a Bayer dip on all my corals when I got them.

 

[Nick30G]

Also that algae is smothering that torch. May want to get some of that off it that does not help. Also 0.1 PPM of phosphate is on the high end. You should get that down to around 0.03 ppm Phosphate. I would run GFO and aggressively remove it by hand. All tanks this early on go through the "ugly" stages. Mine was very nasty Dinos and Cyano around the 4 month mark. Now im at around 8 months old and i have no algae what so ever. I would only feed once per day as well. I have as similar tank to yours with only clowns, a CUC, and a few other inverts and once per day is plenty. I also usually find Euphiylla in general like it on the bottom of the tank usually on the sand bed or really low on the rock work or in a shaded area.

 

[Dmsick]

Also that algae is smothering that torch. May want to get some of that off it that does not help. Also 0.1 PPM of phosphate is on the high end. You should get that down to around 0.03 ppm Phosphate. I would run GFO and aggressively remove it by hand. All tanks this early on go through the "ugly" stages. Mine was very nasty Dinos and Cyano around the 4 month mark. Now im at around 8 months old and i have no algae what so ever. I would only feed once per day as well. I have as similar tank to yours with only clowns, a CUC, and a few other inverts and once per day is plenty. I also usually find Euphiylla in general like it on the bottom of the tank usually on the sand bed or really low on the rock work or in a shaded area.

Thank you! I did clean up the algae again this afternoon after taking that pic. I have phosguard in the sump which is all I could get at my LFS. I have a reactor and GFO ordered though! I'll cut my feeding down to once daily for sure. I can move the torch again.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I'd cut back on feeding to 3 days a week and no more than 2X daily. I would also focus on a clean up crew to rid of alse which seems to be overtaking the torch and lastly ...reduce the light intensity adding more blue and reducing the bright whites. How is tank water flow.3
They like flow ( but not aggressive). These should all allow improvement as well as addition of Aminos and Potassium

 

[Dmsick]

I'd cut back on feeding to 3 days a week and no more than 2X daily. I would also focus on a clean up crew to rid of alse which seems to be overtaking the torch and lastly ...reduce the light intensity adding more blue and reducing the bright whites. How is tank water flow.3
They like flow ( but not aggressive). These should all allow improvement as well as addition of Aminos and Potassium

Thanks so much for the reply. I've cut back to once a day feeding for the fish. I've ordered some more snails and a couple hermits to help with the algae. I also pulled a bunch of it out after that pic was taken. I also moved the torch to a more protected area between 2 rocks and off to the side of the tank where it won't get quite as much light. I can reduce the whites too although they are never more than 10% and only for a couple hours. The flow in the tank is significant but not where the torch is. It moves gently in the water. Unfortunately, it looked worse today. Less extension on the one head and minimal to none on the other. I'm afraid I'm going to lose it.