PDR Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 So I woke up to my hammer that I have had about 2 weeks looking like this. One of the heads has completely disappeared and the other is in the process of peeling off. It has looked great for the last 2 weeks with the exception of one of the heads was retracted some the past 2 days. Any idea what would cause this over night? All my other coral are doing great, this torch is just a few inches from the hammer. Link to comment
uwdanno Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 My first thought would be the torch put a tentacle out and stung it. Link to comment
Mariaface Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 My second thought would be chemical warfare, either from the torch or the palys. Carbon change? My third thought would be that that variation could be sensitive to alk swings, or lower nutrients in comparison to alk? Link to comment
gulfsurfer101 Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 All my ephullia are very close together. My hammers frogs and torches all touch during daylight hours. I was suggest it was either an alkalinity issue or infection. Possibly a lighting issue as well since you say it was a relatively new addition. Link to comment
Cencalfishguy56 Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 All my ephullia are very close together. My hammers frogs and torches all touch during daylight hours. I was suggest it was either an alkalinity issue or infection. Possibly a lighting issue as well since you say it was a relatively new addition. Plus one to this, euphyllia are usually fine being near each other since they have the same sting and same chemical makeup Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Plus one to this, euphyllia are usually fine being near each other since they have the same sting and same chemical makeup This is not quite accurate. While E. glabrescens/paraglabrescens are in the same genus, they are very different from E. cristata, ancora/parancora, and divisa/paradivisa. Their sting is significantly stronger and they are much more aggressive, even towards members of the same genus. They will be fine for a while, then one day you will start noticing all the corals around the torch start to retract more or necrose. In OP's case, though, the coral should be far enough away to avoid touching, and the flow appears to be going in the opposite direction, so I would agree with it either being an alkalinity swing or bacterial infection. Link to comment
leedaly52 Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 What fish do you have? Any angels or similar that could be pecking at the lps? Link to comment
ajmckay Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Is the skeleton clean white where the other heads died? Or is there still tissue within the crevices? If it is an infection I would remove all dead pieces immediately (and carefully). When you take it out smell it - if it smells "like death" then that's probably what it is - discard the coral. Try to keep other euphyllia specimens from getting damaged for a while to prevent possible spread. Link to comment
Wretched Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 I have many Euphyllia touching, BUT I have had issues with my gold torch touching my hammers/other torches. Not sure why, but species is a possibility. As above said it's more than likely an alkalinity or lighting issues, although overnight is pretty fast... so i'd lean towards alk. Link to comment
Tamberav Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Alk imo, do you dose? I would leave the skeleton if there is no infection. Mine grew back from bare white skeleton after a alk swing. Link to comment
PDR Posted February 4, 2016 Author Share Posted February 4, 2016 Thanks for all the replies! I'll try to answer all the questions. Also this is a reefer 350. The torch cannot touch it because of the flow. I just changed carbon when I did a water change 4 days ago. The skeleton was clean white, no stuff in it. I don't dose, and I haven't tested alk in awhile, I just checked it and its low @ 6 dkh. I use HW Reefer salt which mixes to 9 dkh. I removed it just in case. If it was an infection, are my other euphyllia at risk? Link to comment
Cencalfishguy56 Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 This is not quite accurate. While E. glabrescens/paraglabrescens are in the same genus, they are very different from E. cristata, ancora/parancora, and divisa/paradivisa. Their sting is significantly stronger and they are much more aggressive, even towards members of the same genus. They will be fine for a while, then one day you will start noticing all the corals around the torch start to retract more or necrose. In OP's case, though, the coral should be far enough away to avoid touching, and the flow appears to be going in the opposite direction, so I would agree with it either being an alkalinity swing or bacterial infection. You are correct totally forgot lol Link to comment
ajmckay Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Thanks for all the replies! I'll try to answer all the questions. Also this is a reefer 350. The torch cannot touch it because of the flow. I just changed carbon when I did a water change 4 days ago. The skeleton was clean white, no stuff in it. I don't dose, and I haven't tested alk in awhile, I just checked it and its low @ 6 dkh. I use HW Reefer salt which mixes to 9 dkh. I removed it just in case. If it was an infection, are my other euphyllia at risk? Did you already toss it? Did you at least smell it... You'll know if it's an infection it will smell horrible. If it just smells fishy then it probably isn't an infection. Can't really tell by the picture IMO, though it looks like there's still some flesh left (work blocked the picture in my earlier post). As for the susceptibility of other euphyllia (if it's an infection) I can't say for sure if it's a risk to other corals but it wouldn't hurt to do everything you can to prevent damage to other corals as it seems infections are more likely when there's damage. As for the alk, 6 dKH is low, but not horrible... I still think that if there were an alk swing that other corals would be affected too though... Maybe a combination of things? Link to comment
Tamberav Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Aw, it could have recovered from a bare white skeleton imo. It grows back from tiny fragments inside the head, kind of impressive what they can recover from. Ah well. Link to comment
PDR Posted February 6, 2016 Author Share Posted February 6, 2016 Yea, I probably tossed it a little premature, but I only have 1 tank atm and didn't want to risk my other coral. Surprisingly this is the first coral I have lost. Link to comment
BuddhaReef Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 Do you have a peppermint shrimp? Link to comment
PDR Posted February 6, 2016 Author Share Posted February 6, 2016 Do you have a peppermint shrimp? No. I also forgot to mention I do have a flame angel, but I have never seen him show any interest in my coral. Not saying it couldn't have been him, but I work from home in the same room as the tank, so he would had to have been very sneaky... Link to comment
PDR Posted February 9, 2016 Author Share Posted February 9, 2016 Well whatever it is has moved to my yr old torch, 2 yr old frogspawn, and I think Duncan..... Link to comment
Newstead Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Darn sounds like brown jelly . Link to comment
PDR Posted February 9, 2016 Author Share Posted February 9, 2016 Darn sounds like brown jelly . That's what I had originally thought but I haven't seen any evidence of it. Also besides lps, does brown jelly effect any other types of coral? Link to comment
Newstead Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 I had it it appear on an acan that was tipped into the sand. I was lucky to find it early. Took it out in a bowl, gently blew the dissolving heads off with a baster and sucked the yuck out. Then gave it a mild povidone dip. It slowly recovered. Link to comment
ajmckay Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 Well whatever it is has moved to my yr old torch, 2 yr old frogspawn, and I think Duncan..... Yeah that doesn't sound good... http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/360096-brown-jelly-on-e-divisa-frogspawn-must-save-this-coral/ Link to comment
PDR Posted February 12, 2016 Author Share Posted February 12, 2016 Well I lost my hammer, torch, Duncan, frogspawn and acans. All parameters test out well. After inspecting them closer I do believe it to be brown jelly or something similar. The only other lps in the tank are 2 galaxies and 1 alveopora, both appear unaffected. Unrelated I also lost an anthias Not a good week for the 350 Link to comment
Newstead Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 Oh, I am so sorry. It is so frustrating when something like this happens. Link to comment
PDR Posted February 16, 2016 Author Share Posted February 16, 2016 Man, I just can't catch a break. First my bubble tip decided to move and sit right on my most expensive rfa, then I noticed whatever was effecting my corals has spread to my other lps, and to top it off apparently I didn't seat the screen perfectly in one corner after feeding and I come home to one of my pink bar gobies on the carpet Link to comment
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