Acans doing good torches not so much

[eastgill]

Hey everyone, I’m beyond confused. I have one small acan colony in my tank and 4 torches, and the acan is visibly growing while the torches all have receding flesh. The acan is lower in the tank (10 gallon cube) so I moved two of the torches down by it and they still don’t seem to be doing well. Flow doesn’t appear to be the problem, as they get gentle to moderate flow (same as acan). If anyone has any tips please feel free to share. I’m also battling hair algae and have been for quite some time, if that impacts the diagnoses here. Thanks for any responses!

 

[Lavey29]

Need more info and white light pics. Torches can be hard in new set ups and need 150 to 250 par. How old is your tank? What are complete parameters?

 

[eastgill]

Need more info and white light pics. Torches can be hard in new set ups and need 150 to 250 par. How old is your tank? What are complete parameters?

Tanks been running for about 11 months. Don’t have a par meter so not sure what that would be, but it’s a reef breeder nano light. From my tests on 11/26- kh-10 (stays between 9 and 10) phosphate- I use api so difficult to tell the color but close to 0, definitely less than .2, if I had to guess probably around .04 considering I use phosguard, nitrate- about 20ppm. I just removed a bunch of hair algae so everything’s upset right now so I’ll take a white light picture later. Thanks

 

[dedragon]

i would get rid of those api test kits, they arent really precise enough to get the job done correctly in most cases. Red sea pro or salifert are my go tos for cheaper test kits, hanna checkers for easy to read results. Torch corals also like higher flow than acans in most cases.

 

[Lavey29]

Tanks been running for about 11 months. Don’t have a par meter so not sure what that would be, but it’s a reef breeder nano light. From my tests on 11/26- kh-10 (stays between 9 and 10) phosphate- I use api so difficult to tell the color but close to 0, definitely less than .2, if I had to guess probably around .04 considering I use phosguard, nitrate- about 20ppm. I just removed a bunch of hair algae so everything’s upset right now so I’ll take a white light picture later. Thanks

How long the torches been in the tank? GHA can hurt them if it starts growing inside a head that is receding. Have you dipped for pests? Need your cal, mag and salinity numbers also. Have you added anything like vibrant for the GHA?

 

[eastgill]

i would get rid of those api test kits, they arent really precise enough to get the job done correctly in most cases. Red sea pro or salifert are my go tos for cheaper test kits, hanna checkers for easy to read results. Torch corals also like higher flow than acans in most cases.

Sounds good, appreciate it!

 

[saltwaterpicaso]

torches about 10 years ago used to flourish in my tanks now its just about impossible, read about torch coral flat worms. every new torch coral i have gotten in the last 5 years has had them im convinced they need to be in a hospital tank for months to make sure they are clean of parasite's I'm also convinced i was getting them on the inside of the skeleton. i have burned threw 1000s on torches thats my next approach everything else in my tank is amazing its only torches and here and there a hammer would get them. i have a hammer now that i treated for 6 months and ive had it 3 years now.

 

[eastgill]

How long the torches been in the tank? GHA can hurt them if it starts growing inside a head that is receding. Have you dipped for pests? Need your cal, mag and salinity numbers also. Have you added anything like vibrant for the

How long the torches been in the tank? GHA can hurt them if it starts growing inside a head that is receding. Have you dipped for pests? Need your cal, mag and salinity numbers also. Have you added anything like vibrant for the GHA?

One has been in the tank for about 4 months and the other for about 2 months. I dipped them for pests when I put them in and haven’t seen anything, and I’ve looked at night with a flashlight several times. Calcium is around 520 and is pretty constant there, don’t have a mag test but I dose 1 ml of all for reef daily to keep my kh at 9-10, and salinity is 1.026. I added some flucanozle a few months back but I’ve done heavy water changes and ran carbon and gfo since then. Thinking about doing another round since I can’t get rid of it to save my life

 

[saltwaterpicaso]

same time frames these were never fast deaths always over the course of several months to a year. i believe a lot of the older torches were sourced locally at frag swaps and local stores so did not have pests. all the newer torches are wild caught and i dont think have had long enough in a system to be sterile. and then all new torches introduced over time got the parasites. they all died the same way slowely receded and then usually polyp bail out or would just slime over.

 

[Lavey29]

One thing I have found with my torches is if they are close and rubbing against each other they seem happier then when spread by themselves. I have 5 now include proximity rubbing all over each other with moderate current and 200 to 250 par.

 

[Lavey29]

same time frames these were never fast deaths always over the course of several months to a year. i believe a lot of the older torches were sourced locally at frag swaps and local stores so did not have pests. all the newer torches are wild caught and i dont think have had long enough in a system to be sterile. and then all new torches introduced over time got the parasites. they all died the same way slowely receded and then usually polyp bail out or would just slime over.

Sounds more like a euphyllia bacteria issue which I have treated with ciprofloaxin but not ruling out pests either but a dip should show them.

 

[eastgill]

One thing I have found with my torches is if they are close and rubbing against each other they seem happier then when spread by themselves. I have 5 now include proximity rubbing all over each other with moderate current and 200 to 250 par.

I’ll give that a go, how long do you have your lights on their highest intensity?

 

[saltwaterpicaso]

Sounds more like a euphyllia bacteria issue which I have treated with ciprofloaxin but not ruling out pests either but a dip should show them.

i thought same thing but couldnt nail it down it was more like they were irritated from the inside and just were not happy. i even thought starvation. over fed everything so far any torch that i have now are from locals and were not introduced to the tank for about a year i went torchles for a year. its been 3 years no issues with these ones. i will not add any that are not locally sourced anymore.

 

[Coinzmans Reef]

Any GHA will have a detrimental effect, Some torches are prone to get GHA and others never seem to in my tank. I just dip the infected coral with a 3% peroxide dip for 3-5 minutes. 1 part peroxide 10 parts tank water, works every time and lasts for a couple months. Don't wait to long otherwise some heads will not recover once the GHA gets on the inside.

 

[saltwaterpicaso]

I’ll give that a go, how long do you have your lights on their highest intensity?

you cant bleach them i have had torches in very low par grow and thrive . high par as well but take time adding more light

 

[Lavey29]

I’ll give that a go, how long do you have your lights on their highest intensity?

My cycle runs 10 hours with hour ramp up and hour ramp down.

 

[saltwaterpicaso]

you cant bleach them i have had torches in very low par grow and thrive . high par as well but take time adding more light

idk how to edit the previous comment you can bleach them is what i meant take time adding more light especially with led