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View Full Version : Frogspawn/Hammer/Torch HELP!


weeftard
03/08/2010, 12:25 PM
i have had all three of these in my 55 gallon tank for the last month all spaced out away from the other. Under 250w mh. My readings are all in check, 0 amonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate. ph 8.2 dkh 9 cal. 500. I use a wet dry filter, run carbon in a sock, have a prizm skimmer running wet. A h.o.b. penguin 350 to tumble my cheato. A phosphate reactor running off a small maxi jet. Heres my problem I have been losing a small amount of tissue slowly over time but it has cost me 3 heads of branching hammer that had been hurt during shipping, and got the brown jelly crap, my walled frogspawn that was beautiful is almost gone. Now my torch and branching frogspawn show tissue recieding slowly. What could be wrong?? I use RO water. Salinity is 1.026. im going nuts over here trying to figure this out. tank has been running for 2 months with all other corals doing great zoo's growing, leathers looking great. Xenia going great. I have 4 fish 2 false percs. pseduocromis and lawnmower blenny. I do NOT feed heavy. Im open to any opinions/ sugestions im in need of help! thanks in advance guys,

Adam_T
03/08/2010, 12:35 PM
Ouch...I can't provide you any information regarding your problem, but I can't wait to see if anyone else has an answer. I am stumped and these are some of my favorite corals!

Gtstricky
03/08/2010, 12:44 PM
Hmmm... I am trying to understand your time table.

When did you first add water to your tank? What did you add and when? How long did it cycle?

w16227
03/08/2010, 12:47 PM
First step is to get the testing verified. What kits are you using and do you have a good local fish store that can run the tests for you?

Are you feeding them? Might not be the cause, but some selcon enriched mysis squirted into the heads may help strengthen them.

Parameters look good - but are they stable? Try and take a day and so several measures. Like - when lights 1st come on, midday, lights ready to go out and nighttime (several hours after lights out).

Nothing is your test results seems bad for stonies, but they like stability as well. Same thing for temperature. A swing of a few degrees should be fine, but you may see issues if you tank is constantly changing from 76 to 84.

Also look for predators at night. Like 2-4 hours after lights out. You may have a crab or other hitchhiker snacking.


More questions to answer - how much live rock in the tank? What are you using the wet/dry filter for (not generally needed in a reef tank with a skimmer and live rock)? How is the flow in the area of the hammer/torch (they do not like high flow)?

How long were the corals in the tank before observing the tissue issues?

good luck

weeftard
03/08/2010, 01:56 PM
gtstricky- tank cycled for 4 weeks with about 16 lbs uncured rock and about 50 lbs of cured/base rock cycle went as to plan. Amonia spike was detected, and i watched for nitrite then nitrate after it was done the clowns went in and about a week after that zoa's xenia and a small kenya tree. Then maybe a week later came the walled frogspawn it did great for about three weeks by itself with no other lps. It opened larger then it did in the store befor i bought it. The problems seem to come after the addition of the branching hammer that the guy at my lfs roughed up a bit i guess not knowing how fragile the tissue is. woah just noticed your in kennet square! your not that far from me im in plymouth meeting!

and w- it wont hurt to get my water check by a second source. i started out feeding my first frogspawn arcti-pods just squirted out over top of them and it did catch and eat them. maybe i'll try the mysis for the branching frogspawn thats still hangin in there. they are in a moderate flow just enought to keep the tenticles moving back and forth not getting beat up. i can just see the white under where there was tissue at the stalks of the base i'll try and get pics some time so you can see what im looking at. Im just at a total loss, would nudis or slugs be doing the damage at night??

returnofsid
03/08/2010, 04:03 PM
What type of flow are these particular corals in? They don't like a lot of flow. Lots of flow will push their flesh up against their sharp skeleton, ripping their flesh. Also, if these are directly under your 250MH, I'd suggest shading them a lil' They don't require high light, and do better in moderate lighting. Put them low in the tank, in a low flow area. See if this helps.

weeftard
03/08/2010, 07:32 PM
well i did have the walled frogspawn up about half way in the tank and in a spot of moderate flow, i hate admiting a newb mistake but the shoe fits that had to be it, i just moved the branching frog to the bottom corner almost out of flow but just a sligt movement. I moved the hammer to a shaded part behind a rock to try to cut the flow im just curious to see how the will react in these places. i cant beleive i over looked the obvious but i am no longer discouraged with this species. my torch is still looking nice i'll take it day by day. I appreciate every ones input.

kingfisher62
03/08/2010, 07:39 PM
Another possibility is your leathers could be waging chemical warfare on your LPS's. You could start running a filter with some carbon and see if this helps!

star27624
03/08/2010, 07:47 PM
If you had brown jelly disease come in from the newest addition it could very easily have spread to the other pieces of euphyllia in your tank. I have had some success treating brown jelly disease with vitamin C dosing. I have also heard that revive coral dip helps with it, but I personally haven't tried it on any euphyllias.

weeftard
03/09/2010, 06:42 AM
my leather shows no sign of stress and is well out of sweeper range, i do have ricodia about 4 inchs away its a little garden with maybe 5 polyps, on the other side,about the same distance, is a zoa garden with eagle eyes, inside outs, fire and ice and radioactive greens.

The thing i was very worried about is that the brown jelly has spread, although i thought it needed a break in the tissue to find a way in. and there are no signs of tissue trama on the corals in question only slow recession. No tears in the heads themselfs. I fear if this is the case........im screwed.

Beaun
03/09/2010, 07:51 AM
I would wait a few days and see if it starts to work itself out. If not, then you might want to start taking more action to try and fix it.


My sister lives in Jennersville just south on rt. 1 from Kennet.

weeftard
03/09/2010, 08:44 AM
I'll give it untill friday. Its when i usually go to the lfs. I'll check out v/c and revive. i'll update at lunch with the changes i made last night see if any thing changed

zachfishman
03/09/2010, 11:00 AM
Since you run carbon and do regular WCs I don't suspect chemical warfare from your softies as an issue. Make sure that no powerheads are pointed directly at your corals (even in low flow, direct current still has a shearing effect).

Also, during my stead at a small aquarium in FL, we had a very large and healthy FS begin losing tissue. It turned out that the quartz filter on the MH above it had shattered off, while the bulb itself remained intact and working. The tank was being blasted by extreme UV. Replacing the bulb fixed everything.

weeftard
03/09/2010, 12:17 PM
Well heres an update, the branching frog that i moved low and out of flow showed better extention! but more tissue loss at the base moving upward towads the head it almost looks like its peeling up. the walled im pretty sure is a loss, its kinda crazy to think i formed an attatchment to it in such a short time. torch looks the same, healthy good extention. my other branching hammer has lost one of its heads almost completely it folded in on itself. im kinda thinking that i may just be pushing too much light 2 250's on either side of the brace with new bulbs. and one 38w act. bulb. Maybe just a poor combo of light, and flow. As far as my husbandry if it was ever brought into question lol i do 5 gal every tuesday, but i noticed i had a small amount of nitrate yesterday maybe 2ppm so i did a ten gallon w/c. Like i stated in my original post i feel minimaly, so maybe i had a snail go. i did feed all the corals with a small dropper of arcti-pods at lunch. well see what happens.