Torch Coral Problem

[b2bwest]

I bought a torch coral and candy cane coral about 7 weeks ago. Both were doing great and then about 6-7 days ago my torch coral would only open up very slightly. It's not as colorful and looks like it is about to die. 1 stock doesn't open at all. The candy cane coral is doing very well.
The torch sits in the sand at the bottom of a 180 gallon tank. There are three 250 W MHs and four 96 W CF (dual acintic). What quality tests out fine including calcium - but I went ahead and did a 35 gallon water change just in case. Green algae is growing on my glass daily, but I'm not picking up nitrates and I use a phosphorous resin in a canister filter along with carbon.
For flow, I have a powerhead aimed at the front glass near the coral so that it bounces off a bit and moves the tenticals around a bit.
I've noticed that the torch opens up the most in the past 6-7 days when only the acintic lights are on. Once the MHs come on, it closes up more. Are my lights too powerful??
No fish seems to be bothering it. I have a Hippo Tang, Yellow Tang, 3 clowns (that say up at the top), a coral banded shrimp, coral beauty angel, mandrin dragonet, and snails.
I bought the torch as a LFS and they told me it didn't need to be fed. I do use frozen brine about every 3 days and have, on occassion, fed live brine.
The candy cane coral sits on a ledge about 2/3 from the top - and like I said is doing well.
Any thoughts?
Brian

 

[meowzer]

very interesting....I had a coral that was beautiful...one day it didn't open very much...the next day one side seemed to be gone

so I lugols dipped it....the next day it was all gone

everything else was, and still is great...
so I have no clue...LOL...sorry...
Do you have a pic? do you see any icky stuff on it??

 

[b2bwest]

No icky stuff, it looks rather clean. I expected to see some algae or something growning on the part that wasn't opening, but nothing. A microstar was on it tonight.
Sorry, no pic. I left my camera in my desk at work.

 

[meowzer]

Double wierd.......mine was really clean too

then was just an empty stalk.....

 

[b2bwest]

Anyone else have any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[b2bwest]

I just read that tanks with soft corals or leathers are not great for torch corals, hammer corals, or frogspawn. Apparently they "sense" a threat from the torch coral and start chemical warfare. Maybe that's the problem. I have a lot of kenya trees and some sort of green leather coral that is pretty darn big. They are all well away from the torch (because I thought the torch would hurt them) but maybe they are hurting the torch?
I'd give a link on where I read this, but out of respect for SWF I won't because it is a competitor's site.

 

[mr.clownfish]

Originally Posted by b2bwest
http:///forum/post/3271729
Anyone else have any thoughts or suggestions?
i had a torch once with 4 heads. when i bought it the tentacles where long and thin, it looked great. a week in my tank the tentacles grew fat and short. Another week later 2 heads randomly died. the 2 heads stayed for a very long time, but they where still very short and fat. it looked ugly so i traded it at my LFS for 10 bucks credit, i bought it for $50

 

[mr.clownfish]

but i think your problem might be phosphate. i wasnt sure if i had phosphate at the time but i had a very bad hair algae problem. the reason why i never checked if i had phosphate was because i had a thriving xenia colony, xenia is usually the first to die in a tank with phosphate. i think they survived because i was overdosing with coral excel and phytoplankton by KENT. IDK they all died when i moved

 

[gill again68]

I would wonder about maybe the warfare thing someone mentioned back a suggestion ago or so. I have a frogspawn in my 90 and it was all that you would want it to be. I put a tube anemone in below it, far from it being able to touch it, and it shrank up to nothing. I have since moved the FS 2 times and now I think it is liking the new spot. Its coming back to life. Didnt kill any of it but you could tell it was very unhappy. WOW I said all that to say have you tried moving it? Dang to much coffee

 

[spanko]

 

[b2bwest]

Originally Posted by Gill again68
http:///forum/post/3271999
I would wonder about maybe the warfare thing someone mentioned back a suggestion ago or so. I have a frogspawn in my 90 and it was all that you would want it to be. I put a tube anemone in below it, far from it being able to touch it, and it shrank up to nothing. I have since moved the FS 2 times and now I think it is liking the new spot. Its coming back to life. Didnt kill any of it but you could tell it was very unhappy. WOW I said all that to say have you tried moving it? Dang to much coffee

I did try moving it up higher in the tank, but it wouldn't really open at all. I don't know if I have chemical warfare going on, or it doesn't like my 3 X 250 watt MH bulbs. Maybe I should try to move it to a "shady" spot - problem is, there really isn't one with that much light. Maybe I'll move some rock to see if that helps.

 

[mell]

I actually read the same thing somewhere about leathers putting off like a poison in the water that can kill other corals. Maybe that's the problem? I think it said to run carbon to help counteract it.

 

[b2bwest]

Maybe it isn't meant to be it my tank either. Too bad, because I really love the looks of a nice torch or frogspawn.

 

[b2bwest]

Originally Posted by Mell
http:///forum/post/3272152
I actually read the same thing somewhere about leathers putting off like a poison in the water that can kill other corals. Maybe that's the problem? I think it said to run carbon to help counteract it.
Tomorrow I will buy more carbon and load up my two XP canister filters and do a partial water change. If that doesn't do it, it has to be my lights.

 

[xcali1985]

I have a torch with 3 finger leathers surrounding it. 2 things I do. I stop flow when feeding and put food right in front of it. Second I give it lots of flow. It loves to be tossed around. To check and see if your lights are doing it, make a upside down U out of egg crate and place it over it. If it stays open when your MHs are kick on then its the lights. My bet is its something else though.
I did have a kenya tree slime in my tank once it was placed near my torch, it never got touched that I saw of but it could be.
Also FYI my touch has doubled in size and every head I have is spliting right now. Ill post a pic.