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tiffmail

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Hello! I bought a torch coral (I think) on Saturday. 55 gallon, salinity 1.022, ph 8.2, nitrate 0, nitrite 5.0, Coral Life 10k. (Please let me know if you need any other info.)

Two of the five stems didn't open and one of the two completely fell off when I was at work. I phoned the fish store and they said that I needed to cut off the other stalk because they said that it could be contagious.

Does anyone have experience with this? Feedback...please help! 8O [/img]
 

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Anonymous

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How long has your tank been set up? Your nitrite readings should be zero.
 

tiffmail

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It's been setup since December of last year. Oops, I may have flip flopped the numbers. NO2 is 0 and NO3 is 5.0.
 
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Anonymous

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Nitrate of 5 is fine.

Contagious? You have only had the coral in your tank a few days...sometimes part of the coral doesn't survive the acclimation process...I'd wait things out a few days, and see what happens.

I'm sure others will chime in here soon, but that's my initial thought.
 
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Anonymous

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How is it doing? How did you acclimate the coral? Your SG is a bit low and I wonder if the LFS's SG was much higher which could shock the torch. I also test the LFS water for SG when I buy something. The best-in-town LFS around here keeps their water at 1.029! I keep mine at 1.026 or so.

IME they are really sensitive to water conditions until they acclimate and will "sulk" if things aren't to their liking. What's your lighting like?

Did the polyp that ejected itself slime over and die or did it just bail off?
 

tiffmail

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Hello! Thanks for your message.

It’s “ok”. One of the five completely fell off and I siphoned out the debris last night, but the second stalk looks just like how the other one did before I left for work yesterday. All of the strands are sunken in and the top of the live rock is visible. I didn’t break it off like the LFS suggested because Chris said to give it some time and it also seemed slightly barbaric. The other three seem to be “ok”.

I'm working on the SG. I raised it to 1.0225 last night with a small water change. I just received a coral book that I ordered yesterday and read that corals prefer at least 1.026. I'll slowly raise it over the next couple of weeks. Do you know what role the raised SG plays in fish being more susceptible to parasites? We were keeping it low because we heard that fish do a little better with lower salinity.

The coral was acclimated rather quickly because there was a hole in the bag and I didn't see the water leaking out until I took the bag out of my car. It was quickly transferred to another plastic bag that was left floating in the tank for 20 minutes. Then I added some of the tank's water into the bag and after another 10 minutes took the coral out of the bag (discarded the old water) and placed it about mid tank, six or seven inches below the fluval output hose (the hose points to the front of the tank).

I have a 48” Coralife Lunar Aqualight with 4x65 watt compact fluorescents (two 65 watt 10k and two 65 watt blue). http://www.esuweb.com/cardfile.asp?Item ... ionship=36

Actually, the polyp was really slimy when I took it out of the bag; I thought it was strange and actually thought that I might be accidentally holding onto the polyp itself. I did notice long strands of dark brown slime that was attached to the back of the rock. I also saw some other brown strands floating in the tank the night before the first polyp fell off.

I didn't think about testing the SG at the LFS. That's a good idea. I’ll do that the next time I consider buying a coral. I think I’m all set for now and want to invest in the ones that I have.

Thanks for your help.
 
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Anonymous

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No problem, glad its doing better for you, it could be just plain stressed out, or have some sort of infected tissue. The other polyps are okay? The borwn jelly could be a disease, or it could be the stressed animal loosing zoozanthelle (sp).

As far as the SG, lower SG can help fish with regard to parasites as some bugs cant take the hyposalinity but if you keep coral you must have a higher SG because it drastically effects them. ;) If you are worried about bringing parasites into the tank, quarantine new fishes and that becomes a non-problem.

An easy way to raise your SG is to use add saltwater as your topoff water, rather than fresh water.

BTW slow drip acclimation is always a good idea if you can do it that way-of course a hole in the bag can cramp that idea!

A cheap drip setup for future consideration: A container of some kind for tank water (I use a 2 qt pitcher); 3-4 ft of airline tubing, a screw type airline valve to control the drip rate, plastic clothes pins and if you want to be fancy get the airline kit that has the suction cup holders for sticking the airline tubing to your container.

Put the new coral/fish in its bag into a bucket, use the clothespins to pin the top of the bag up to the top of the bucket. Fill the container w/tank water, set it above the bucket with the new coral like on a table, run airline from it (use either the suction cups or clothespins to hold the airline in the container) to the bucket, put the valve on the end, make sure its open ;) and give a lil inhale to start the suction. That way you can drip it slowly, and if the bag overflows no harm done.
 

tiffmail

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Yes, they are doing better. Thanks. My heart sank when I saw the little polyps dropping off of the first one. 8O

I do have a small QT tank, but that’s another story. I bought an Angel two weeks ago and two days after I brought him home, he got a small case of Ich. We treated him and haven’t seen any white spots on him or any of the other fish in the QT tank for two weeks. When could he be moved into the display tank or did him contracting Ich condemn him to a life in the small tank?

Thanks for the tips on the drip system. I will definitely try that in the future.

Also, what level SG do you shoot for when topping off the tank?
 
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Anonymous

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Do a search on Ich here on RDO, and also a great place for info is:

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/

you'll see what others have done, it's been so long since I had a marine case I couldn't tell ya for sure (crosses fingers).

But I do know two weeks isn't enough time to be sure. Ich goes through a free swimming stage when it reproduces and even though you don't see it on the fish it is still there and could break out again.

I'd keep it isolated for at least 60 days, 90 would be better...it's easier than trying to catch a sick fish in a reef tank.

I'd SLOWLY raise the SG over the course of a week to 1.026-1.027 and keep it in that area.
 

tiffmail

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Hello. Well, the other one did fall off :cry: , but the rest of them seem to be fine :).

Do you feed your torch coral? If so, what, when and how do you feed it? If you don't mind me asking, what other kinds of coral do you have in your tank?

Thanks!
 
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Anonymous

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No slime/recession on the other polyps? That's good it should recover.

I feed my LPS, Ricordia and Hydnophora a combination of one or more types of meaty foods like squid, mysis shrimp, scallops and regular shrimp (ground up) which I soak mixture of Selcon vitamins and Cyclopeeze several times a week. I also hatch out baby brine several times a week. I pour the slurry into a fine fish net then rinse the stuff off with tank water. I use a big bore (large diameter) irrigation syringe that I got from my vet's office to feed.

I have a mixed bag of a reef tank: Ricordia, Hydnophora, frog spawn, club finger coral, favites moon coral, torch corals, candy canes, tons-o-Xenia, several types of palyozoas (sp), leather coral, encrusting and upright gorgonians, green star polyps, an understanding Significant Other and an empty bank account ;)
 
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Anonymous

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I can help with the ich...bought a yellow tang a couple months ago from an e-retailer, and of course, it had ich.

Did a lot of research on products etc, and ended up using kick ich. Worked awesome. It is a 13 day treatment cycle, but attacks the ich during its free swimming cycle. This cycle lasts between 3-5 days in which the parasite needs to find a host. In the 13 day cycle of kick ich, you are basically hitting this cycle at least 2 times.

Im attaching an awesome article on ich, hope it works lol
 

tiffmail

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Hello! Well, three of the five branches were doing well. I lost one last Sunday and the other a few days later. When I got home today, the remaining three were doing well and then all of a sudden...after adding in their weekly vitamins and calcium...poof...one of the corals started throwing up brown stuff. I looked it up and it appears to be a "Zooxanthellae release".

Lawdawg - do you have any suggestions for me?

Has anyone else had any experience with a coral doing a "Zooxanthellae release"?

Thanks!
 

tiffmail

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Hi Chris,

I added the following:

Coral-Vite
Strontium & Molybdenum
B-Ionic Calcium Buffer System #1 Alkalinity & #2 Calcium
Iodine

I read that the release might have happened because the coral is "stressed". I don't know about you, but this coral is stressing me out!

Thanks!
 
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Anonymous

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Tiff,

If you are doing regular water changes, you don't need to supplement Strontium & Molybdenum or Iodine. The Coral-Vite...I dunno...I guess others can speak to that.

I think you will find that many here only supplement the two part calcium/alkalinity solution, and are doing well with just that. How is the coral doing this morning?
 
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Anonymous

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I agree with Chris, as long as you are doing water changes, you really shouldn't supplement unless you test for deficiencies. For example, I dose Iodine, but I also test for it and adjust the dosage accordingly. I have a lot of things in the tank that use it (Xenia, anybody want some Xenia??? ;) ) , and have a skimmer that could "suck the fangs out of a cobra" which I've read/noticed can affect that level.

I don't know what Coral-vite is supposed to do so I can't comment on that but I will tell you in this hobby, they try and sell you "miracles in a bottle". Do not buy into that mentality! It's a quick way for you to be separated from your money with dubious results for the tank.

I've read good things about Bionic, but are you needing to supplement for that? Test your levels first! If you aren't having a PH/KH/Alk problem save your time and money. I dose Kalkwasser for that myself, but again I have a ton of stonies that use that element and test the water weekly.

As far as the Torch, they do that when they are stressed. It may recover, time will tell.

What we all do as reefkeepers is strive for is stability in the tank, and that's what that coral needs right now. Stable SG, stable parameters for the water, etc. Time is most important, next to patience here. We all go through a learning curve Tiff, and you are well on your way!

Keep asking questions!
 

tiffmail

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Hi Chris and Lawdawg,

Thanks for your help. You two are the best!

The people at the LFS recommended like four or five different supplements and I went home with the Strontium & Molybdenum, Bionic and the Coral Vite. I guess I’ll just use the Bionic from here on out. Since I bought the corals, I’ve been doing a 10% water change every week. The SG is at 1.023 now and I’m working on increasing that really slowly. Hopefully, I should get to at least 1.025 by next week.

I’m going to the fish store today because I was going to get a few more snails and hermit crabs; I’ll also pick up a calcium and iodine test kit. FYI: I ordered a bottle of Selcon last week.

The coral is doing fine this morning. Strange, but last night all of the polyps disappeared, it opened its mouth, threw up and then the polyps started filling up again about an hour later. Now, this morning they are all fully extended and look fine. This guy is driving me crazy.

When I get the SG up, I’d like to buy some of your Xenia. I was actually shopping for some frags just yesterday.

Thanks again!
Tiff
 
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Anonymous

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Sorry Tiff, I actually just fragged out 25-5 colonies per rock and gave them /traded them to other reefers. I don't like to ship Xenia as it gets super pissy.
 

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