Torch coral may be dying

[Mr_Cool]

I have a 55 gallon tank that I decided to make into a reef. The fish I have in the tank are a pair of black and white striped damsels, a blue damsel, a yellow damsel, a pair of green chromises, and a true percula clown. I am new to this, so I started slow, and bought a green tipped torch coral.

It seemed like it was doing great for the first coulple of days. But, last weekend, I added a few more pieces of live rock. I must have bumped the torch (or maybe the rock it was on) because it fell in the tank. I caught it before it hit the deep sand bed (about 6 in.), but it may have hit a piece of rock first. There were about 8 heads that were all opened really nice, but the next day, only the middle 3 would open. Apparently, the outer heads all died because they haven't opened since and had a mucus like covering on them. The inner 3 still looked really good, though.

Today, however, one of the remaining heads looked shriveled up and really didn't want to open much. The other 2 looked good, but not great. I just don't know if this is a bad sign. Could hitting a rock on the fall over the weekend kill some of the heads? And, if so, could the other heads feel the effects of the hit a few days after the others?

I know you're going to ask for water parameters. Unfortunately, I can't give you to much. I know that my Ph is around 8.3 during the day. (I know it probably drops at night, but I have never tested it in the morning.) Salinity is around 1.024, I think. My hydrometer says its 1.021 or so, but I've had it tested with a refractometer (I think that's what its called) and it showed about .003 ppt higher. At any rate, I don't know if the salinity would cause this problem, though. My nitrites and amonia were at zero last time I checked (when I added the torch), but the nitrates were a little high. I forget exactly, but I was told that it should not be a problem.

I run an Emperor 400 without the bio wheels, but with a little carbon, and a Remora skimmer. I also have two small power heads for circulation. For lighting I have two 55 watt power compacts and 40 watt blue actinic because I like the look of it at night. The torch is near the top of the tank, so I wouldn't think the lighting is the problem, either.

Any thoughts? Here's the other problem, though. I teach school, and we're back already! So, I don't have a lot of spare time anymore. I know that you all wil have some thoughts on this. Please let me know what you think. I will do my best to help you help me, but this may be a bit of bad timing. Still, any suggestions you may have will be appreciated.

[Louis]

Hey Mike,

I think your torch coral may have been damaged due to the fall. Usually when they get banged up they close, if the damage is bad enough they will melt into a mucous ball and die off. Each head is an individual so one dying does not necessarily mean the whole colony will die.

Nitrates should be as close to 0 as possible in a reef tank but IME Nitrates < 5ppm should not be a cause for alarm (Just water changes and husbandry tweeks ie. feeding schedule, filter cleaning, etc). Your nitrates a week ago were at .5ppm.

My advice would be to continue weekly maintenance consisting of 25% water changes. Make sure during this time you're cleaning out your skimmer for maximum performance.

If you have some time I'd like to test your water again to see if anything has changed.

Louis

[Mr_Cool]

Any other thoughts on this? Anyone?!

The coral died today. With my busy schedule now, I don't think I'll be doing anything more with the tank for a while. But, I would still like some thoughts if ANYONE else has any.

Does everyone agree with Louis? Did I kill it when I bumped it? Or, is there something wrong with my tank setup? I guess I forgot to mention that I have some snails (cerith, astrea, and nassarius; about 50 total), about 15 blue leg hermit crabs, and a coral banded shrimp in there, too. The fish and clean-up crew are all doing great.

Should I take the coral out? Or, can I just leave it in there? Will it serve as a vehicle for filtration like live rock does? Just looking for answers in case I give it a try later.

[CD]

Does everyone agree with Louis?


Chances are pretty high that this was the case. Your water params don't seem to be the problem (although I didn't see that you posted your tank temp.?) so the damage from the fall is most likely the culprit.



Should I take the coral out? Or, can I just leave it in there?


YIKES - NOOOO!!!! >_< Get it out of your tank ASAP - Rule of thumb - Never leave a dead animal of any kind in your tank. Dead, decaying animals in tank = big trouble...possibly even a full crash of your entire display. :o

W.

[BadPig]

But, last weekend, I added a few more pieces of live rock.

This could have increased your ammonias, nitrites, and nitrates. Did you check them after you added the live rock? Sometimes the liverock will have die off from transport or if it is not fully cured will add to your bio load.

[jaded]

Its hard to comment without current testing. Badpig is right... adding LR could easily elevate your levels. Test your water again.

another suggestion would be to run some fresh carbon. When you bumped the coral it may have released chemical defenses (among other things) into the water that carbon can help to get rid of.

Post your test results!!!

[demodiki]

It sounds like your torch may have developed brown jelly disease.

[Mr_Cool]

Thanks for the responses. It's Saturday, so I have some time to spend on the tank. I took the dead torch out of there as soon as I got home yesterday.

WENDY: You're right? "YIKES!" Boy did it stink! I washed it all off and am now soaking it in a bucket of bleach and water. (Is it okay to put it back in just for decoration once everything is cleaned up?) When I washed it off, it looked like a bunch of brown junk was in there. So, maybe DEMOKIKI is right. Is that what "Brown Jelly Disease" looks like? By the way, my water temp. is usually between 79 and 82 degrees.


Another thought here: When I took it out after it was dead, one of the 2 emerald crabs (that I forgot to tell you all about) was hanging on to it. Could the crab have done something to kill it?

BADPIG: The live rock that I added was about 4 small peices that should have been pretty well cured. When I got it, I let it circulate in a rubbermaid tub for two full weeks, and changed the water in the tub after the first week. I didn't have the tank water tested afterwards, though. I didn't know it could be a problem. Truth is, my test kit is old, and I don't think it's very acurrate anyway. I guess I need to get a new one. I had been getting my water tested a LFS. (How often should the water be tested anyway?!)

I did a weekly water change today. I'm thinking I should wait until tomorrow to test the water? Any other thoughts? Thanks again for the responses!

[demodiki]

Did it look like this? Heads on the top right?

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/862/picture3007om.th.jpg (http://img374.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture3007om.jpg)

[CD]

WENDY: You're right? "YIKES!" Boy did it stink! I washed it all off and am now soaking it in a bucket of bleach and water. (Is it okay to put it back in just for decoration once everything is cleaned up?) When I washed it off, it looked like a bunch of brown junk was in there. So, maybe DEMOKIKI is right. Is that what "Brown Jelly Disease" looks like? By the way, my water temp. is usually between 79 and 82 degrees.


OK - first off, if it were brown jelly disease you would've noticed a yucky brown jelly like substance around the heads of the torch before it died. What you most likely saw, was the dying creature itself...it DOES look pretty nasty when a torch or anemone type creature dies...it looks like mush...kind of a phlegm consistancy. :sick
Your tank temp is in an acceptable range...no problems there.
Since you cured the rock in a separate tub, I doubt seriously there was any spikes in your params from the rock.
If you want to put the skeleton back in the tank for "decoration" you can do this, but make SURE all the dead tissue remains are gone...you'll probably end up growing algae on it if you just have it in the tank with nothing living on it. How about glueing some zoanthid polyps to the skeleton? That could look really neat if there were a bunch of branches...?
If you are worried about your water param test kit being too old, you will want to consider replacing it as soon as you can. Once a tank is stable, it's not really necessary to be checking it all the time, but for instances like this (death in the tank), it is quite the necessity. I check all our params only about once a month if everything looks fine and all the equipment is operating correctly...when we have problems, there have been times when I've checked it daily.
Personally, I would go out tomorrow and at least get tests for ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites...at the very least (I know the test kits are not exactly "inexpensive", but they are SO worth it - if you have the funds, I would recommend a master test kit - includes all tests). Check you tank for those params, and do another water change accordingly. ;)

W. :)

[Mr_Cool]

DEMOKIKI: It looked just like that. The tentalces were sort of deflated, and looked kind of slimy. It was like they pulled back in as far as they could, and then just lost any thickness they had. Then, a film-like material covered the head were the tentacles would normally come out. I didn't see brown jellylike substance aroud the healthy heads, though. I think WENDY is right. I think it was just the creature dying.

Thanks for the input, guys and gals!