Brown Jelly inside coral? Torch help.

[The Life Aquatic]

Sad day…yesterday I noticed my 4 headed sun god (that always seemed very happy, grew from 1 head) had one head closed up. Upon further inspection it looked like the tissue was detaching but upon looking even closer they was a blob of “brown jelly” growing at the base of the stalk. Not on the head, but well below it (see first photo).

I did my best to salvage what I could but it’s not pretty. I’m down to one head and had to cut the tissue close and it doesn’t seem happy.

Upon cutting, I found what appeared to be brown jelly inside the skeleton. Again, it never presented on the head, but appeared to be inside and was building at the base.

Any ideas? Is this the typical brown jelly or something else? Never seen this before.

 

[crazyfishmom]

Yes… that’s definitely BJD. I just lost a 10 head torch to it. Was deep in the torch as well like you saw. I’ve had a couple in the past that I treated with cipro and made a full recovery but this one just did not respond. Sad to hear about yours.

 

[The Life Aquatic]

Yes… that’s definitely BJD. I just lost a 10 head torch to it. Was deep in the torch as well like you saw. I’ve had a couple in the past that I treated with cipro and made a full recovery but this one just did not respond. Sad to hear about yours.

Did you treat the whole tank in response? I’m likely going to try and get my hands on some cipro or chemi clean to have just in case but I don’t plan on hitting the whole tank with it unless I see it spread…but I’m debating if I should.

 

[RedReefer]

The skeleton on the head is also damaged. Bad cut? Looks like BJD. The flesh and torch look healthy. Hmmm...

 

[The Life Aquatic]

The skeleton on the head is also damaged. Bad cut? Looks like BJD. The flesh and torch look healthy. Hmmm...

In the second photo? Yes that was after I cut it to try and salvage what good heads I could.

 

[RedReefer]

I wouldn't go treating the whole tank. I would just keep my water stable and monitor the torch. If the torch starts to decline and you see more BJD on the exterior of the torch I would just toss the torch.n Sucks tat it's a sun god...

 

[Steven Garland]

KFC Dip it. KungFu Corals

 

[crazyfishmom]

Did you treat the whole tank in response? I’m likely going to try and get my hands on some cipro or chemi clean to have just in case but I don’t plan on hitting the whole tank with it unless I see it spread…but I’m debating if I should.

I didn’t. I removed it from the tank and treated in a separate quarantine tank. Treating the whole tank can really wreak havoc in the commensal bacterial populations that keep the tank stable. I think of that as a last resort. If I start to see it spread I’ll take out all the torches and treat them all. Thus far it’s been two torches. One I was able to save, the other not.

 

[The Life Aquatic]

I initially dipped the remaining heads in a fairly potent iodine dip. I have my hands on chemiclean now so I can make a somewhat KFC dip (missing about half the ingredients). How often do folks recommend repeat dipping? Every 24 hours to be safe or leave it for a few days in between?