Blue Torch Coral

[jcarroll]

Hi! So, I have a blue torch, and it was thriving for the first few weeks or so. There were three different heads on it. About a week ago or so, one of the heads' tentacles went completely back inside of it, and at the same time, the second one's tentacles were just barely out still. About a day or so later, the second one didn't have the tentacles out at all either. The third head, which is also the original head, is still thriving and looking great. So, what happened to the other ones?

55 gallon
PC's, 12000K 65W
Wet/dry
Levels, ph 8.2 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 0 Temp 80
Thanks for any responses!

 

[rappa]

I had that happening to my torch so I gave it a reef dip and that stopped the spreading of whatever it was that was making it die off. I completely lost one head but the dip saved the rest.

 

[shrimpi]

So its not 'infected' or sick looking.. like its disentigrating.. it just retreated?
Are you feeding it? whats your calcium? Did you change the flow at all?

 

[jcarroll]

I've been feeding it brine shrimp. It just had two heads that retreated, the other one is still thriving. I will have to test for my calcium again for an accurate reading. It's not sick looking at all, in fact the remaining head looks great

 

[jcarroll]

So, should I just let it go since the remaining one looks good? Or is there something I should do? Is there a chance that the other two may just be hiding out for a long period of time?

 

[bonebrake]

My frogspawn, which is in the same genus as torch, will do exactly as you described if my alkalinity is on the low side. You may want to check it and make sure it is ok. They need proper calcium and alkalinity levels to build their skeletons.

 

[cgrant]

I have had that happen to a couple of corals, my hammer was showing its skelaton from one corner, i cut the bad part off and been doing fine since, that was when i 1st got it so i think it had something from the lfs?
I also got some free acro's that had burned tips on them from a friend.
I snipped the burned tips off with a good set of wire cutters and after
~3 weeks they were fine.
So when i get new corals and they have burnt tips or a section of it seems to be bad i cut it off, they seem to do fine afterwards.
Plus stuff like this you can usually pick up for really cheap or even free and save it!