Plate corals

[dedwards]

I had a Long Tenacle Plate Coral that I bought about 2 weeks ago. A couple of days ago I noticed some brown grainy stuff on it. I figured it was some left over food or something that it was expelling and never thought twice. Friday I noticed the LTP not expanding like it normally does and looked rather weak, if that's possible in a coral. I turned it around and noticed that about 1/3 of it was missing on the back side. It looked like the brown grainy stuff took over and the LTP started to dissenegrate (sp). I removed it and placed it in a QT tank. My Tongue Coral which is also a LPS is showing this brown stuff. Below is a pic of it. If anyone knows how to treat this let me know.

 

[dedwards]

Another pic

 

[bang guy]

At first glance it looks like detritus. After further review it's looking like the slime trail of some animal like a worm or snail. I'd try using a flashlight in the middle of the night to see if you have a bad hitchhiker.
LT Plates are up there with Green Goniopora as far as success rate.

 

[dedwards]

I am planning on syphoning the brown junk tonight and changing the carbon in my filter. I have never seen any hitchhikers in the tank after dark that I haven't already identified. I have seen snails go close to the tongue coral but they get stung by the tentacles and quickly retreat so I don't really think it's the string from a slimefoot unless it blew into the coral but this is on the opposite side that the majority of water flows across it. I know that I have bristle worms but they are rarely seen. Btw...my clown has been hosting the tongue coral for about 3 weeks now.
If anyone wants to leave their email I can send full sized photos where you can get a better look...the 500x333 size doesn't show much detail

 

[dedwards]

BTW...just to let you know, those pics are of my tongue coral. The long tentacle plate has completely dissolved in my QT. It left a nice skeleton in it's place.
Bang...I think you might be right about the slime foot. I syphoned some of it off last night and it looks more like a slime foot trail that may have been blown into the coral. I saw the clown fish, who hosts the Tongue coral, nipping at another area that had what looked like a slime trail, so this is what I am looking more towards. Just in case, what is the recommended treatment for Brown Jelly?

 

[bang guy]

Carefully remove the coral and use a turkey baster to blow off the jelly in a seperate container. Then do an Iodine dip for about 10 minutes in another container. Use the turkey baster again during the 10 minute dip using the water containing Iodine.