First Coral Death...

[fretfreak13]

-29 gallon with a 20 gallon sump.
-6-7 months old
-28w 50/50 Coralife PCs. I was told it would be enough light, and it was for about four months (coral was extended, eating and healthy). This death was all of a sudden.
*sigh* Huge bummer. My two headded torch coral, which was my showpeice kinda (or at least the coolest coral I had), recently started retracting a lot more than normal. I didn't pay a ton of mind to it cause I was just hoping for the best, plus I have nothing to like...medicate it with or anything. Plus, the phone on my camera doesn't get detail on single corals, so I couldn't post a pic for help here either. Anyways, I was feeding the fish today and decided to spray the torch with the turkey baster I feed out of (it just had water in it).
A bunch of maroonish stringy things came out, and my first thought was "Oh! It was full of ditrius, that's why it was closed!" but then I kept spraying and more kept comming out. Then I got a little worried and scooped up the peices with a net and put the torch in a tupperware container in the tank. It still has tenticles, you can see the green tips retracted into it like it normally would at night, but ALL that red stuff made me think they were dead tenticles.
-So, is it dying/pretty much dead?
-Would leaving it in the tank create an ammonia spike?
-Did me spraying it with the baster release anything cruddy in the water?
-I'm saaad. =(

 

[mr.clownfish]

the same thing started to happen to my torch! i lost one of the heads and the other 2 heads, got covered in hair algae. i almost lost them too but they survived but they dont look as good as b4. =[ i know how u feel it really sux! but it wasnt because of spraying it with water, that just makes it fall apart faster. i spray all my coral when i feed my fish, it cleans out any detritus and extra food out. IMO torch coral are kinda hard to take care of. they need constant water flow. when i changed the direction of my korrila, my torch had much less water flow than before and it went down hill from there, it only took about a week. that was my problem... good luck bro! hope everything works out

 

[fretfreak13]

Thanks, I kinda think it's a gonner though. I'm afraid to leave it in the tank until I find out if a dying coral would affect the rest of the tank. >>

 

[btldreef]

Sorry to hear about your torch. Without a picture it is hard to say whether or not its dying but it does sound that way. I recently lost one head on my torch, none of the others have been affected though. I dont think any harm will be done to your tank by leaving it in there.

 

[fretfreak13]

So I'll take it out of the tupperware container and let it live it's last few days, weeks...whatevers then. I'm very upset about though, I got it for like ten bucks which is a STEAL around here. I'll probably find a nice frogspawn to replace it, but I'm so broke right now with the holidays. Do you think continuing to spray it to remove the parts that have already died would help? I don't have anything to cut the really bad head off, ones better than the other but not much.

 

[btldreef]

Originally Posted by Fretfreak13
http:///forum/post/3194221
So I'll take it out of the tupperware container and let it live it's last few days, weeks...whatevers then. I'm very upset about though, I got it for like ten bucks which is a STEAL around here. I'll probably find a nice frogspawn to replace it, but I'm so broke right now with the holidays. Do you think continuing to spray it to remove the parts that have already died would help? I don't have anything to cut the really bad head off, ones better than the other but not much.
That is a steal! I wish you lived closer, I would frag a head off mine. Anyways, I actually left the dead head on mine because I couldn't get a good angle to cut it. Doesn't seem to be harming the rest of it.

 

[fretfreak13]

lol Thanks. Both heads are kinda "dead", one's just a little worse than the other. What about the turkey baster thing?

 

[btldreef]

Originally Posted by Fretfreak13
http:///forum/post/3194239
lol Thanks. Both heads are kinda "dead", one's just a little worse than the other. What about the turkey baster thing?
Spraying it with the turkey baster might lessen the chance of it healing and coming back, if there is a chance at all. I wouldn't do it, let it deteriorate on its on.

 

[flower]

I never give up on a coral, if it dies the CUC takes care of it. Meny times a "dead" coral may have some tiny part that keeps growing and it becomes like a small frag....it grows anew.
I know its very stressful just to watch it decay day after day till nothing is left...but what can you do, but hope it will recover till the bitter end.

 

[meowzer]

WHOOAAAAA have you looked up brown jelly disease??????

 

[fretfreak13]

Well I removed it from the tupperware container an dit smelled HORRIBLE!!! Before I got back to reading these replies I washed it in the sink and threw the skeleton in the sump. It was a total goner, no more tenticles or anything.
Brown Jelly Disease? I'll look that up, is it contagious? Does it just randomly happen, because I've had this coral for a long time, it was one of the first ones I got and everything else I've put in there since I've diped with Lugols.

 

[meowzer]

I believe it can "just" occur, and I also believe it to be contagious......google it and you will find out all kinds of stuff..

 

[fretfreak13]

Yes ma'am. *googles*