Euphillia losses. Torch mouth gaping open

[vdubers]

Hi I am having some difficulties with my Euphillia. All was good until I bought a new torch about a month ago. First I lost a few heads of the new one then lost my hammer coral, then my frogspawn and now this gold tip one is not looking good.

They all seem to be looking really good before they die. And they show the same symptoms. Flesh band generally looks good but they have wide open gaping mouths then almost tear from the mouth outwards. In fact it seems to be when they are splitting. This gold tip torch in the picture is the recent victim but looked like it was splitting the past week.

Only the frogspawn smelt bad all others smelt fine I did dose cipro around 3 weeks ago and I thought all was fine but not convinced it’s BJD as I havnt seen any slime and other than the frogspawn they all smelt ok.

Other than the new torch all other Euphillia including this gold tip one have been in the tank and in their locations for about 9-12 months.

• pH: 8.0 - 8.3
• Calcium: 450 ppm
• Magnesium: 1470 ppm
• KH (Alkalinity): 9.1 dKH
• Iodine: Likely 0.03 ppm (based on past manual dosing)
• Nitrate: 39 ppm
• Phosphate: 0.08 ppm
• Salinity: 35 ppt
• Temperature: Around 25°C

 

[sixty_reefer]

How old is the tank?

 

[Lavey29]

Numbers seem ok. What par they in? Low moderate flow?

Bacteria can infect euphyllia so cipro is an option. Did you do 3 doses over 6 days at night? No signs of BJD huh seems like a possibility with the new coral added.

 

[vdubers]

How old is the tank?

In this form 14 months but I did transfer live rock from my old tank that was about 18 months old when setting it up 14 months ago

 

[vdubers]

Numbers seem ok. What par they in? Low moderate flow?

Bacteria can infect euphyllia so cipro is an option. Did you do 3 doses over 6 days at night? No signs of BJD huh seems like a possibility with the new coral added.

Around 100-150 par potentially more on the moderate side in terms of flow. But none of that has changed since I got these ones about 8 months ago.

It could be BJD and I’m missing signs? That was my worry before. I did the 3 doses every other night previously but could run another cycle maybe a bit longer? But no actual brown jelly residue that I can see. It’s like the heads just bail out but from the mouth outwards.

Think this one is a goner today

 

[Lavey29]

Around 100-150 par potentially more on the moderate side in terms of flow. But none of that has changed since I got these ones about 8 months ago.

It could be BJD and I’m missing signs? That was my worry before. I did the 3 doses every other night previously but could run another cycle maybe a bit longer? But no actual brown jelly residue that I can see. It’s like the heads just bail out but from the mouth outwards.

Think this one is a goner today

Well corals decline from the inside out so sometimes it takes many months before you see the decline. My torches sit in 250 par. Other euphyllia in 150 par. Low flow to low moderate. I actually think I see BJD in that last picture. So you want to remove that coral very carefully with flow off.

 

[vdubers]

Well corals decline from the inside out so sometimes it takes many months before you see the decline. My torches sit in 250 par. Other euphyllia in 150 par. Low flow to low moderate. I actually think I see BJD in that last picture. So you want to remove that coral very carefully with flow off.

That’s fair so it could have been a previous thing now showing its head or maybe more likely BJD since they looked really good one day the next day just sad and the next polyp bailout.

I have now removed this torch and it did smell bad. Should I also dose cypro to stop transmission to my other torches?

Have a 9 head dragon soul and 5 heads left on the gold indo I really don’t want to lose even though they are looking good right now.

One thing is I rarely direct feed the torches I figured they might be catching things from feeding the fish like mysis or bbs or the live phyto or live copepods I feed. With my high nitrates I figured it probably isn’t food related?

 

[vdubers]

This is a video of my flow around 2 weeks ago before I lost the frogspawn I haven’t changed the flow since.

 

[Lavey29]

That’s fair so it could have been a previous thing now showing its head or maybe more likely BJD since they looked really good one day the next day just sad and the next polyp bailout.

I have now removed this torch and it did smell bad. Should I also dose cypro to stop transmission to my other torches?

Have a 9 head dragon soul and 5 heads left on the gold indo I really don’t want to lose even though they are looking good right now.

One thing is I rarely direct feed the torches I figured they might be catching things from feeding the fish like mysis or bbs or the live phyto or live copepods I feed. With my high nitrates I figured it probably isn’t food related?

If it smelled then probably BJD. You can dose another round of cipro or just monitor your remaining corals. If your big colonies start losing a head frag that off and cipro bath that coral individually. I'd be wary of doing another round of tank cipro because it takes out some good stuff along with the bad and you don't want an imbalance in your biome.

 

[vdubers]

If it smelled then probably BJD. You can dose another round of cipro or just monitor your remaining corals. If your big colonies start losing a head frag that off and cipro bath that coral individually. I'd be wary of doing another round of tank cipro because it takes out some good stuff along with the bad and you don't want an imbalance in your biome.

Yeah that’s fair enough I will keep an eye on these and look for signs before cipro. Does the flow in the video look ok?

 

[Lavey29]

Yeah that’s fair enough I will keep an eye on these and look for signs before cipro. Does the flow in the video look ok?

Flow seems fine but is the torch to close to the frog? It would kill off a frog.

 

[vdubers]

Flow seems fine but is the torch to close to the frog? It would kill off a frog.

Thanks frogspawn is gone now it died sadly. It may have been stung but it started dying from the heads on the opposite side of the torch so I don’t think it was that and was likely either brown jelly or something else all together

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Thanks frogspawn is gone now it died sadly. It may have been stung but it started dying from the heads on the opposite side of the torch so I don’t think it was that and was likely either brown jelly or something else all together

So sorry about your losses!

 

[vdubers]

So sorry about your losses!

Thanks just these two big colonies left which are also the two newest ones. I think if they go I will give up on euphillia at least for now

 

[Reef Puncher]

oh i wish i saw your post earlier. i made this same post months ago. i slowly lost most of my euphyllia, meanwhile all my acros and gonis were doing fine. Turns out, it was a bacterial infection. Euphyllia are highly susceptible to bacterial infections, not just BJD but other infections too. I thought at first the gaping mouth meant they were starving, but it has something to do with bad bacteria. Once i dosed cipro and ran my UV sterilizer, within 10 days they were back to normal and i saved the last few Euphyllia i had left. i just wish i had done that sooner.


here is the post, no one knew the answer. no one suggested bacteria.

Euphyllia retracted, sagging, mouth gaping? Solutions?

I posted once and didnt get any tips but Im really helping someone can chime in there is no evidence anywhere online for what to do. Backstory- I had a dino outbreak, i used dino X, it killed my SPS corals, but everything else was fine. I stopped treatment, over course of 2 weeks did 60%...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[vdubers]

oh i wish i saw your post earlier. i made this same post months ago. i slowly lost most of my euphyllia, meanwhile all my acros and gonis were doing fine. Turns out, it was a bacterial infection. Euphyllia are highly susceptible to bacterial infections, not just BJD but other infections too. I thought at first the gaping mouth meant they were starving, but it has something to do with bad bacteria. Once i dosed cipro and ran my UV sterilizer, within 10 days they were back to normal and i saved the last few Euphyllia i had left. i just wish i had done that sooner.


here is the post, no one knew the answer. no one suggested bacteria.

Euphyllia retracted, sagging, mouth gaping? Solutions?

I posted once and didnt get any tips but Im really helping someone can chime in there is no evidence anywhere online for what to do. Backstory- I had a dino outbreak, i used dino X, it killed my SPS corals, but everything else was fine. I stopped treatment, over course of 2 weeks did 60%...

www.reef2reef.com

Thanks I actually had seen your thread when searching before posting mine. The gold tip torch in the photos is dead now however my gold tip torch is showing the gaping mouth on some heads so going to do another round on in tank cipro. Did you do the standard dose 0.125 mg / L? Dosed every other night for 3 total doses?

And when you say turn UV back on I am guessing you turned it off during the cipro treatment?

last time I did the standard procedure with my UV off however it seems to be still spreading so tempted with a more intense round maybe either dosing every night or dosing for a longer period of time. Also tempted to run my UV during the day since the tank lights will destroy the cipro anyway?

Sorry for the long reply I really want to save these two big colonies.

 

[Uncle99]

Keep any shrimp?
Famous for stealing food and damaging corals when fed.
Just a thought.

After removing shrimps and crabs 5 years ago, no more LPS death.

And snails no longer require replacement.

 

[vdubers]

Keep any shrimp?
Famous for stealing food and damaging corals when fed.
Just a thought.

After removing shrimps and crabs 5 years ago, no more LPS death.

And snails no longer require replacement.

Yes I do actually, a boxer shrimp and a blood shrimp. I do have to fend them off when doing coral feedings however it seems one euphillia after another goes rather than multiples at once. And if one head isn’t looking great it’s the others on the same stalk that aren’t doing well. If it was the shrimp I would have thought it would be more random?

 

[Uncle99]

Maybe.
Once I was rid of these things, no longer the “surprise demise”

They don’t intentionally kill, some corals tolerate them better.

It was remarkable once all gone.

 

[Reef Puncher]

Thanks I actually had seen your thread when searching before posting mine. The gold tip torch in the photos is dead now however my gold tip torch is showing the gaping mouth on some heads so going to do another round on in tank cipro. Did you do the standard dose 0.125 mg / L? Dosed every other night for 3 total doses?

And when you say turn UV back on I am guessing you turned it off during the cipro treatment?

last time I did the standard procedure with my UV off however it seems to be still spreading so tempted with a more intense round maybe either dosing every night or dosing for a longer period of time. Also tempted to run my UV during the day since the tank lights will destroy the cipro anyway?

Sorry for the long reply I really want to save these two big colonies.

yea the biggest culprits are 1.) pests, 2.) salinity/alk swings 3.) bacterial infections. 4.) nutrient starvation. if you cancel out 3 then all thats left is bacterial. unfortunayely there is no test for bacteria. i dosed cipro every day for 3 days, then once every 2-3 days. i ran my UV once i started on the 3 day course, into the second week. i personally ran it 24/7, i really dont know if that was good or bad to do. i suppose it could have weekend the cipro, i really dont know.
after all that was done i dosed brightwell bacteria microbacter 7 to get good bacteria back in the system

i dont remember the strength 100% for sure, but i think i took the whole pill and dissolved it in like 150 or 250mls of rodi, then dosed like 5ml per gallon or something. ugh i wish i could remember. im sure there are recomendations of strength out there, i followed one i saw somewhere. but yea i dosed a little heavy handed the first few days.