Coral care help

[TXSea]

I have a torch coral with 5 heads but one of them is dying I think. It has a brownish gel looking stuff coming off of it although it does somewhat open but it looks weaker than the other heads. Anything that I can do to reverse the issue?

[Louis]

Hey there, the brown stringy stuff is waste. This occurs from time to time and you may even notice that polyp a bit "deflated" during the process. This isn't a bad sign so long as the coral still looks normal.

Have a great night!
Louis

[Bill S]

Hmm. Not to disagree with Louis...

Did it get damaged at any point? If so, they can quickly "jelly" and die. If it's been damaged (and not just pooping), I've found that they "like" a dip in Lugol's for about 10 or 15 minutes. 10 drops per liter, AS I RECALL (research this).

[Louis]

Bill is right, jelly is completely different.
(http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.coralscience.org/articles/pathology/ciliates/figure1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.coralscience.org/main/articles/pathology-2/ciliates&usg=__rOlRGBTVl3hF2073tvJ30AO-MDA=&h=316&w=434&sz=150&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=tmk-iyxKPYiYIM:&tbnh=144&tbnw=223&ei=QucTTpOtNsjr0gGMxcCwBw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dbrown%2Bjelly%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfi refox-a%26hs%3DfqK%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1920%26bih%3D951%26tbm%3Disch% 26prmd%3Divnsfd&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=1008&vpy=202&dur=7208&hovh=191&hovw=263&tx=166&ty=96&page=1&ndsp=53&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0)http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-06/eb/images/image006.jpg
This is brown jelly, happens when a polyp is on its way out.

http://www.meades.org/fish/fish_2007.1/trumpet_coral_poo.jpg
This is a small pic but shows coral expelling waste.

[Louis]

I'm hoping what you've described is waste rather than jelly, but a dip is always helpful.

I think you picked up some Reef Dip the other day if memory serves me correct. To use it take a gallon of water from your tank, add a capful (5ml) of Reef Dip and mix. Then place your coral in the dip for 5-10 minutes. Dosage may be repeated or increased as you feel necessary.

HTH!

Louis

Edit: Lugol's Dip is 40 drops for 1 gallon

[Big_Pun]

I agree with Bill. sounds like it's dying also if that brown gel gets on any other coral it will kill it.

[TXSea]

I'm hoping what you've described is waste rather than jelly, but a dip is always helpful.

I think you picked up some Reef Dip the other day if memory serves me correct. To use it take a gallon of water from your tank, add a capful (5ml) of Reef Dip and mix. Then place your coral in the dip for 5-10 minutes. Dosage may be repeated or increased as you feel necessary.

HTH!

Louis

Edit: Lugol's Dip is 40 drops for 1 gallon

Actually, I didn't pick any up but I can pick some up on my lunch break today. I know I may have lost the one head but do not want to lose the others so I will need to pick some up I guess. BTW where does the jelly disease come from and what causes it?

[Bill S]

OK, Louis your dose confirms mine (qt vs liter is close enough).

It's not always a disease. The most common cause is injury. This can be from dropping, a fish hitting it, or from too much flow, which tears the flesh. Sometimes it's one of those and a subsequent infection or infestation. Planaria often take advantage of this. Lugols will kill this. These corals and bubbles sometimes actually seem to "like" a Lugols dip.

[TXSea]

Okay so I pick up some Loguls from Louis' store. I did a 15 minute dip and put the coral back. I definitely lost one head but that stuff got very stringy and mucousy. I don't know what that indicates other than I'm worried about the strands landing on the other heads. I siphoned out a good bit of dead coral and mucous. Should I do another dip tomorrow??

[Bill S]

When you remove from the dip, you should GENTLY shake the coral - you don't want to damage the heads, but you want anything loose to fall off. Look them over tomorrow. If they still don't look happy, you can repeat the dip - but every other or third day would be better. How do the other heads look?

[TXSea]

Well.... the other heads looked happy and fine. The infected one is officially dead now. I was able to siphon off most of the "jelly"/dead coral pieces. There was still some stringy stuff on it and was touching the other heads but didn't seem to affect them at least from what I can tell. I guess I will do a dip on Friday just to make sure it helps the other heads.

[TXSea]

Update... I have lost another head as it is dying as well. It looks like another one is starting to also. Should I try and sever the dying heads from the healthy ones? I'm sure it will migrate to the healthy ones. I moved the coral to a higher flow area to help try and blow off any bits of jelly that may be in or on the coral. I did a Loguls dip yesterday for 15 minutes but dunno if it really helped.

[ErikH]

I would put it in an area of low flow as the high flow could cause further damage. What type of lighting do you have? Might need new bulbs, or your water quality may be suspect.

[TXSea]

Yeah... I was more worried about the jelly stuff spreading to the other heads. I had read somewhere to increase flow to help knock the jelly off of the coral. What about the heads though? Should I break them off the coral? The lighting are 1 power compact 10k daylight bulb and 1 blue actinic 10k bulb. They are brand new bulbs. I changed them out about 2 weeks or so ago.

[ErikH]

What sized tank is this on? What is your temp? PCs tend to run hot. You could frag the heads, just cut as far down on the branches as possible.

[FireWater]

I would frag off any heads showing signs of disease or possible damage. Like Erik said, just cut as low as you can go on the stalk/branch.

[TXSea]

Temp is about 81 and its a 29 gallon BC. Is it fairly easy to frag off?

[TXSea]

I went ahead fragged off all but 2 heads. Super horrible smell from the dead ones! I nipped a little off of the last 2 healthy heads but I don't think it'll die but who knows at this point sheesh. My frogspawn is super happy though, the biggest I have ever seen it and I think it is growing pretty fast.

[Bill S]

High flow might damage them, especially as they are stressed. These corals can usually be fragged by cutting only the hard (dead) part of the coral, and this way you don't damage healthy colonies. I would be concerned that you have pests. Did you see anything on the bottom of the container after the Lugols treatment? Like planaria?

[TXSea]

Well.... I didn't really look for pests to be honest. This whole issue developed from me bumping a head against a live rock piece thus creating damage and before I knew it, there was jelly forming. I did cut 3 out my 5 heads off my coral that had jelly sticking to them. I moved the torch to the bottom of my tank in the sand bed area and there is a nice light flow there. The 2 heads I saved seem to be pretty happy and pretty much came right out after I put them back in the tank. I did not see any brown jelly around them at all. I did accidentally nip one of them but it seems to be unphased. I am going to do another Lugol's dip tomorrow to encourage healing. I hope they make it. If they don't, this was one big costly mistake. Thanks for all the help you all have provided. I will post a pic on this page tomorrow when the tank is "awake".

[TXSea]

Well upon checking the last two heads this morning before work, they have brown jelly starting on them as well. I think I lost this battle. I will just have to get a new one but not for a while I think til I check my parameters of my water and stuff. Last time I checked them, everything checked out ok.

[stoneroller]

Personally I don't like temps over about 79. Strange things seem to start happening...